Kindle: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dylans-Gower-Robert-Ed…/…/B00PHZ41Q2

Tristan John: 2019

I recently came across your Dylan / Gower books wanted to say how much I enjoyed them.  I could relate to many of them and the language is wonderfully accessible.  Thank you.  I am originally from Swansea (Killay) but now live in Rickmansworth, not too far from St Albans.

Tristan John grew up in Swansea and Gower.  He now lives in Hertfordshire. He works in London as Asset Strategy Manager for Transport for London. E-mail of 24 March, 2019.

Josh Brown: 2016

“To read a poem is to hear it with our eyes; to hear it is to see it with our ears” (Octavio Paz).

“A good poem is a contribution to reality. The world is never the same once a good poem has been added to it” (Dylan Thomas).

‘To Dylan’ and ‘Dylan’s Gower’ are two collections of poetry by Robert Edward Gurney [Bob], a poet and academic who writes in both English and Spanish. They were published by Cambria Books in 2014 for the Dylan Thomas centenary. Although I love poetry, I can only read it in short bursts, a few poems at a time, so it is a mark of their wisdom and easy composition that I read these two volumes in one afternoon.

The poems are driven by a love of Gower, that glorious peninsula with its flawless beaches that curves from Swansea’s Mumbles near where Thomas was born in 1914, and by the poet himself and his tumultuous, controversial life. Gurney lights upon little morsels of both his own and Dylan’s life, the kind of inconsequential truths we too easily overlook, connects them and finds their meaning and importance so that these verses are much more than tributes. “It’s funny”, he observes at the close of ‘Heron’s Way’, “how you can go through life without ever really seeing things as they really are”. But that is what Bob’s poems can do, see the meaning and import in the commonplace that are the markers which index our lives.

Dylan’s childhood was lived on the Gower, in the house in Cwmdonkin Drive where he was born, on his aunt’s farm where he was happiest as a boy and which gave birth to one of his greatest poems, ‘Fern Hill’, and on Rhossili beach. The Gurney family spend their holidays at his parents-in-law’s old house in nearby Port Eynon.

Maybe it is Mr Thomas’s famous love of the pub that causes me to feel that many of Bob’s poems have spun out of bar room anecdotes. They have that feel to them. You can imagine him listening to the ‘old stories’ of the ghosts and local characters of Gower (and Argentina) and then weaving them into his own memories to produce these gentle, beguiling poems. ‘The Poundffald’ remembers Dylan in his New York haunts (imagined indeed as a ghost) then moves through otters in a friend’s stream to her father’s unflattering memory of him (‘worse for wear’), a conventional phrase that captures the poet’s end.

His work is lit with a ‘Welsh’ temperament that makes it a surprise to learn that Robert Gurney was born and schooled in Luton, though being taught Spanish by a Welshman has left its mark on both his career and his poetry, the Patagonian Principle perhaps!

There is a melancholy to many of the poems and a thirst for the magic that illumines the legends of Wales. ‘The Vicar in the Park’ tells of a ‘whiskey priest’, asked to sermon on Dylan Thomas, searching the myths of saint Kenneth (Cenydd) to inspire his congregation, fearing their response and opting for a safer bland message on ‘the family’. It captures perfectly the contradictory forces traditional to Wales, the Celtic romance and the chapel proper!

Dylan Thomas wrote extravagantly, loving the sound and feel of words, combining them in a magnificent creative disregard. He called it ‘the colour of saying’. Eager to follow his example, many of us flounder in an ill-fitted soup, forgetting the “craft” that is essential to the “sullen art”. It comes almost as a shock to find that two volumes of poetry inspired by Dylan are so wonderfully contrasted. It has been said that Bob’s poetry is closer to R.S. Thomas than Dylan or akin to the traditional ‘englynion’ in their sparse wording. Perhaps a career teaching and translating has tutored him in a precision, unlike other poets, just as the asceticism of his faith did for R.S.Thomas. ‘The Shepherd’ exemplifies this, a tragic story simply and briefly stated. Simplicity is the core of poetry, the hard craft Dylan knew.

If there is one fault to these two collections it is possibly that the titles mislead. These are not merely poems ‘about’ Dylan Thomas. These are beautiful, almost whimsical, observations on Dylan, on the glorious Gower and its characters (Milk Wood is often misunderstood in that its characters are nearer to the truth of Wales than it wished, or wishes, to admit) and on the lives we all share. Bob tells me some readers have been disappointed with the dissimilarity to Dylan. But these are lovely, insightful, gentle poems and they stand on their own in that achievement.

Josh Brown, 18 July, 2016. Of Welsh parents, Josh lives in Southsea, UK. He is heavily involved with Portsmouth Poetry: wwwportsmouthpoetry.co.uk

Kindle: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dylans-Gower-Robert-Ed…/…/B00PHZ41Q2

Dedwydd Jones: 2016

Dylan Thomas

Thank God for Robert Edward Gurney’s two volumes of poetry, To Dylan and Dylan’s Gower, the best collection of Welsh verse since RS Thomas. These are short poems like the Japanese haiku or the wonderful Welsh englynion, presenting a world of observation in a few words – as Gurney does – just find the image, fix it, present it and then move on to the next, no messing! And no Dylan imitations either although Gower was Dylan’s backyard where poetry positively ‘flowed through the air’! The poems too celebrate place names as Dylan himself did so brilliantly. The collected titles are poetry in themselves: ‘Port Eynon from Space’, ‘On Llanmadoc Hill’, ‘The Mist’, ‘Crows’ and ‘Fires’, ‘The Tears of St Lawrence’, ‘The Poundffald’, ‘Chatterpies’, ‘The White Lady of Oystermouth Castle’, ‘Walking the Worm’, ‘Dylan and the Monster’, all set firmly in Gower – the best of Wales for a very long time. To Dylan and Dylan’s Gower are an antidote to anyone suffering from the dolorous hiraeth of home, especially the Gower of Cymru. Thank you ROBERT GURNEY.

Dedwydd Jones, Bedford, 8 January 2016.

Dedwydd Jones: 2016

On To Dylan and Dylan’s Gower:

“Better than anything coming out of Wales at the moment.”

“There is poetry even in the titles.”

“Your poetry reminds me of R.S. Thomas.”

Dedwydd Jones, born on Wales, lives in Bedford, England. Playwright, scriptwriter, novelist, journalist, is the author of The Black Book on Welsh Theatre (Foreword by Jan Morris). Personal communication, 4 January, 2016.

Dylan Thomas

Gracias a Dios por los tres poemarios de Robert Edward Gurney, Para Dylan, una trilogía que comprende A Dylan, La Gower de Dylan y El Rhossili de Dylan, la mejor colección de poesía galesa desde RS Thomas. Son poemas cortos como el haiku japonés o el maravilloso englynion galés, presentando un mundo de la observación en pocas palabras – como lo hace Gurney – sólo encontrar la imagen, arreglarlo, presentarlo y luego pasar a la siguiente, sin trabas! Y no hay tampoco imitaciones de Dylan, aunque Gower fue el patio trasero de Dylan donde la poesía positivamente ‘fluyó a través del aire’! Los poemas también celebran los nombres de lugares, como el propio Dylan hizo tan brillantemente. Los títulos recogidos son poéticos en sí mismos: ‘Port Eynon desde el espacio “,’ Sobre la colina de Llanmadoc’, ‘La niebla’, ‘Cuervos’ y ‘Fuegos’, ‘Las lágrimas de San Lorenzo’, ‘El Poundffald’, ‘Urracas’ , ‘La Dama Blanca del Castillo de Oystermouth’, ‘Caminando por el Dragón’, ‘Dylan y el Monstruo’, todo ello firmemente en Gower – lo mejor del País de Gales desde hace mucho tiempo.
Para Dylan es un antídoto para cualquier persona que sufre de la hiraeth, la nostalgia dolorosa de la patria, especialmente la Gower de Cymru. Gracias ROBERT GURNEY.

Dedwydd Jones, dramaturgo, guionista, novelista, poeta, periodista, nació en Gales y vive en Bedford. Carta, 08 de enero 2016.

Otras palabras de Dedwydd sobre Para Dylan:

“Mejor que cualquier cosa que se publica en Gales en el presente.”
“Hay poesía incluso en los títulos.”
“Su poesía me recuerda R.S. Thomas “.

http://www.literaturewales.org/writers-of-wales/i/146326/desc/gurney-robert-edward/

http://www.literaturewales.org/writers-of-wales/

Amie Ilva Tatem: 2016

This very provocative collection of poems can have a twofold purpose– as an introduction to Dylan Thomas and certainly as a tribute. The author is obviously sharing his admiration of Thomas via revisiting his environs and letting his own imagination soar .. and take the reader to amazing places. I applaud this imagination of Robert Edward Gurney and the ride it takes the reader on.

Amie Ilva Tatem, poet and painter, born and lives in New York, Facebook page, 16 January, 2016.

Meryl Wilkinson, 17 June, 2015:

On Dylan’s Gower: I have this book on Kindle. Highly recommended – I love it! It is like taking a walk around Gower with Dylan at my side!

Meryl Wilkinson, Gnosall, Staffordshire, worked at Stafford College as a Learning Support Assistant.

Brian Boak, London, 16 June, 2015:

On the poem ‘Dylan and the Monster': Always quite taken by the psychological/philosophical/mythological elements of your poetry, however which way you wish to term it. You seem to talk again of a fear within him. This could be said to be universal to a certain or rather to differing extents, although perhaps is magnified somewhat in poets and artists, even though Dylan himself would most probably have denied it

Tony de Sarzec, 22 April 2015:

I’ve just completed reading Dylan’s Gower by Robert Edward Gurney. It’s a book of poems jam-packed with atmosphere and images that stay with you long after the book is closed. I could mention so many poems such as ‘The Mist’, ‘The Photograph’, ‘Dylan and the Monster’, ‘A Premonition’, ‘The Worm’s Head Hotel’, ‘The Way We Are Now’ and ‘The Three Wise Monkeys’. Suffice it to say that I’ve once again enjoyed reading Bob’s work. I feel as though I’ve just returned home from a wonderful walk in the fresh air.

Acabo de completar la lectura de Dylan’s Gower [La Gower de Dylan], de Robert Edward Gurney. Es un libro de poemas cargado de atmósferas e imágenes que se quedan con usted mucho después que el libro se ha cerrado. Podría mencionar tantos poemas, como ‘La niebla’, ‘La fotografía’, ‘Dylan y el monstruo’, La premonición”, ‘El Hotel de la Cabeza del Dragón’, ‘La forma en que estamos ahora’ y ‘Los tres monos sabios’. Basta decir que he disfrutado una vez más la lectura de la obra de Bob. Me siento como si acabase de volver a casa luego de un maravilloso paseo al aire libre.

Dylan Thomas Appreciation Society: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2247851765/

Tony de Sarzec, poet, produced the album entitled Was There A Time – A Selection of Poems and Short Stories by Dylan Thomas read by Philip Madoc.

Tony de Sarzec, 22.O4.17:

It really is marvellous.

Brian Boak, 2015

On the poem ‘The Poundffald: “At the risk of stating the obvious, you create a sense of haunting, just as Dylan himself sometimes seemed haunted.”

Brian Boak, Facebook message, 25 March 2015.

From Buckinghamshire, Brian Boak lives in London. He is a historian with a strong intrest in literature.
He has written a novel and has made a TV film (starring Sean Bean, Phil Daniels and Brendan Coyle).
He works in the Operational Excellence Directorate at the Department of Work and Pensions.

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Wyn Thomas on To Dylan and Dylan’s Gower

I have had a splendid couple of sunny days wandering Gower (and the White Horse again) through your poetry. You have brought the Gower experience to life by capturing the mystical essence of the place. It would be unfair to ask for a favourite poem, I think that would change with the reader’s moods and feelings. This morning for me it’s Rhossili Bay. The Parsonage, the Worm and the bay captured Dylan’s imagination. That is reflected in the poem. It’s also appealing that the wrecked ship was The Helvetia, and that was the name of the London pub where he lost the manuscript of Under Milk Wood.
Alan Llwyd adapted Dylan’s story, Who Do You Wish Was Here With Us as a tv play; one that sees him growing into adulthood and confronting the death that was to obsess him for the first time.
There is so much beauty and mystery in Rhossili, and after the strange aura of this morning’s eclipse I’m left wandering what Dylan would have made of experiencing it there. Wyn

Wyn Thomas, Facebook message, Gorseinon. 21 March, 2015
Formerly of HTV and Swansea Sound (Controller) and the BBC (freelance), Wyn Thomas set up Ffilmiau Tawe producing art and history films for ITV, S4C, the BBC and the Canadian History channel.

Analía Pascaner (Argentina) on the cover:

The cover of your book is inspiring, interesting, captivating. I see the moon reflected in the water, just as it could be reflected in the sand. And I also see a round jar of light, which is reflected in its raised lid. I prefer my second perception: to open ourselves to the world to deliver the light within each of us. Light as harmony, serenity, solidarity, love, peace, containment, support.

La portada de tu libro es sugerente, interesante, cautivante.
Observo la luna reflejada en el agua, como podría estar reflejada en la arena.
Y también veo una tinaja colmada de luz, la cual se refleja en su tapa levantada.
Prefiero mi segunda percepción: abrirnos al mundo para entregar la luz que hay dentro de cada uno. Luz como armonía, serenidad, solidaridad, amor, paz, contención, sostén.

Dylan’s Gower out 1 November 2014

Gurney, R.E., Dylan’s Gower, Cambria Books, Llandeilo, 2014, 114 pages. ISBN: 978-0-9930862-2-9, eBook: 978-0-9930862-3-6.

Available on Kindle. Google Gurney Dylan’s Gower.
Original cover design © William Gurney

http://www.cambriabooks.co.uk/poetry-robert-gurney-dylan/

http://www.amazon.co.uk/To-Dylan-Robert-Edward-Gurney/dp/099286903X

Go to BUY page [Vaya a la página Comprar]: http://verpress.com/buy/

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On Llanmadoc Hill

to Sir Cedric Lockwood Morris (1889-1982)

Sitting here
with my laptop
on Llanmadoc Hill,
looking at a painting,
‘Llanmadoc Hill’,
by Cedric Morris,
I start to wonder.

I wonder
if Dylan ever sat here.

I wonder if,
on one of his ‘medicinal walks’,
he looked down from here
upon Llanmadoc village.

I wonder
if he ever wondered
about an older name for the village:
Llanmadog,
with a ‘g’.

I wonder
if he looked down at the pond
by the farmhouse
and wondered what Llanmadog
would look like
when reflected in it,
backwards.

“Godamnall.”

I wonder if he was ever tempted
to use it in a play.

I wonder if he felt
that that, perhaps,
would have been too risky
and went for ‘Llareggub’,
buggerall backwards,
instead.

.

Robert Edward Gurney

From Dylan’s Gower, 2014, pp 14-15

Cedric Lockwood Morris’s ‘Llanmadoc Hill':

http://www.bridgemanimages.com/en-GB/asset/73610/morris-sir-cedric-1889-1982/llanmadoc-hill-gower-peninsula-1928

.

En Llanmadoc Hill

a Sir Cedric Lockwood Morris (1889-1982)

Sentado aquí
en la cima de Llanmadoc Hill
con mi ordenador portátil
mirando un cuadro llamado ‘Llanmadoc Hill’
pintado por Cedric Lockwood Morris,
empiezo a preguntarme algo.

Me pregunto
si Dylan se sentó aquí.

Me pregunto
si, en uno de sus “paseos medicinales”,
miró hacia abajo
hacia la aldea de Llanmadoc.

Me pregunto
si alguna vez se preguntó algo
acerca de un nombre antiguo de la aldea:
Llanmadog, con una “g”.

Me pregunto si miró hacia el estanque
delante de la granja
y se preguntó
qué aspecto tendría “Llanmadog”
reflejado en ello.

Llanmadog – Godamnall -
Maldito todo – Odototidlam.

Me pregunto si alguna vez
estuvo tentado a usarlo
en alguna de sus obras.

Me pregunto si sentía
que eso, tal vez,
hubiera sido demasiado arriesgado
y escogió, en su lugar,
Llareggub – Buggerall -
Adanasapon – No Pasa Nada
deletreado al revés.

Robert Edward Gurney
De Dylan’s Gower, págs 14-15

Comentario: Me conmovió tu poema, la musicalidad, me iba meciendo mientras lo estaba leyendo, me agrada esa sensación al leer.

Sobre el cuadro de Lockwood Morris: He visto el cuadro en Internet. No conozco de pintura y poco puedo decir, sólo observo su sencillez, la imagen me transmite paz, armonía, silencio, invita a pensar.

Analía Pascaner, escritora, Argentina, 1 de dicimbre de 2014.

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.

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Gower Sub Boscus (traducción sigue)

Once upon a time, they say, there was a huge wood, that stretched from Swansea to Loughor, a distance of five miles (8.5 km). That’s how long it was. How wide it was I am not sure. Quite wide, I think, looking at maps. Remnants of that wood can still be be glimpsed in local place-names: Fforestfach (Fair Forest), Penllergaer Forest (Main Fort Forest), Cefn Fforest Fawr (Great Forest Ridge) and even, perhaps, Cefn Coed (Wooded Ridge), Tir Coed (Tree Land). Imagine a dividing line running east to west or west to east through that large wood or forest. People used to use the terms ‘Gower Supra Boscus’ and ‘Gower Sub Boscus’ to designate areas on either side of that line. I have seen the terms ‘Gwyr Is Coed’ and ‘Gwyr Uwch Coed’ used: ‘Gower Sub Boscus’ and ‘Gower Supra Boscus’. Some say that ‘Uwchcoed’ should be translated as ‘the upper part of the wood’, implying that ‘Iscoed’ should be translated as the ‘the lower part of the wood. I suspect that Dylan, in his mind, translated ‘Gower Sub Boscus’, ‘Gwyr Iscoed’ in Welsh, as ‘Gower Under the Wood’. When John Malcolm Brinnin asked him to come up with a lighter title than Llareggub (Buggerall backwards), Dylan replied immediately, according to Brinnin: “Under Milk Wood”. My latest book of poetry, Dylan’s Gower (http://verpress.com/dylans-gower-2014/), explores, in part, the implications of the term ‘Gower Sub Boscus’ for the title of Dylan’s play and its contents.

See also: http://verpress.com/to-dylan-2014/

http://www.cambriabooks.co.uk/poetry-robert-gurney-dylan/http://www.amazon.co.uk/To-Dylan-Robert-Edward-Gurney/dp/099286903X

Érase una vez un bosque, dicen, que se extendía desde Swansea a Loughor, una distancia de cinco millas (8,5 km). Esa era su longitud. En cuanto a su ancho no estoy seguro. Creo que lo era y bastante. Los restos de un gran bosque aún se pueden vislumbrar en topónimos locales: Fforestfach (Bosque Ameno, Hermoso), Penllergaer Forest (Bosque de la Fortaleza Principal), Cefn Fforest Fawr (La Cresta del Gran Bosque) e incluso, tal vez, Cefn Coed (La Cresta de la Arboleda). Imagine una línea divisoria que corre de este a oeste o de oeste a este a través de ese gran Bosque. En el pasado solían usar los términos Gower Supra Boscus y Gower Sub Boscus para designar las zonas a los dos lados de esa línea. He oído hablar de Gwyr Is Coed y Gwyr Uwch Coed: Gower Sub Boscus y Gower Supra Boscus, Gower Debajo del Bosque y Gower Por Encima del Bosque. Algunos dicen que Uwchcoed debe traducirse como “la parte superior del bosque”, lo que implica que Iscoed debe traducirse como “la parte inferior del bosque”. Sospecho que Dylan, en su mente, tradujo Gower Sub Boscus, Gwyr Iscoed, como Gower Por Debajo o Gower Bajo el Bosque. Cuando John Malcolm Brinnin le pidió a Dylan que escogiera un título menos pesado que Llareggub (Buggerall deletreado al revés, Adanasapon, digamos, en español), Dylan respondió de inmediato, según Brinnin: “Under Milk Wood” (“Bajo el bosque de leche”).* En el joven bosque es titulo escogido por el poeta alcalaíno Tomás Ramos Orea). Mi último libro de poesía, Dylan’s Gower (http://verpress.com/dylans-gower-2014/), explora las implicaciones del término ‘Gower Sub Boscus’ por el título de la obra de Dylan y su contenido.

* ‘[…] “¿Qué opinas de Bajo el bosque de leche?” dijo, y le respondí “Muy bien”, y la nueva obra fue bautizada ahí mismo,’ (Dylan Thomas in America, Dent, 1956, p.152). [Laugharne, septiembre, 1953]. Under Milk Wood, The Definitive Edition, edited by Walford Davies and Ralph Maud, Phoenix, London, 2014, página 65.

Ver también: http://verpress.com/to-dylan-2014/

http://www.cambriabooks.co.uk/poetry-robert-gurney-dylan/http://www.amazon.co.uk/To-Dylan-Robert-Edward-Gurney/dp/099286903X

In ‘Fern Hill’ Dylan refers to “the moon that is always rising”. In a further small tribute (Dylan’s Gower) to a poet who has been a life-long inspiration I include a short poem called ‘Moonrise’.

The cover of the book, designed by my son William, who did the cover for To Dylan, refers to that poem. ‘Moonrise’ derives from a longer poem titled ‘Omen’ (now ‘Blood Moon’) that I included in the project Poemas a la Patagonia 2 , Poems To Patagonia 2 (unpublished).

En ‘Fern Hill’ Dylan se refiere a “la luna que siempre sale”. En un segundo pequeño homenaje (La Gower de Dylan) a un poeta que ha sido una inspiración para toda la vida incluyo un breve poema llamado ‘Luna de sangre’. [Edición en español en preparación.]

La portada de Dylan’s Gower, diseñada por mi hijo William, que hizo también la portada del libro To Dylan, se refiere a ‘Moonrise’, ‘Luna de sangre’ en la versión española, y se deriva de un poema más largo titulado ‘Omen’ (ahora ‘Blood Moon’) que incluí en Poemas a la Patagonia 2, 2004, (inédito).

Note on Dylan’s Gower front cover

The version of the poem included in Dylan’s Gower, ‘Moonrise’ is a truncated version of the original 2004 poem ‘Omen’.

Nota sobre la tapa de Dylan’s Gower

El poema ‘Moonrise’ (‘Salida de Luna’) incluido en Dylan’s Gower es una versión trunca del poema original ‘Omen’ de 2004.

Dylan Thomas’s life: Idealism, Turbulence, the Absurd

In this tribute to Dylan, his life on the Gower Peninsula in Wales is imagined poetically in the movement of a wave, the build-up, the swell, the rise, the disintegration, the spindrift, the crashing down. Then the relief, the calm before the next wave begins to form. Poems that start with poetic intensity, move towards those that have a painful or nightmarish quality and end with poems that have a lighter touch.

Talking to Dylan Thomas’s lovely granddaughter, Hannah Ellis, and to the inspiring Olivier Award-winning actor Guy Masterson last night at the RSA in John Street, London, on the occasion of their brilliant British Council seminar “Dylan Thomas: A Life in Words”, I was particularly struck by Hannah’s reference to Dylan’s notebooks which he wrote between the ages of fifteen (possibly earlier) and twenty. She mentioned how these had been lying mouldering in a box in Boulder, America, but are now available to the public in Swansea. Hannah argued that everything was there, in embryo, in those notebooks, that that period of poetic creativity, those five or more years of “cosseted” (Hannah’s word) creative activity, a veritable explosion that occurred within the young genius relieved to drop out early, at sixteen, from a school in which he was bored, were the foundations of his work to come. Dylan lived in Swansea, on the edge of Gower, during those years. Hannah referred to a text in which he wrote that he “often” went down to Gower. The gist of this book, Dylan’s Gower, is that it is clearly time to re-evaluate the influence of the spectacular and quirky Gower Peninsula on his work. Hannah maintained that Newquay and Laugharne were key periods in the gestation of Under Milk Wood. I agreed but argued that to them must be added the beautiful bays and villages of his early ‘backyard’, the place to which he would escape during his formative years and to which he was tempted to ‘retire’ in the final year of his life. This book points, perhaps, to the need to re-evaluate the role Gower played in the formation of the creatures of the mysterious entity of Dylan’s literary imagination.

(Published in the Letters section (page 16) of the South Wales Evening Post, Swansea, on 25 October 2014. See also: http://www.southwales-eveningpost.co.uk/Dylan-Thomas-influences-new-poetry-collection/story-22927136-detail/story.html)

Robert Edward Gurney, 24 October 2014

La Gower de Dylan

Hablando con la nieta encantadora de Dylan Thomas, Hannah Ellis, y con el actor inspirador Guy Masterson, ganador del Premio Olivier, anoche en la RSA, la Real Sociedad de Artes, en John Street, Londres, con motivo del brillante seminario del British Council “Dylan Thomas: Una Vida en Palabras”, estaba particularmente impresionado por la referencia de Hannah a los cuadernos que Dylan escribió entre las edades de quince (tal vez más temprano) y veinte años. Hannah mencionó cómo éstos se habían estado desmoronando en una caja en Boulder, Estados Unidos, pero ahora están a disposición del público en Swansea. Hannah sostenía que todo estaba allí, en embrión, en esos cuadernos, que aquél período de creatividad poética, esos cinco años de actividad creadora “mimada” (palabra de Hannah), una verdadera explosión que se produjo en el joven genio aliviado de irse rápido, a los dieciséis años, de un colegio en el que estaba aburrido, fueron los cimientos de su trabajo en el futuro. Dylan vivió en Swansea durante esos años, en el borde de la península de Gower. Hannah se refirió a un texto en el que escribió que iba “a menudo” a Gower. La esencia de este libro, La Gower de Dylan, es que es claramente el momento de volver a evaluar la influencia de la espectacular y estrafalaria península en su obra. Hannah sostenía que Newquay y Laugharne eran periodos clave en la gestación de Under Milk Wood, (Bajo el bosque de leche). Estuve de acuerdo, pero argumenté que a ellos hay que añadir las hermosas bahías y pueblos de su temprano ‘patio trasero’, el lugar al que escapaba durante sus años de formación y al que tuvo la tentación de ‘jubilarse’ en el último año de su vida. Este libro señala, tal vez, la necesidad de volver a evaluar el papel que Gower jugó en la formación de las criaturas de la misteriosa entidad de la imaginación literaria de Dylan.

Robert Edward Gurney, St Albans, 24 de octubre 2014.

(Publicado en la sección ‘Cartas’ (pág. 16) del diario South Wales Evening Post, Swansea, 25.10 2014. Ver también: http://www.southwales-eveningpost.co.uk/Dylan-Thomas-influences-new-poetry-collection/story-22927136-detail/story.html)

Dylan’s Gower por Robert Edward Gurney será publicado por Llyfrau Cambria/Cambria Books, Gales, en noviembre de 2014.

In July 2014 Mark Rees of the South Wales Evening Post interviewed me in connection with my book To Dylan. The shorter text of that interview can be read on the To Dylan 2014 page of this website. What follows is the full text.