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A review by weaselweader
The Wood Beyond the World by William Morris
4.0
A novel from the inventor of the modern fantasy genre
In a foreword to the edition in my library, Lin Carter, a fantasy author of no small skill and acclaim himself, wrote:
THE WOOD BEYOND THE WORLD is “the first great fantasy novel ever written: the first of them all; all the others, Dunsany, Eddison, Pratt, Tolkien, Peake, Howard, et al, are successors to this great original … [a] tale of quest, adventure or war set in an invented age and worldscape of the author’s own imagination.”
It’s all there – heroism and bravery, magic and wizardry, love and lust, good and evil, monsters, swordplay and more. Indeed, it’s easy to imagine one of Morris’ characters planting the seed in Tolkien’s brain that sprouted ultimately into a venal, craven Gollum in LORD OF THE RINGS.
But, forsooth, it is beyond doubt that the parlance of this tale and the words which fall from the fair mouths of the Man, the Maid and the Lady, will seem passing strange in your ears. Nor willst thou wot their meaning withal. But if a reader bide himself in repose, tender patience and calm wisdom, willt thou soon see that meaning, narrative and beauty, hitherto hidden and not forthcoming, will reveal themselves in the fullness of time with all charm and warmth. Then, in that fullness, friends of the Man and the Maid such as thyself will bear pleased witness to the story’s complete discarding of the unseemly raiment of linguistic disguise. Belike the will to seek rest will abandon thee and thou wouldst fain continue to read with complete understanding and joy until the hours are small and the night is past its midmost.
Highly recommended for readers and self-described students of the fantasy genre.
Paul Weiss
In a foreword to the edition in my library, Lin Carter, a fantasy author of no small skill and acclaim himself, wrote:
THE WOOD BEYOND THE WORLD is “the first great fantasy novel ever written: the first of them all; all the others, Dunsany, Eddison, Pratt, Tolkien, Peake, Howard, et al, are successors to this great original … [a] tale of quest, adventure or war set in an invented age and worldscape of the author’s own imagination.”
It’s all there – heroism and bravery, magic and wizardry, love and lust, good and evil, monsters, swordplay and more. Indeed, it’s easy to imagine one of Morris’ characters planting the seed in Tolkien’s brain that sprouted ultimately into a venal, craven Gollum in LORD OF THE RINGS.
But, forsooth, it is beyond doubt that the parlance of this tale and the words which fall from the fair mouths of the Man, the Maid and the Lady, will seem passing strange in your ears. Nor willst thou wot their meaning withal. But if a reader bide himself in repose, tender patience and calm wisdom, willt thou soon see that meaning, narrative and beauty, hitherto hidden and not forthcoming, will reveal themselves in the fullness of time with all charm and warmth. Then, in that fullness, friends of the Man and the Maid such as thyself will bear pleased witness to the story’s complete discarding of the unseemly raiment of linguistic disguise. Belike the will to seek rest will abandon thee and thou wouldst fain continue to read with complete understanding and joy until the hours are small and the night is past its midmost.
Highly recommended for readers and self-described students of the fantasy genre.
Paul Weiss