The papers, and associated bequests of Raymond Williams’ papers, among others, are the foundation stones of a planned Richard Burton Research Centre at Swansea University. Both Sally Burton and the University are eager to see publication of a comprehensive edition of the diaries by a major publisher – an edition that will both appeal to the general public and will be in keeping with the scholarly context of the bequest. In partnership with LIS and the School of Arts, CREW has responsibility for preparing this edition.

The Richard Burton Diaries

The diaries begin with a small volume kept by Burton in 1940 when he was fourteen years old, and subsequently cover the years 1960, 1965-1972, 1975, with partial diaries for 1977-1983.

They offer an insight into the making of the man and of the actor, and provide a fascinating view of the theatrical and film world in which he moved: major directors, producers and actors, poets and novelists, royalty and other celebrities all people these pages. To intrigue the celebrity followers there is plenty on Elizabeth Taylor, on Burton’s many other romantic involvements, and on his struggle with drinking, but the diaries also show him to be a deeply cultured, widely-read and thoughtful man with a restless and intellectually hungry mind, sharp political opinions, a passionate and enduring involvement with Wales, and a sardonic and occasionally vicious wit. He was a fine writer and an astute and uncompromising observer of others, and of himself.

A sampling of the 1965, 1966, 1970 and 1972 diaries is rich in film and politics. There is material from 1965 on the filming of  The Spy Who Came In From the Cold and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?; discussion of Elizabeth Taylor’s health, of meetings with directors and actors, and of family life. The 1966 diary has extended entries on the making of  The Taming of the Shrew, on  Burton’s view of working with Franco Zeffirelli, and of the filming of Dr Faustus. In 1970 there is a great deal on Frank Sinatra; views on actors and acting; life in Mexico; the Oscar Ceremony in which Burton was nominated as Best Actor but did not win; on Elizabeth Taylor’s addiction to pills, her operation and her recovery, and reflections on British and American politics, and the British General Election. 1972 includes discussion of the filming of The Battle of Sutjeska in various locations in Yugoslavia; visits with Tito and his wife, and Burton’s attempts to learn Serbo-Croat. It includes the period of filming The Assassination of Trotsky in Rome and of Bluebeard in Budapest; his feelings about acting, his response to press coverage that admonishes him for having deserted the theatre, and thoughts about the political situation in Yugoslavia and observations on the Slav people and on communism.  Burton always prided himself on his writing skills and the diaries make very compelling reading.

Although Melvyn Bragg had access to the diaries and quotes from some sections of them in the second half of his biography of Burton, there is a great deal of material that he did not use. Among this material is one of the most interesting and tragic diaries – that of 1975,  which, although it contains only short entries, covers the period of his second marriage to Elizabeth Taylor in Africa, and indicates in stark terms the effects of his heavy drinking.

Throughout the diaries, Burton reflects on what he is reading, for he is a compulsive and idiosyncratic  reader, consuming biography, fiction, political analysis, thrillers, detective novels and poetry in vast quantities at all times. He reflects on the theatre and on acting; on his family and his children; his wives and lovers; his birthplace and wherever he is living – and on the media and the public who variously love and revile him, and perpetually pursue and harass him.

BWLET
An Online Bibliography of Welsh-English Literary Translation (AHRB funded project)

The Raymond Williams Papers
An extensive collection of the papers of the distinguished cultural critic and writer, Raymond Williams (1921-88) were deposited at CREW in the Summer of 2007.  

The Richard Burton Archive
This extensive archive includes the Richard Burton Diaries, currently being prepared for publication. 

The Ron Berry Papers
The manuscript papers of one of the South Wales’s coalfield’s most original and remarkable fiction writers. 

The Alun Richards Papers 
The manuscript papers and film records of one of the most prolific, versatile and accomplished of Wales’s post-war writers, whose popular reputation was established through the scripting of such television series as The Onedin Line.

The Archive of Welsh English: David Parry SAWD Archive
The Archive of Welsh English, also known as the David Parry SAWD Archive, is a unique collection of audio recordings, transcriptions, and dissertations housed in the Department of English at UWS.  The British Library holds a copy of this archive. 

CREW Bibliography
Further reading in Welsh Writing in English  

The Annotated Bibliography of the Anglo-Welsh Short Story
A bibliography of short stories compiled by Sally Roberts Jones  

Seventeenth Century Welsh Writers in English
Two online editions of work by Sir John Stradling and William Gamage edited by Glyn Pursglove (Reader in English and CREW Associate)

Links