NEW WELSH REVIEW The New Welsh No 22 (Vol VI No2) autumn ‘93 Editor: Robin Reeves Editorial Assistant: Mary Parnell Editorial Board: Tony Brown, Tony Curtis, Rhys David, Walford Davie, Belinda Humfrey, Sally Roberts Jones, John Pikoulis, KevinThomas, MercerSimpson. Editorial Advisers: Dannie Abse, Joseph Clancy, Tony Conran, Elgan Davies, James A. Davies, Philip Wyn Davies, Desirée Hirst, Jeremy Hooker, Jonah Jones, R. Brinley Jones, Paul Bennett Morgan, Mercer Simpson, Dai Smith, Peter Stead, loan Williams. Patrons: GlynJones,Gwyn Jones, Roland Mathias. Contributions and subscriptions should be addressed to49 Park Place, Cardiff, CFISAT (‘Phone /Fax:0222.665529) Unsolicited manuscripts must be accompanied bya stamped, addressed envelope, the Editor and authors. Annual subscription15 including postage (4numbers) Overseas airmail if required: Add 6 pa. Paymentin Sterling please; or elseadd the equivalent of4to cover conversion costs. Overseas surface mail: add 2 p.a. Single numbers: 3.60 (plus 60p p&p). Back numbers available. To advertise: telephone )222.665529 1/4 Ad. rates (mono):Full page 200.00; 1/2 page 120.00; /4 page 55.00; 1/8 page 30.00, Colour rates on application. Classified and semi-display 30pa word. New Welsh Reviewis sponsored by the English Language Section of the Welsh Academy and the University of Wales Association for the Study of Welsh Writingin English. It is published withthe financial support of the Welsh Arts Council. Printed by J.D. Lewis & Sons Ltd.,Gomer Press, Llandysul, Dyfed. CONTENTS ABSE ANNALS 8 Startled by the Visible TONY CURTIS pays tribute to Dannie Abse on his 70th birthday. 9 Journals from the Ant Heap An 45’... remember a sad breeze among the olives’ H.G.A. HUGHES pays tribute to Merryn Williams’s new translations of the poems of Garcia Lorca. 50 Welsh writer with his eye on an exclusive preview of - DANNIE ABSE’s s | thoughts, activities and f concerns in his 70th year 15 A tale of collaboration not conflict with the ‘people of the book’ LEO ABSE sharply condemns a new history of the Jews of South Wales for failing to recognise that the really significant relationships between Jewish immigrants and the host community lay beyond the ghettos of the synagogue and pawnshop. 26 Gwyn Thomas’s American ‘Oscar’ VICTOR GOLIGHTLY looks into the background of a famous short story and finds it was written by a young man = whose American models were not so much influences as fixations and indulgences. 32 A selected exit into deadly conventions PETERSTEAD found BBC Wales’s TV adaptation of Gwyn Thomas’s autobiography, A Few Selected Exits, starring Sir Anthony Hopkins, something of a nonevent. He explains why. 42 Remembered and ignored, celebrated and forgotten LESLEY GRANT-ADAMSON, in Andalucia, goes in search of the world of Frederico Garcia Lorca. Irish audience JUDITH MARO profiles Harri Pritchard Jones, chairman of Yr Academi Gymreig, on his 60th birthday. 52 The press of performance and debate PHIL MAILLARD profiles one of the most successful pioneers of creative writing classes in south Wales, the writer and poet, Chris Torrance. 60 I’ve seen the future and it’s not The Works CHRIS BENDON discusses the future of the book in the face of modern technological developments. 70 PETERSTEAD The University College of Swansea: an illustrated history by David Dykes. 72 TREVOR FISHLOCK Wales in America by William D. Jones. 73 HERBERT WILLIAMS Press, Politics and Society: A history of journalism in Wales by Aled Jones. 74 HARRI PRITCHARDJONES: Goliath: Britain’s dangerous places by Beatrice Campbell. 76 KATIEGRAMICH Caradoc Evans: selected stories edited by John Harris. 78 IAN GREGSON The New Poetry edited by Michael Hulse, David Kennedy, David Morley. 80 PATRICK CROTTY Thelrish Literary Tradition byJ.E. Caerwyn Williams & Patrick K. Ford. The Chosen Ground edited by Neil Corcoran. A Snail in My Prime by Paul Durcan. Irish Poetry Now edited by Gabriel Fitzmaurice 82 CATHERINE FISHER The Seventh Seal by Julie Rainsbury, The Old Man of Gilfach by Eirlys Trefor.