[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-40513-en":3,"doc-seo-40513-105":30,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":83},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":21,"is_downloadable":21,"audit_status":21,"page_count":22,"language":23,"language_code":24,"site_id":25,"html_lang":24,"table_of_contents":26,"faqs":27,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":28,"read_time":29},40513,7971461740886,"Theodore","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_3d24733baf745e90a7e4bdd5f77d97b2",2,"Literature","The Dark Philosophers by Gwyn Thomas (Library of Wales)","A Library of Wales edition of Gwyn Thomas’s 1946 novel The Dark Philosophers, introduced by Elaine Morgan. The foreword traces Thomas’s early life in South Wales, his radicalization amid unemployment and poverty, and his shift from teaching to writing and broadcasting. It highlights his difficult health background, his distinctive comedic voice, and the wide reception of his fiction, plays, and radio work, including comparisons to major literary figures.","GWYN THOMAS  \nFOREWORD BY ELAINE MORGAN  \nLIBRARY OF WALES  \nGwyn Thomas was born into a large and boisterous family in Porth, in the Rhondda Valley, in 1913. After a scholarship to Porth County School he went to St Edmund Hall, Oxford, where he read Spanish. Mass unemployment and widespread poverty in South Wales deepened his radicalism. After working for the Workers’ Educational Association he became a teacher, first in Cardigan and from 1942 in Barry. In 1962 he left teaching and concentrated on writing and broadcasting. His many published works of fiction include The Dark Philosophers (1946); The Alone to the Alone (1947); All Things Betray Thee (1949); The World Cannot Hear You (1951) and Now Lead Us Home (1952) . He also wrote several collections of short stories, six stage plays and the autobiography A Few Selected Exits (1968) . He died in 1981.  \nThe Dark Philosophers  \nGwyn Thomas  \nL I B R A R Y O F W A L E S  \nParthian The Old Surgery Napier Street  \nCardigan  \nSA43 1ED [www.parthianbooks.co.uk](www.parthianbooks.co.uk)  \nThe Library ofWales is a Welsh Assembly Government initiative which highlights and celebrates Wales’ literary heritage in the English language.  \nPublished with the financial support of the Welsh Books Council.  \nThe Library of Wales publishing project is based at Trinity College, Carmarthen, SA31 3EP. [www.libraryofwales.org](www.libraryofwales.org)  \nSeries Editor: Dai Smith  \nFirst published in 1946  \n© Gwyn Thomas 1946  \nLibrary of Wales edition published 2006  \nForeword © Elaine Morgan 2005  \nAll Rights Reserved  \nISBN 1-902638-82-4  \n9 781902 638829  \nCover design by Marc Jennings  \nCover image by W. Eugene Smith  \nPrinted and bound by Dinefwr Press, Llandybïe, Wales Typeset by Lucy Llewellyn  \nBritish Library Cataloguing in Publication Data  \nA cataloguing record for this book is available from the British Library.  \nThis book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not by way of trade or otherwise be circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published.  \nL I B R A R Y O F W A L E S  \nForeword  \nThe extraordinary thing about Gwyn Thomas is that he found anything to laugh about. He grew up in one of the grimmest and most depressed areas in the United Kingdom. He was the last (and felt himself to be the least wished-for) of twelve children. His mother died when he was six, leaving the memory of a beautiful and creative woman who ‘would look at me, and almost forgive me, sometimes, for being there.’  \nHe inherited her zest for life, and acquired an appetite for learning which took him to Oxford, but he was miserably hardup and lonely there, and plagued by mysterious health problems. These grew steadily worse until he was twenty three, when he was told that an undiagnosed thyroid malfunction had been poisoning him for years and if he wasn’t promptly operated on he would shortly die. It doesn’t sound like the kind of raw material that would lead to his one day being hailed by a chorus of critics as one of the funniest men in the Western world.  \nWhen that happened, it would have come as no surprise to those who knew him. Whatever he talked about, he could when he was in the mood reduce his listeners to helpless laughter. The few times I met him were not in pubs in the evenings when people are mellow and ready to laugh at anything – they were in cold daylight, over nothing more intoxicating than BBC canteen coffee. Yet within ten minutes of his sitting down, people who heard that voice would hastily bring their cups and plates to adjoining tables so that they could listen in, and I’d have to take my glasses off to wipe away tears of laughter. I don’t  \nknow how he did it. I suppose the nearest thing we’ve had in recent years has been Billy Connolly.  \nAt the height of his career Gwyn had a string of novels to his credit, a highly acclaimed play running in the West End, and a cult following in America. He was in constant ","cbCaisLSRpWoWbMW","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaisLSRpWoWbMW","pdf",878822,7,1,318,"English","en",105,"# Foreword\n## Gwyn Thomas’s background and formative years\n## Health crisis and later recognition\n## Career, style, and critical reception","[{\"question\":\"How did Elaine Morgan describe Gwyn Thomas’s comedic ability and public impact?\",\"answer\":\"She emphasized that he could reduce listeners to helpless laughter quickly, even in serious settings, and that he gained acclaim as one of the funniest men in the Western world.\"}]",1783312146,490,{"code":4,"msg":31,"data":32},"ok",{"site_id":25,"language":24,"slug":33,"title":13,"keywords":34,"description":14,"schema_data":35,"social_meta":78,"head_meta":80,"extra_data":82,"updated_unix":28},"the-dark-philosophers-by-gwyn-thomas-library-of-wales","",{"@graph":36,"@context":77},[37,53,68],{"@type":38,"itemListElement":39},"BreadcrumbList",[40,44,47,50],{"item":41,"name":42,"@type":43,"position":21},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":45,"name":46,"@type":43,"position":11},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",{"item":48,"name":12,"@type":43,"position":49},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/literature/",3,{"item":51,"name":13,"@type":43,"position":52},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/the-dark-philosophers-by-gwyn-thomas-library-of-wales/40513/",4,{"url":51,"name":13,"@type":54,"author":55,"headline":13,"publisher":57,"fileFormat":60,"inLanguage":24,"description":14,"dateModified":61,"datePublished":62,"encodingFormat":60,"isAccessibleForFree":63,"interactionStatistic":64},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":56},"Person",{"url":41,"name":58,"@type":59},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-07-20","2026-07-06",true,{"@type":65,"interactionType":66,"userInteractionCount":20},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":67},"ViewAction",{"@type":69,"mainEntity":70},"FAQPage",[71],{"name":72,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":74},"How did Elaine Morgan describe Gwyn Thomas’s comedic ability and public impact?","Question",{"text":75,"@type":76},"She emphasized that he could reduce listeners to helpless laughter quickly, even in serious settings, and that he gained acclaim as one of the funniest men in the Western world.","Answer","https://schema.org",{"og:url":51,"og:type":79,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":58,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":81,"canonical":51},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":25},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":84},[85,89,92,96,101,106,110,115,120,123,127],{"id":21,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":86,"show_sort_weight":87,"slug":88},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":90,"slug":91},80,"literature",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":97,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":98,"show_sort_weight":99,"slug":100},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":102,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":103,"show_sort_weight":104,"slug":105},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":20,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":112,"show_sort_weight":113,"slug":114},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":116,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":117,"show_sort_weight":118,"slug":119},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":118,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":121,"show_sort_weight":118,"slug":122},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":124,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":125,"show_sort_weight":124,"slug":126},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":128,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":129,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":130},19,"General","general"]