The Richard Burton Diaries

Come to this volume for the love story, stay for the lit talk. . . . Burtons diaries, published now for the first time, are filled with . . . pocket-size delights. . . . But I admired this complicated and fairly remarkable book for its deeper and more insinuating qualities as well.Dwight Garner, New York Times The Richard Burton Diaries. Just great fun, and written out of an engaging, often comical bewilderment: How did a poor Welshman become not only a star, but a player on the world stage that was Elizabeth Taylors fame? As a kind of celebrity Pilgrims Progress, it is very tender without missing the fact that show business is hard.Hilton Als, NewYorker.com Burton loved literature, and how proud hed have been to know that in his diaries he demonstrates considerable literary gifts. His observations about his peers are brilliant. . . . This indispensable book is meticulously edited by Professor Chris Williams.Roger Lewis, Financial Times His diaries are not those of a man afraid to take a harsh look at himself. . . . He is much more likely, in dealing with his fights with Taylor, to record his own bad behavior than hers. Conversely, the diaries are remarkably free of self-congratulation, either for his achievements as an actor or for his great generosity with money.Fintan OToole, New York Review of Books The Richard Burton Diaries . . . offers a compelling insight into the mind of a major film star.Christopher Silvester, Daily Express One might well suppose that Mr. Burton had no interests other than gossip, money, drink and sex. In fact, theres quite a bit more to The Richard Burton Diaries than that. Among other things, Mr. Burton turns out to have been an exceedingly literate man who had shrewd opinions about the many books that he read.Terry Teachout, Wall Street Journal Of real interest is that Burton was almost as good a writer as an actor, read as many as three books a day, haunted bookstores in every city he set foot in, bought countless books on every conceivable subject and evaluated them rather shrewdly. . . . Apt writing abounds. . . . His love of language is also displayed dazzlingly in the recurrent loving tributes to Elizabeth. True, he also records their fights, but these are quickly forgotten by him after a good walk, and by both of them after a nights sleep. Much more frequent and pertinent are the love declarations.John Simon, New York Times Book Review The Richard Burton who emerges from these diaries is a far better man than even his wildest fan might have expected. Hes so sensitive, intelligent, deeply well-read and supremely well-informed that you can almost kid yourself hed have been fun to have to dinner. It would be absurd, of course, to call his a model life. But nobody who has read this book could call it a wasted one.Christopher Bray, Wall Street Journal [Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor] made a lovely charming decadent hopeless couple, as Burton notes, in a characteristically wry and graceful phrase. . . . A captivating story of misplaced success: Burton was a voracious and astute reader who nurtured unfulfilled literary ambitions. Even his greatest acting triumphs were a blow, representing the indignity and the boredom of having to learn the writings of another man.New Yorker He left just this partial, riveting diary, one of the great books left behind by anyone in the acting profession, and piercing evidence that the very famous, the very rich, the men with jewels and yachts may be haunted outcasts who recognize their own type.David Thomson, New Republic These diaries offer a delightfully unvarnished glimpse at the actors life, from his reading habits and jet-setting to his tumultuous relationship with Elizabeth Taylor.Los Angeles Times The words reveal someone who is reflective and thoughtful and someone who engaged intellectually with th

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.