"The Dark Philosophers" by Gwyn Thomas

[Ceri Shaw]

Tired of contemporary Welsh Noir? Why not give the 1940's vintage a try? Gwyn Thomas, an author much admired by Dylan Thomas amongst others, and sadly neglected in the present day, has recently attracted the attention of the joint Library of Wales/Parthian venture entitled "The Library of Wales – Writing for the World". He is represented in this series, which aims to make available the best of Welsh Writing in English, by "The Dark Philosophers" a collection of three novellas first published in 1946.

Dylan may have been an admirer but this collection is as far removed from Milk Wood as it is from "How Green Was My Valley". Do not look for stoical and cheerful acceptance of hardship alleviated by occasional bouts of choral singing. Likewise do not expect to find tales of loyal and noble workmen remaining steadfast and true in times of adversity.. These are tales born of the bitterness of grinding poverty, humiliation and life-threatening deprivation.. They all end with a death; two of the three with a violent, if justifiable, homicide.

Start your reading with the title piece:- "The Dark Philosphers" which is by far the strongest story in this collection. Here are some samples of Gwyn's dry and bitter humor to whet your appetite:-

"Among us the standard of living had for long been so low that people tripped over it and took their time about getting up again"

"There was a man in the Library and Institute with whom we played an occasional game of chess. This voter was very sad in all his ways of looking and thinking, and this sadness came from the fact that his wife had run away from him twice, and with the same man on both occasions. He gave us the impression that he would not have minded so much if his wife had chosen a different man for the second run, but choosing the same element had made the thing seem too deliberate and it had driven him to chess."

Thomas' prose is littered with passages like this, which alleviate the essential grimness of his story-telling. At the time of writing there are several copies of this wonderful book available on Amazon for as little as 99 cents. Irresistable!