Rhys Davies Collected Stories Vol 2

Out Of Print ... Rhys Davies (1901-78) was among the most dedicated, prolific and accomplished of short-story writers. For more than forty years, with unswearving devotion, he practised the literary form of which he was a master, and in which his reputation now firmly rests. He wrote twenty novels, three novellas, two books about Wales, and an auto-biography; but it is for his short-stories that he is best remembered today. They are the work of a master-craftsman who had an unerring instinct for the dramatic, a keen ear for the dialogue, and a sympathetic eye for human charater in all its lovely and unlovely variety. Born at Blaenclydach in the Rhondda, a son of the village grocer, he set many of his stories in the industrial valleys of south Wales or in greener parts of west Wales, but his work has been compared with that of French and Russian writers such as Maupassant and Chekhov. He was also a friend of D.H. Lawrence, with whom he had much in common. He was particularly good at depicting women. Many of his stories have heroines who rise above their circumstances to find their true selves in a male dominated world. Lyrical and satirical by turns, these stories have a timeless and universal quality which ensures their lasting appeal. Meic Stephens, the editor, has written an authorative introduction which throws light on the complexities of this major Welsh writer and will help to rekindle interest in his work.