Man Who Went into the West, The

Disgrifiad Cymraeg / Welsh Description

Bywgraffiad o'r bardd R.S. Thomas, yn dilyn hanes taith ei fywyd fel offeiriad gyda'r Eglwys yng Nghymru.

Disgrifiad Saesneg / English Description

A biography of the poet R.S. Thomas, following his life's journey as a minister in the Church of Wales. Byron Rogers' biography has been hailed as a 'masterpiece', even as a work of 'genius', by reviewers from Craig Brown to the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Dosbarthu

Byddwn yn dosbarthu eitemau sydd mewn stoc o fewn 3 diwrnod gwaith, fel arfer drwy Royal Mail Tracked 48. Ar gyfer archebion o flaen llaw, byddwn yn dosbarthu’r eitem o fewn 3 diwrnod gwaith ar ôl ei derbyn gan ein cyflenwr.

Dispatch

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Adolygiad y Cyhoeddwr / Publisher Review

This is not, as the title might suggest, a Zane Grey style tale of gunslingers in the American West. It is, in fact, the first authorised biography of R. S. Thomas and the 'west' is Gwynedd or more specifically, Llŷn. Thomas was a man of many paradoxes. As a young man he learned Welsh and eventually became a language extremist. His work was written in English and published in London. He sent his son, Gwydion, to an English public school and, it seems, was more relaxed in the company of the middle class. He could be downright rude but, on the other hand, he could be kindness itself. There were times when he was downright eccentric; many testify to a dry sense of humour. ‘I’ve only met three funny funny men,’ said Jon Gower, ‘Ken Dodd, Lenny Bruce and R. S. Thomas.’ Byron Rogers has undertaken a tremendous amount of research for this marvellous book and for this he is indebted, to a great extent, to the friendship and assistance of Gwydion Thomas. For readers in Wales there is a secondary reason for the appeal of the book, for one has merely to glance at the index to see a listing of so many of the names of literary high-fliers. As in any book of this kind Rogers offers us interpretations of certain of the poems in the light of the circumstances of Thomas’s life. The story of ‘the ogre of Wales’, as he became known in the last twenty-five years of his life, is a remarkable one. Byron Rogers has produced the most riveting literary biography I have ever read. Beg, borrow or, if necessary, steal it. You won’t regret it.