In the mid afternoon, the rain eased up to a monsoon, so we headed out into Swansea town again. Undoubtedly the weather is playing a large role in this, but Swansea really is mostly an ugly city. Too much grey, squat architecture and ambience for my liking.
We tourned the Dylan T
homas Centre, which is a small museum dedicated to Swansea's most famous son. Fitting that, in this Celtic land, where people's verbal cadences are a lilting sing-song, a writer should hold such prominence. Would Toronto ever develop Margaret Atwood Centre, or a museum for Robertson Davies, or Montreal create a Mordecai Richler exhibit? Unlikely, but that, perhaps, is the difference between Cana
da and Wales. The Thomas Centre was interesting and, in spots, brutally honest about Thomas' drinking, public behaviour, and womanizing. But that is part of the bad-boy image that Thomas himself cultivated and is copied by so many media stars today. Was Thomas a great poet? Undoubtedly. Was he also the great godfather of bad artistic behaviour? Yes. ( Charlie Sheen springs to mind as a descendent of the Thomas personna. ) And was Thomas a true artist or merely the first "media star"? The jury's still out on that one.
homas Centre, which is a small museum dedicated to Swansea's most famous son. Fitting that, in this Celtic land, where people's verbal cadences are a lilting sing-song, a writer should hold such prominence. Would Toronto ever develop Margaret Atwood Centre, or a museum for Robertson Davies, or Montreal create a Mordecai Richler exhibit? Unlikely, but that, perhaps, is the difference between Cana
da and Wales. The Thomas Centre was interesting and, in spots, brutally honest about Thomas' drinking, public behaviour, and womanizing. But that is part of the bad-boy image that Thomas himself cultivated and is copied by so many media stars today. Was Thomas a great poet? Undoubtedly. Was he also the great godfather of bad artistic behaviour? Yes. ( Charlie Sheen springs to mind as a descendent of the Thomas personna. ) And was Thomas a true artist or merely the first "media star"? The jury's still out on that one. We finished the day soggy and a little down in the dumps after such a dreary outing. Hopefully, we can pick our spirits up tomorrow when we head into the larger and more cosmopolitan city of Cardiff.
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