"T. H. Parry-Williams’ great contribution to European letters derives from his poems and essays, which provide fascinating insight into how a minority literature grappled with modernity during the first decades of the twentieth century. His Collected Essays contains over a hundred short prose pieces, composed between 1928 and 1971, on such subjects as “the earthworm”, “sand”, “the drowning of a cat” and “buying a canary”, where the writer’s brilliant analytical mind, his deep and precise use of language, and most of all his ability to imbue the unnoted experiences of daily life with cosmic significance, are made evident."

Author: Angharad Price, for Finnegan's List 2014