SOURCE: “La Recherche du Temps Gallois: Dylan Thomas's Development as a Prose Writer,” in The Anglo-Welsh Review, No. 83, 1986, pp. 86-95.

In the following essay, Ackerman defends Thomas's prose as equal in importance to his poetry.

I

Dylan Thomas's recognition as a major twentieth century writer, both in popularity and achievement, is now established, and the publication of his Collected Stories reminds us that his prose writing was in important ways as original and striking as his poetry. From the beginning Thomas wrote his prose alongside his poetry, initially more or less in the form of short stories that were strong in style and atmospheric and sensuous power but weak on narrative. These early stories are close to the universe of the early poems, being richly charged in their language, almost surreal in the worlds they create, and owing much to a fertile imagination and an adolescent's obsessional, introspective...