Dylan Thomas (1914–1953) is a Welsh writer whose works are admired around the world. He recited poems to Queen Elizabeth, he was depicted on the album of the iconic Beatles in 1967, and in 1998 his photo as a tribute to the author's talent even went into space. Dylan Thomas' poetry is featured in Christopher Nolan's Interstellar and Steven Soderbergh's Solaris.
The well-known English actor Richard Burton was buried with a collection of Welsh poems; for a long time it was believed that the singer Bob Dylan chose his pseudonym precisely in honor of his favorite writer. The most famous prose work of the author is "Portrait of the Artist in his Puppy Years", in the title of which there is an allusion to James Joyce's novel "Portrait of the Young Artist".
A Portrait of an Artist in His Puppy Years (1940) is a series of ten poignant and inspirational short stories in which Dylan Thomas ignites the enthusiasm of his youth by reminiscing about the events of his childhood. First, a young schoolboy drowning in fantasies in a shabby farmyard; later - a budding poet with teasing acquaintances and dreams of wealth. And finally - a reporter who travels around the suburbs of Swansea, collecting interesting material. Sexuality and male friendship are two cross-cutting themes of the work, closely intertwined with the usual questions of love, death and religion, which concern every person "in the puppy years".
