A Collection of Dylan Thomas – Old Paper & Cats, Reviews by S. Hargrave

So Many Cards

I’m starting to fill out Christmas cards before we mail them in the coming week and I am floored by how much they multiply over the years. I remember my grandmother sitting at her dining room table with her card list and complaining that there were always so many cards and so many people and the list kept getting longer. I guess in my child-brain I could not fathom how a list could get longer. How does that happen?

A tortoiseshell cat and a decorative present-shaped centrepiece sit beside a small hardcover book.

Now I’m in my thirties and I know how that happens and my list is getting longer. I remember we started with a single ten-pack of holiday cards and most of them went to clients and friends. Now? Probably three packs. And suddenly I’m regretting my choice to draw in each individual card. I wonder if family has noticed my drawings get simpler with passing years.

A Child's Christmas in Wales and Other Stories and Poems in a small hardcover book by Dylan Thomas. The cover features a painting of a stone house in winter.

A Favourite Story

I’ve already reviewed A Child’s Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas, because it remains one of my holiday favourites. Here, Macmillan has reprinted the prose poem in a lovely little edition that also includes Thomas’ short story collection, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog, and some selected poetry. So this volume is a great introduction to Thomas for those that are new to his work, but it also serves as a compact little compliment to those that are familiar with and love Thomas’ work already.

A tortoiseshell cat sits beside a red holiday present decoration and a copy of Dylan Thomas' A Child's Christmas in Wales.

Stories with Poetry

I know that some people don’t like collections that include poetry along with prose pieces. I’m not one of these people. I prefer to see a selection of pieces across a writer’s career, even if that work is a variety of different styles and mediums. I’m not as familiar with poetry, but I do like to trace the lines of poetry in a writer’s or poet’s prose pieces. I’m also drawn to novels by poets, because of their lyrical phrasing and the complexity of their metaphors and use of literary devices.

In this specific case, Thomas’ prose work provides a look at the influences behind his much more well-known poetry.

A tortoiseshell cat sits beside a red present-shaped decoration and a small, blue hardcover book.

Is This Christmas?

Admittedly, though this collection includes A Child’s Christmas in Wales, most of the book has little to nothing to do with the holiday season. However, there is a certain nostalgia for times gone by that does pervade the collection of stories. Don’t mistake that for warm and fuzzy stories; these definitely don’t fit that bill.

My favourites were ‘The Peaches’, a biting comment on class divisions and the cruelty to the bourgeois, and ‘A Visit to Grandpa’s’, where the young Thomas visits his grandfather, which forms a subtle comment on the importance of the elderly to the community and a subtle confrontation with mortality.

A tortoiseshell cat lounges beside a small hardcover book by Dylan Thomas. The book is pale blue with gold text.

The Boxes Multiply

One of my constant problems with holiday cards is that no matter how many packs of them I have and how carefully I buy them (recyclable and sustainable as much as possible), I always think we must have none. And I always buy more when the season starts and they’re on sale. Then, when we start filling them out, I don’t use up the pack I have open from last year but start on the new one.

So this year I have three different cards that hopefully I can use up and then actually be out of cards next year when I will likely assume that we have lots at home and then need to curse myself going back to the shop to get more.