Goodbye Twentieth Century

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'A magnificently conceived work.' - The Guardian

Dannie Abse's rich mixture of Welsh and Jewish backgrounds, and his dual occupations of doctor and author, have led to what is widely regarded as one of the most readable, humorous and poignant autobiographies available today. Goodbye, Twentieth Century incorporates his acclaimed first volume of autobiography, A Poet in the Family, and in this new edition from the Library of Wales brings his life up to the present day and the outset of a new century. It includes a moving epilogue that speaks of his recent years which brought tragedy and dramatic change to his life.

About the author:

Dannie Abse was born in Cardiff in 1923. He began his medical studies at the Welsh National School of Medicine and qualified as a doctor from Westminster Hospital, London in 1950. While still a student his first book of poems was published and his first play performed. Further poetry volumes followed over the decades, culminating in his New & Collected Poems (2003) and Running Late (2006). His first novel, Ash on a Young Man’s Sleeve, appeared in 1954 and last, the Booker long-listed The Strange Case of Dr Simmonds and Dr Glas in 2002. His three prize-winning plays were collected in The View from Row G (1990) and his autobiography, Goodbye, Twentieth Century, was published in 2001. He was president of the Welsh Academi and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He died in 2014.

This title is also available as an ebook: http://thelibraryofwales.com/node/68

“Incident and character are vividly depicted, period is richly evoked and the descriptive passages remind one what a splendid poet the author is.” - The Observer

“An entertaining and at times moving book. Mr Abse relates some very amusing anecdotes, and his informal yet controlled style is capable of moving without any sense of dislocation from these lighter occasions to deeply serious and affecting passages.” - Times Literary Supplement

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