The Richard Burton Diaries - Softcover

Richard Burton

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0300197284 ISBN 13: 9780300197280

Publisher: Yale University Press, 2013

Synopsis

Irresistibly magnetic on stage, mesmerizing in movies, seven times an Academy Award nominee, Richard Burton rose from humble beginnings in Wales to become Hollywood's most highly paid actor and one of England's most admired Shakespearean performers. His epic romance with Elizabeth Taylor, his legendary drinking and story-telling, his dazzling purchases (enormous diamonds, a jet, homes on several continents), and his enormous talent kept him constantly in the public eye. Yet the man behind the celebrity faade carried a surprising burden of insecurity and struggled with the peculiar challenges of a life lived largely in the spotlight.
This volume publishes Burton's extensive personal diaries in their entirety for the first time. His writings encompass many years-from 1939, when he was still a teenager, to 1983, the year before his death-and they reveal him in his most private moments, pondering his triumphs and demons, his loves and his heartbreaks. The diary entries appear in their original sequence, with annotations to clarify people, places, books, and events Burton mentions.
From these hand-written pages emerges a multi-dimensional man, no mere flashy celebrity. While Burton touched shoulders with shining lights-among them Olivia de Havilland, John Gielgud, Claire Bloom, Laurence Olivier, John Huston, Dylan Thomas, and Edward Albee-he also played the real-life roles of supportive family man, father, husband, and highly intelligent observer. His diaries offer a rare and fresh perspective on his own life and career, and on the glamorous decades of the mid-twentieth century.

About this title

Review:

'The most salient part of 'The Richard Burton Diaries' (now out in paperback from Yale University Press and a far superior 'beach read' to any Revenge Wears Prada folderol) is not the great Welsh actor's fabled love of language, his stage fright or his splurges on private airplanes and pedigreed jewels for the love of his life, Elizabeth Taylor.' -Alexandra Jacobs, The New York Times

'Likely to prove the literary sensation of the year.' -Christopher Wilson, The Daily Telegraph

'Meticulously edited by Welsh history professor Chris Williams, the diaries are, in a word, fascinating - indeed downright compelling - reading ... Altogether, The Richard Burton Diaries make for utterly involving, fascinating reading, giving a rare insight into a complicated, gifted individual.' --The Washington Times

'Likely to prove the literary sensation of the year.' --Christopher Wilson, The Daily Telegraph

'Meticulously edited by Welsh history professor Chris Williams, the diaries are, in a word, fascinating - indeed downright compelling - reading ... Altogether, The Richard Burton Diaries make for utterly involving, fascinating reading, giving a rare insight into a complicated, gifted individual.' --The Washington Times

About the Author:

Chris Williams is professor of Welsh history, director of the Research Institute for Arts and Humanities, and deputy director of the College of Arts and Humanities, Swansea University. He lives in Swansea, Wales.

About this edition

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0300197284
• ISBN 13: 9780300197280
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 704
• Editor: Chris Williams