Conversations like this are pure gold if you can find them. We had the joy of speaking with Dr. Thomas Dilworth about his life and work and friendship with David Jones. We found Tom to be just as kind and warm as people say that Jones was, not to mention just as intellectually inspiring.

Dr. Dilworth has a very special gift for you, dear listener! He has made available to us his monumental unabridged biography of David Jones pro gratis. While we also encourage you to purchase the shorter hardback version of David Jones: Engraver, Soldier, Painter, Poet (here is the Amazon link), you can begin exploring Jones for free right away. His book contains beautiful images of Jones, his friends, his surroundings, and his artwork, including the “trench” sketches.

Here is the downloadable PDF to the unabridged version of David Jones: Engraver, Soldier, Painter, Poet by Thomas Dilworth.

From the dustjacket…

Thomas Dilworth is the pre-eminent reader and interpreter of the work of David Jones and has published extensively on the subject. His books include The Shape of Meaning in the Poetry of David Jones, Reading David Jones, and David Jones in the Great War. He is the editor of Jones’s illustrated Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Jones’s Wedding Poems and Inner Necessities, the Letters of David Jones to Desmond Chute.

Here are links to two of the works mentioned in the episode. The first is of James Joyce reading a part of Finnegans Wake:

The second is a powerful singing of Miserere me, Deus by Gregorio Allegri (who was influenced by Palestrina), conducted by Nigel Short—listen for when the soprano reaches for the heavens:

Episode 53 Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Dr. Thomas Dilworth and David Jones

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