David Jones: Engraver, Soldier, Painter, Poet

David Jones is a neglected genius and one of the great Modernists, known as an extraordinary engraver, painter, and creator of painted inscriptions. He is overlooked due to his best writing being embedded in two book-length prose-poems, his Catholic faith, his shy, reclusive nature, and his loathing of self-promotion. He was a complete and original poet-artist, sui generis, impossible to pigeon-hole, and a true genius lost to Modernism.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 448 pages
Publication date: 03 January 2019
Publisher: Vintage Publishing

David Jones, a neglected genius and one of the great Modernists, is the subject of the first full biography, which is lavishly illustrated in color throughout. As a poet, visual artist, and essayist, David Jones is considered one of the great Modernists. His diverse range of talents reminds us of Blake, though he is a superior poet and a more accomplished artist overall. Jones was a remarkable engraver, painter, and creator of painted inscriptions, but he also holds a place among the foremost poets of the 20th century.

Despite being admired by some of the most influential cultural figures of the 20th century, David Jones remains relatively unknown or celebrated in the same way as Eliot, Beckett, or Joyce. His work, while occasionally as challenging as theirs, is equally rewarding and diverse. It is overlooked due to the difficulty of anthologizing his best writing, which is embedded in two book-length prose poems: In Parenthesis and The Anathemata. These works are informed by his Catholic faith and may feel unfashionable in our secular age. Jones was a shy, reclusive man, psychologically damaged by his time in the trenches, and loathed self-promotion.

However, primarily, David Jones was a complete and original poet-artist, sui generis, impossible to pigeonhole. This uniqueness has led to the neglect of David Jones: a true genius and a great lost Modernist.

Weight: 1176g
Dimension: 168 x 240 x 28 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781784708009