''Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog'' is a collection of short prose stories written by
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
poet
Dylan Thomas, first published by
Dent
Dent may refer to:
People
* Dent (surname)
* Dent May (active 2007), American musician
* Dent Mowrey (1888–1960), American composer, musician and music teacher
* Dent Oliver (1918–1973), international speedway rider
Places France
* Dent d' ...
on 4 April
1940
A calendar from 1940 according to the Gregorian calendar, factoring in the dates of Easter and related holidays, cannot be used again until the year 5280.
Events
Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.
January
* Januar ...
. The first paperback copy appeared in 1948, published by the British Publishers Guild.
Background
All of the stories are autobiographical and all are set in the writer's native
Swansea in
South Wales. Written over a number of years, the often comic stories show glimpses of his life, from early childhood up to his teens as a young reporter for the ''
South Wales Daily Post''.
Thomas claimed, in a letter to
Vernon Watkins
Vernon Phillips Watkins (27 June 1906 – 8 October 1967) was a Welsh poet and translator. His headmaster at Repton was Geoffrey Fisher, who became Archbishop of Canterbury. Despite his parents being Nonconformists, Watkins' school experienc ...
, that he had "kept the flippant title for—as the publishers advise—money-making reasons". He claimed also, somewhat dubiously, that the title was not a parody of
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...
's ''
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
''A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man'' is the first novel of Irish writer James Joyce. A ''Künstlerroman'' written in a modernist style, it traces the religious and intellectual awakening of young Stephen Dedalus, Joyce's fictional al ...
'', although the general influence of Joyce's ''
Dubliners
''Dubliners'' is a collection of fifteen short stories by James Joyce, first published in 1914. It presents a naturalistic depiction of Irish middle class life in and around Dublin in the early years of the 20th century.
The stories were writ ...
'' was freely acknowledged. In August 1939 Thomas wrote to Watkins: "I've been busy over stories, pot-boiling stories for a book, semi-autobiographical, to be finished by Christmas."
Reception
Reviews of the book were mixed and initially it did not sell well.
Ferris, reviewing the book in ''
The Times Literary Supplement
''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp.
History
The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication ...
'' said: "the atmosphere of schoolboy smut and practical jokes and poetry is evoked with lingering accuracy but with nothing more". Critic Jacob Korg later commented that "taken as a group,
he storiesseem to trace the child's emergence from his domain of imagination and secret pleasures into an adult world where he observes suffering, pathos, and dignity".
[
The book has been described as showing Thomas's "waggish humor at its best, his exuberance & verbal magic in spectacular display". Apart from '']Under Milk Wood
''Under Milk Wood'' is a 1954 radio drama by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, commissioned by the BBC and later adapted for the stage. A film version, ''Under Milk Wood'' directed by Andrew Sinclair, was released in 1972, and another adaptation of ...
'', the book is "probably the most famous Dylan Thomas book published during his lifetime... certainly the most loved by Dylan enthusiasts".[ It has been suggested that few writers "have evoked as successfully the mysteries and adventures of boyhood, of young love with its shattered dreams... none has done it in as fresh and telling phrases, with an elation as natural and contagious".
]
Adaptations
The title was used for a theatrical journey through Thomas' prose writings which was staged by Clwyd Theatr Cymru in April 2014.
Contents
* "The Peaches"
* "A Visit to Grandpa's"
* "Patricia, Edith and Arnold"
* "The Fight"
* "Extraordinary Little Cough"
* "Just Like Little Dogs"
* "Where Tawe Flows"
* "Who Do You Wish Was with Us?"
* "Old Garbo"
* "One Warm Saturday"
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog
1940 short story collections
Anglo-Welsh literature
British short story collections
Wales in fiction
Works by Dylan Thomas