ABSTRACT
BRINNIN’s controversial book is a sincere but humourless account (and to put up with Thomas, one surely needed a sense of humour), dwelling on tales of “bohemianism and irresponsibility”. It presents a tragic “Jekyll and Hyde figure”, an endearing drunk traumatised by the diminution of his poetic talent. With little knowledge of Thomas’s family or background, and virtually no critical exegesis, Brinnin has been principally responsible for the creation of the “Thomas-astortured genius” mythology. That such a dissolute character could have produced poetry of such metrical and linguistic complexity doesn’t appear to be a question Brinnin bothered to ask himself.
