Emlyn (Autobiography, #2) by Emlyn Williams

Emlyn (Autobiography, #2) Reviews

• 
  Confirmed Bachelor

  A really fantastic memoir. Although most of the popular culture references went over my head, the emphasis on these parts of Emlyn's life are intriguing even to someone uninitiated. Regardless, the texture of London in the 1920s and 1930s shines through in a profoundly vivid way.
• 
  Sphinx

  I love it when a book I had little knowledge of turns out to be a delight!
  Never having seen his plays or movies, I was unaware of Emlyn Williams’ story. The handsome photo of the Welshman on the cover of his autobiography caught my eye so I had to check it out on GR (4+). After a while I was drawn in to the exciting theatrical atmosphere of the 1920s/30s, the entertainment business in America and London, the creation of his plays - where his ideas came from, the actual writing process. More interesting though was his personal life, his happy relationship with his loveable parents, the demi-monde of the London gay theatrical world, his personal struggles with finding and keeping relationships - he delves into two important gay ones. He’s very forthright here, allowing us to follow him into the bedroom - and his discovery of a particular fetish. He’s also forthright when assessing his fellow actors, but never cruelly.
  All round, it’s a picture of great warmth and honesty with some humour too. Williams is never pretentious, a downfall of many a successful artiste’s memoir. He comes across as being a good person - helping out his parents and alcoholic first lover and maintaining gratitude for an old schoolteacher who set him on the path to success. He doesn’t shy away from the darker moments when professional setbacks or personal events bring him to despair. His uninhibited writing on his gay life was incredibly daring for the early 1970s.
  As for his actual writing, you know he is the smartest person in the room, certainly the most interesting with the ability to understand people and recreate them vividly on stage or as here in books. His great talent and prodigious energy led to his directing and acting in his own play before he was 30.
  Published in 1973, it’s a pity Williams didn’t carry on with later autobiographical volumes (‘Emlyn’ was the second) - his life would have continued to make fascinating reading.
  
  Not a five-star read because I had to skip over some of the details of performances - important for Williams but not now, 90 years later. Also, I think he omits some parts of his life - probably because they would have cast a poor light on others - but I believe he’s honest about himself, within reason!