Editing Dylan Thomas (section)

===America, Iran... and ''Under Milk Wood'', 1950–1953===
American poet [[John Malcolm Brinnin|John Brinnin]] invited Thomas to New York, where in February 1950 they embarked on a lucrative three-month tour of arts centres and campuses.{{sfnp|Ferris|1989|pp=243–250}} The tour, which began in front of an audience of a thousand at the Kaufmann Auditorium of the Poetry Centre in New York, took in about 40 venues.{{sfnp|Ferris|1989|p=251}}{{sfnp|FitzGibbon|1965|pp=403–406}}<ref group="nb">{{harvp|FitzGibbon|1965}} lists 39 venues visited in the first US trip, compiled with the help of John Brinnin, but accepts that some locations may have been missed.</ref> During the tour, Thomas was invited to many parties and functions and on several occasions became drunk – going out of his way to shock people – and was a difficult guest.{{sfnp|Ferris|1989|pp=252–254}} Thomas drank before some of his readings, though it is argued he may have pretended to be more affected by it than he actually was.{{sfnp|Ferris|1989|p=255}} The writer [[Elizabeth Hardwick (writer)|Elizabeth Hardwick]] recalled how intoxicating a performer he was and how the tension would build before a performance: "Would he arrive only to break down on the stage? Would some dismaying scene take place at the faculty party? Would he be offensive, violent, obscene?"<ref Name="Kirsch-2004"/> Caitlin said in her memoir, "Nobody ever needed encouragement less, and he was drowned in it."<ref Name="Kirsch-2004"/>
{{listen|filename=And_death_shall_have_no_dominion.ogg|title=And death shall have no dominion|left|description=Thomas reads "And death shall have no dominion" for a 1953 recording |filetype=[[Ogg]]}}

On returning to Britain, Thomas began work on two further poems, "In the white giant's thigh", which he read on the ''Third Programme'' in September 1950, and the incomplete "In country heaven".{{sfnp|Ferris|1989|pp=279–280}} In October, Thomas sent a draft of the first 39 pages of 'The Town That Was Mad' to the BBC.{{sfnp|Ferris|1985|p=860}} The task of seeing this work through to production as ''Under Milk Wood'' was assigned to the BBC's [[Douglas Cleverdon]], who had been responsible for casting Thomas in 'Paradise Lost'.{{sfnp|Ferris|1989|p=280}}

Despite Cleverdon's urgings, the script slipped from Thomas's priorities and in January 1951 he went to [[Iran]] to work on a film for the [[Anglo-Iranian Oil Company]], an assignment which Callard has speculated<ref>D. Callard (1998) ''Dylan Thomas in Iran'', ''New Welsh Review'', December.</ref> was undertaken on behalf of British intelligence agencies.<ref>For an extensive discussion of Thomas's trip to Iran, including his supposed but unproven connections to MI5 and MI6 intelligence agencies, see Thomas, D. N. (2000), ''A Farm, Two Mansions and a Bungalow'', ch. 6, ''The Spying'' Seren.</ref> Thomas toured the country with the film crew, and his letters home vividly express his shock and anger with the poverty he saw around him.{{sfnp|Ferris|1985|pp=871–877}} He also gave a reading at the British Council<ref>For an account of this reading, see {{harvp|Thomas|2000|pp=156–157}}.</ref> and talked with a number of Iranian intellectuals, including [[Ebrahim Golestan]] whose account of his meeting with Thomas has been translated and published.<ref>Golestan, Ebrahim (2022) ''An Encounter with Dylan Thomas'', Mage Publishers, edited and translated by [[Abbas Milani]].</ref> The film was never made, with Thomas returning to Wales in February, though his time in Iran allowed him to provide a few minutes of material for a BBC documentary, 'Persian Oil'.{{sfnp|Ferris|1989|pp=281–282}} Thomas' journey through Iran has also been the subject of the 2024 documentary film ''Pouring Water on Troubled Oil''. The film was written and directed by Nariman Massoumi, Department of Film and Television at [[Bristol University]], with narration by [[Michael Sheen]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://nation.cymru/culture/new-film-chronicles-dylan-thomass-journey-through-iran/ |title=New film chronicles Dylan Thomas's journey through Iran |date=13 May 2024 |publisher=nation.cymru |access-date=6 June 2024}}</ref>

Later that year, Thomas published two poems, which have been described as "unusually blunt."{{sfnp|Ferris|1989|pp=282–283}} They were an ode, in the form of a [[villanelle]], to his dying father, ''[[Do not go gentle into that good night]]'', and the ribald ''Lament''.<ref>Both were published in ''Botteghe Oscure''. See W. Davies and R. Maud eds. (1993) ''Collected Poems 1934–1953'', pp. 255–256.</ref>

Although he had a range of wealthy patrons, including Margaret Taylor, Princess Marguerite [[Caetani]] and Marged Howard-Stepney, Thomas was still in financial difficulty, and he wrote several begging letters to notable literary figures, including [[T. S. Eliot]].{{sfnp|Ferris|1989|p=285}} Taylor was not keen on Thomas taking another trip to the United States, and thought that if he had a permanent address in London he would be able to gain steady work there.{{sfnp|Ferris|1989|p=287}} She bought a property, 54 [[Delancey Street, Camden|Delancey Street]], in [[Camden Town]], and in late 1951 Thomas and Caitlin lived in the basement flat.<ref>{{cite web | url= http://openplaques.org/plaques/592 | title= Dylan Thomas blue plaque in London | publisher= openplaques.org | access-date= 4 May 2013}}</ref> Thomas would describe the flat as his "London house of horror" and did not return there after his 1952 tour of America.<ref>{{cite book |title= Literary London: A Street by Street Exploration of the Capital's Literary Heritage |first1= Ed|last1= Glinert|isbn= 978-0-14-190159-6|publisher= Penguin|year= 2007}}</ref>

====Second tour January 20 to May 16, 1952====
Thomas undertook a second tour of the United States in 1952, this time with Caitlin – after she had discovered he had been unfaithful on his earlier trip.{{sfnp|Ferris|1989|pp=286–287, 296}} They drank heavily, and Thomas began to suffer with [[gout]] and [[Respiratory distress|lung problems]]. The second tour was the most intensive of the four, taking in 46 engagements.{{sfnp|FitzGibbon|1965|pp=403–410}} The trip also resulted in Thomas recording his first poetry to vinyl, which [[Caedmon Audio|Caedmon Records]] released in America later that year.{{sfnp|Ferris|1989|p=301}} One of his works recorded during this time, ''[[A Child's Christmas in Wales]]'', became his most popular prose work in America.{{sfnp|Ferris|1989|p=214}} The original 1952 recording of the book was a 2008 selection for the [[United States National Recording Registry]], stating that it is "credited with launching the [[audiobook]] industry in the United States".<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.loc.gov/rr/record/nrpb/registry/nrpb-2008reg.html |title= The National Recording Registry 2008 | access-date= 16 July 2012 | work= National Recording Preservation Board of the Library of Congress | publisher= The Library of Congress}}</ref>

A shortened version of the first half of ''The Town That Was Mad'' was published in ''[[Botteghe Oscure]]'' in May 1952, with the title ''Llareggub. A Piece for Radio Perhaps''. Thomas had been in Laugharne for almost three years, but his half-play had made little progress since his time living in South Leigh. By the summer of 1952, the half-play's title had been changed to ''Under Milk Wood'' because John Brinnin thought the title ''Llareggub'' would not attract American audiences.{{sfnp|Brinnin|1955|p=187}} On 6 November 1952, Thomas wrote to the editor of ''Botteghe Oscure'' to explain why he hadn't been able to "finish the second half of my piece for you." He had failed shamefully, he said, to add to "my lonely half of a looney maybe-play".{{sfnp|Ferris|1985|p={{page needed|date=June 2024}}}}

On 10 November 1952 Thomas's last collection ''Collected Poems, 1934–1952'', was published by Dent; he was 38. It won the [[William Foyle|Foyle]] poetry prize.<ref>{{cite book|title= New Companion to the Literature of Wales|first1= Meic|last1= Stephens|year= 1998|page=711|isbn= 978-0-7083-1383-1|publisher= University of Wales Press|url-access= registration|url= https://archive.org/details/newcompaniontoli0000unse}}</ref> Reviewing the volume, critic [[Philip Toynbee]] declared that "Thomas is the greatest living poet in the English language".{{sfnp|Bold|1976|p=61}} The winter of 1952/3 brought much personal tragedy: Thomas's father died from pneumonia just before Christmas 1952; and in the Spring of 1953 his sister died from liver cancer, one of his patrons overdosed, three friends died at young ages and Caitlin had an abortion.{{sfnp|Thomas|2008|p=29}}

====Third tour 21 April to 3 June 1953====
In April 1953, Thomas returned alone for a third tour of America.{{sfnp|Ferris|1989|p=316}} He performed a "work in progress" version of ''Under Milk Wood'', solo, for the first time at [[Harvard University]] on 3 May.{{sfnp|FitzGibbon|1965|p=385}} A week later, the work was performed with a full cast at the Poetry Centre in New York. He met the deadline only after being locked in a room by Brinnin's assistant, Liz Reitell, and he was still editing the script on the afternoon of the performance; its last lines were handed to the actors as they were putting on their makeup.{{sfnmp|1a1=Bold|1y=1976|1p=61|2a1=Thomas|2y=2008|2p=33}}

During this penultimate tour, Thomas met the composer [[Stravinsky|Igor Stravinsky]] who had become an admirer after having been introduced to his poetry by [[W. H. Auden]]. They had discussions about collaborating on a "musical theatrical work" for which Thomas would provide the libretto on the theme of "the rediscovery of love and language in what might be left after the world after the bomb." The shock of Thomas's death later in the year moved Stravinsky to compose his ''In Memoriam Dylan Thomas'' for tenor, string quartet and four trombones. The first performance in [[Los Angeles]] in 1954 was introduced with a tribute to Thomas from [[Aldous Huxley]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Craft |first1=Robert |author-link=Robert Craft |title=Stravinsky: Glimpses of a Life |location=London |publisher=Lime Tree |year=1992 |pages=52–60 |isbn=978-0413454614}}</ref>

Thomas spent the last nine or ten days of his third tour in New York mostly in the company of Reitell, with whom he had an affair.{{sfnp|Ferris|1989|p=321}} During this time, Thomas fractured his arm falling down a flight of stairs when drunk. Reitell's doctor, Milton Feltenstein, put his arm in plaster and treated him for gout and gastritis.{{sfnp|Ferris|1989|p=321}}

After returning home, Thomas worked on ''Under Milk Wood'' in Laugharne. Aeronwy, his daughter, noticed that his health had "visibly deteriorated...I could hear his racking cough. Every morning he had a prolonged coughing attack...The coughing was nothing new but it seemed worse than before."{{sfnp|Thomas|2009|p=199}} She also noted that the blackouts that Thomas was experiencing were "a constant source of comment" amongst his Laugharne friends.{{sfnp|Thomas|2009|p=204}}

Thomas sent the original manuscript to Douglas Cleverdon on 15 October 1953. It was copied and returned to Thomas, who lost it in a pub in London and required a duplicate to take to America.{{sfnp|Ferris|1989|p=328}}<ref name="UMW Chron">{{cite web|url= http://www.dylanthomas.com/dylan/dylans-work/milk-wood-chronology/|title= Under Milk Wood&nbsp;– A Chronology|publisher= dylanthomas.com|access-date= 22 July 2014}}</ref> Thomas flew to the States on 19 October 1953 for what would be his final tour.{{sfnp|Ferris|1989|p=328}} He died in New York before the BBC could record ''Under Milk Wood''.<ref>Nicola Soames, CD notes from ''Dylan Thomas: Under Milk Wood'', Naxos Audiobooks.</ref><ref>{{cite web |first1= Andy|last1= Walker|url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22765852|title= The days that defined Broadcasting House|date= 7 June 2013|access-date= 8 June 2013|publisher= BBC}}</ref> [[Richard Burton]] starred in the first broadcast in 1954, and was joined by [[Elizabeth Taylor]] in a [[Under Milk Wood (1972 film)|subsequent film]].<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/arts/under_milk_wood.shtml|title= Under Milk Wood|publisher= BBC Radio 4|access-date= 23 July 2012}}</ref> In 1954, the play won the [[Prix Italia]] for literary or dramatic programmes.{{refn|The BBC submitted the play posthumously along with a French translation by [[Jacques-Bernard Brunius]].<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.prlog.org/11878434-prestigious-new-item-added-to-the-dylan-thomas-centre-collection.html |title= Prestigious new item added to the Dylan Thomas Centre collection|publisher= prlog.org|date= 18 May 2012|access-date= 31 July 2012}}</ref>|group="nb"}}