This collection of occasional writing 'reveals a consistency, a subtlety, a creativeness springing from tradition . . . For David Jones every sentence is wrought with artistry; and as compared with the arid conceptual approach of so much academic criticism, his imaginative testing and touching of every theme is nothing less than life-giving.' Kathleen Raine, New Statesman

Written between the late 1930s and the late 1950s, Epoch and Artist represents those essays that David Jones wished to see preserved in his lifetime. Beginning with his most personal reflections upon Welsh culture, the selection turns next to Jones's thoughts on the position of art and the artist in the twentieth century, concluding with writings on the nature of epoch and European culture and history. As 'unclassifiable' as his other writings, the volume encompasses a mixture of styles and modes - from prose-essays and reviews, to radio broadcasts and letters to periodicals - where each item has been carefully revised by the author.

A collection of all the essays that David Jones wished to see preserved in his lifetime, reissued in paperback with a cover based on the artist's original design

About the Author
David Jones (1895-1974) was born in Kent. His mother was a Londoner, his father, who worked as a printer's overseer, came from an old Welsh family, and Jones was to say that 'from about the age of six, I felt I belonged to my father's people and their land, though brought up entirely in an English atmosphere'. He attended art school for some years, but in 1915 he was sent with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers to fight in France, where he fought in the battles of the Somme and Ypres. Jones converted to Roman Catholicism in 1921, and in 1922 began a long association with the artist, designer and writer Eric Gill. In Parenthesis, based on Jones's experiences in World War I, was published in 1937, followed in 1952 by another major work, The Anathemata. The Sleeping Lord, fragments from an unfinished larger composition about the crucifixion, appeared in the last year of his life. David Jones's drawings and paintings can be found in the collections of the Tate Museum, the Whitworth Gallery, Manchester, and the National Museum of Wales.


Book Information
ISBN 9780571339501
Author David Jones
Format Paperback
Page Count 320
Imprint Faber & Faber
Publisher Faber & Faber
Weight(grams) 390g
Dimensions(mm) 26mm * 198mm * 130mm