Choice Review

The preeminent modern Welsh poet has suffered from critical neglect and abuse in the past few decades, largely due to the diversity and popularity of his work, the ambiguity of his political and national identity, and his incompatibility with contemporary critical preoccupations. Goodby (Swansea Univ., UK) documents this stormy critical weather, seldom directly opposing commentators who, as he notes, often had little to say about the oeuvre itself. Rather than taking on the overall thematic impact of this oeuvre, Goodby anatomizes aspects of it that have proved problematic for critics. The analysis is particularly impressive when focused on formal issues: the emphasis on process in Thomas's "mannerist" modernism; the subtle manipulation of sounds that characterizes his poetic speech (with its echoes of dialect); the coexistence of Romantic and avant-garde poetics in his work. Somewhat fraught questions such as Thomas's relationship to "colonialist" ideas and his struggle with sexual compulsions are explored in a lucid, evidence-based manner with the dual purpose of redeeming a great poet and improving understanding of his poetry. Aimed equally at the scholarly community and the poet's devoted readers, this study is authoritative, detailed, and insightful. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers. R. K. Mookerjee Eugene Lang College, The New School for the Liberal Arts