Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Dover Publications (1972), Edition: Facsimile of Kelmscott P ed, Paperback, 261 pages
Description
Classic Literature. Fantasy. Fiction. HTML: Golden Walter leaves him homeland after his wife betrays him. Word reaches him that her family have killed his father, and all ties are broken with his old life. He is shipwrecked upon a foreign shore and begins a fantastical adventure. Written by the English textiles designer William Morris, this is one of the first modern supernatural fantasy novels..
User reviews
LibraryThing member atimco
The Wood Beyond the World, first published in 1894, has been hailed as one of the earliest modern fantasy novels — which is fascinating because through it the author, William Morris, was attempting to revive a medieval aesthetic. Morris' work is modern in the sense that it features a fantasy
The edition I read is a facsimile of the original 1894 Kelmscott edition. Morris started the Kelmscott Press in defiance of the era's new printing methods, on the medieval-minded premise that the page should be pleasing to the eye as well as to the mind; that sometimes words require, or at least greatly benefit from, illustrations; and that typeface ought to be developed in service of the story. To be sure, the font is a blocky one and it takes a little getting used to. Here's a peek at the opening spread of the original book. Though my copy is a Dover paperback, it looks like that. (Beautiful, isn't it?)
So that should be enough warning: The Wood Beyond the World is unabashedly a romance of the sort where the hero and maiden fall in love and swear eternal fealty to one another at their first meeting, where Dwarfs are cunning, foul, "Evil Things," and where the hero can come down out of the mountains and be hailed as the new king to make for a convenient happy ending. There are many schools of criticism that sneer at such conventions and delight in pointing out what they perceive as flaws, but I'm one of the crowd that can take these conventions for what they are and enjoy them thoroughly. I think the bitterness of modern critics who revile such romantic literary ideals is so strong because they themselves cannot enjoy them, and perhaps they dimly sense that they have lost something by it.
It's fascinating to read this as a precursor to the work of other well-known fantasists such as C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien (I haven't yet read Lord Dunsany so I can't speak to its influence on him). Lewis especially appears to have drawn on this work, not for plot or characters, but for the general medieval tone of Narnia. Of course the entire idea of a gorgeous enchantress trapping the hero in her toils, while not original with Morris, certainly colored Lewis's conception of two notorious villainesses, the White Witch/Jadis and the Lady of the Green Kirtle. Also, this is the first place outside of Lewis's The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe where I've seen the term "son of Adam" used to denote a human being. The whole idea of the Wood Beyond the World as a place past physical boundaries and places reminds me of Lewis's Wood Between the Worlds, in which the Wood acts as a corridor of sorts to get to the places where life is actually lived.
The influence of this work on Tolkien is less easy to trace, but he certainly used some of the words and phrases (I'm sure they are not unique to Morris), such as "surlily" and "did off" to mean "take off," among others. Also fascinating is the idea of the Maiden's wisdom and magic dying on the day she is "made happy," that is, the day her marriage is consummated. This is perhaps comparable to Arwen's diminishing as an immortal Elf when she chooses to marry a mortal and share his fate.
Early in the story, Walter gives an answer to an old carle that is very much like a sentiment one of Lewis's characters in The Silver Chair expresses. It's no surprise that Lewis should pick up on this idea; it really sums up the entire justification for medieval chivalric romance and maybe even the fantasy genre in general:
Of this, said Walter; that here in this land be strange adventures toward, and that if we, and I in especial, were to turn our backs on them, and go home with nothing done, it were pity of our lives: for all will be dull and deedless there. I was deeming it good if we tried the adventure.
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realm set within the real world, with the hero traveling between the two. But it is medieval in language, plot, characters, and even presentation. Its influence on the development of the fantasy genre can be traced through its many themes that recur in the work of later authors such as Lord Dunsany, C. S. Lewis, and J. R. R. Tolkien.The edition I read is a facsimile of the original 1894 Kelmscott edition. Morris started the Kelmscott Press in defiance of the era's new printing methods, on the medieval-minded premise that the page should be pleasing to the eye as well as to the mind; that sometimes words require, or at least greatly benefit from, illustrations; and that typeface ought to be developed in service of the story. To be sure, the font is a blocky one and it takes a little getting used to. Here's a peek at the opening spread of the original book. Though my copy is a Dover paperback, it looks like that. (Beautiful, isn't it?)
So that should be enough warning: The Wood Beyond the World is unabashedly a romance of the sort where the hero and maiden fall in love and swear eternal fealty to one another at their first meeting, where Dwarfs are cunning, foul, "Evil Things," and where the hero can come down out of the mountains and be hailed as the new king to make for a convenient happy ending. There are many schools of criticism that sneer at such conventions and delight in pointing out what they perceive as flaws, but I'm one of the crowd that can take these conventions for what they are and enjoy them thoroughly. I think the bitterness of modern critics who revile such romantic literary ideals is so strong because they themselves cannot enjoy them, and perhaps they dimly sense that they have lost something by it.
It's fascinating to read this as a precursor to the work of other well-known fantasists such as C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien (I haven't yet read Lord Dunsany so I can't speak to its influence on him). Lewis especially appears to have drawn on this work, not for plot or characters, but for the general medieval tone of Narnia. Of course the entire idea of a gorgeous enchantress trapping the hero in her toils, while not original with Morris, certainly colored Lewis's conception of two notorious villainesses, the White Witch/Jadis and the Lady of the Green Kirtle. Also, this is the first place outside of Lewis's The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe where I've seen the term "son of Adam" used to denote a human being. The whole idea of the Wood Beyond the World as a place past physical boundaries and places reminds me of Lewis's Wood Between the Worlds, in which the Wood acts as a corridor of sorts to get to the places where life is actually lived.
The influence of this work on Tolkien is less easy to trace, but he certainly used some of the words and phrases (I'm sure they are not unique to Morris), such as "surlily" and "did off" to mean "take off," among others. Also fascinating is the idea of the Maiden's wisdom and magic dying on the day she is "made happy," that is, the day her marriage is consummated. This is perhaps comparable to Arwen's diminishing as an immortal Elf when she chooses to marry a mortal and share his fate.
Early in the story, Walter gives an answer to an old carle that is very much like a sentiment one of Lewis's characters in The Silver Chair expresses. It's no surprise that Lewis should pick up on this idea; it really sums up the entire justification for medieval chivalric romance and maybe even the fantasy genre in general:
Of this, said Walter; that here in this land be strange adventures toward, and that if we, and I in especial, were to turn our backs on them, and go home with nothing done, it were pity of our lives: for all will be dull and deedless there. I was deeming it good if we tried the adventure.
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LibraryThing member Neutiquam_Erro
"The Wood Beyond the World" is many things but let me discuss what it is not. It is not a work of modern fantasy - that is, it does not have a high-paced plot full of swords and sorcery, peopled with rogues, wizards, goblins and elves. There is no attempt at the epic here. The story takes place
The book is also, most definitely, not a fairy tale for children. The hero, Walter, leaves his first wife for unfaithfulness and fares forth on a sea voyage, during the course of which he stumbles onto the wood beyond the world. Here he encounters difficulties of a romantic nature when he falls in love with the maidservant of the Mistress of the Wood. How Walter and the maid escape the Mistress' wiles is subsequently described in fairly adult terms, the Mistress doing her best to seduce the innocent Walter. While C. S. Lewis may have received inspiration for the Narnia series from this book (the Mistress seems an archetype of the White Witch and has Walter slay a Lion at one point) Morris addresses themes of purity and temptation with considerably more directness.
It is also not a typical Victorian novel, dealing with social mores, societal injustice or unrequited love. Rather it is an attempt to create a myth. Walter's entanglement with the Mistress of the wood and his eventual escape play out as a battle between seduction and guile on the one hand, and innocence and honesty on the other. The issue of trust and betrayal is of fundamental importance.
"The Wood Beyond the World" is, however, a splendid little tale, told in a romantic style and written in a pseudo-archaic English (a little practice with a King James Bible might be in order if you are rusty). The plot is full of tension and the descriptions of the Wood, the characters and the rustic scenery are all exquisitely painted. Morris was a founding member of the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood and perhaps the best way to think of this story is as the literary equivalent of a Waterhouse painting - brooding, mysterious and enchanted.
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with a limited cast of characters and only a modicum of natural magic. The lack of sword-play and the slow plot build-up may bore those accustomed to more "riveting" modern tales although patience is rewarded for the more persistent.The book is also, most definitely, not a fairy tale for children. The hero, Walter, leaves his first wife for unfaithfulness and fares forth on a sea voyage, during the course of which he stumbles onto the wood beyond the world. Here he encounters difficulties of a romantic nature when he falls in love with the maidservant of the Mistress of the Wood. How Walter and the maid escape the Mistress' wiles is subsequently described in fairly adult terms, the Mistress doing her best to seduce the innocent Walter. While C. S. Lewis may have received inspiration for the Narnia series from this book (the Mistress seems an archetype of the White Witch and has Walter slay a Lion at one point) Morris addresses themes of purity and temptation with considerably more directness.
It is also not a typical Victorian novel, dealing with social mores, societal injustice or unrequited love. Rather it is an attempt to create a myth. Walter's entanglement with the Mistress of the wood and his eventual escape play out as a battle between seduction and guile on the one hand, and innocence and honesty on the other. The issue of trust and betrayal is of fundamental importance.
"The Wood Beyond the World" is, however, a splendid little tale, told in a romantic style and written in a pseudo-archaic English (a little practice with a King James Bible might be in order if you are rusty). The plot is full of tension and the descriptions of the Wood, the characters and the rustic scenery are all exquisitely painted. Morris was a founding member of the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood and perhaps the best way to think of this story is as the literary equivalent of a Waterhouse painting - brooding, mysterious and enchanted.
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LibraryThing member ToddSherman
So they came to their fire and sat down, and fell to breakfast; and ere they were done, the Maid said: “My Master, thou seest we be come nigh unto the hill-country, and to-day about sunset, belike, we shall come into the Land of the Bear-folk; and both it is, that there is peril if we fall into
“What is the peril?” said Walter; “I mean, what is the worst of it?”
Said the Maid: “To be offered up in sacrifice to their God.”
“But if we escape death at their hands, what then?” said Walter.
“One of two things,” said she; “the first that they shall take us into their tribe.”
“And will they sunder us in that case?” said Walter.
“Nay,” said she.
Walter laughed and said: “Therein is little harm then. But what is the other chance?”
Said she: “That we leave them with their goodwill, and come back to one of the lands of Christendom.”
Said Walter: “I am not all so sure that this is the better of the two choices, though, forsooth, thou seemest to think so. But tell me now, what like is their God, that they should offer up new-comers to him?”
“Their God is a woman,” she said, “and the Mother of their nation and tribes (or so they deem) before the days when they had chieftains and Lords of Battle.”
“That will be long ago,” said he; “how then may she be living now?”
Said the Maid: “Doubtless that woman of yore agone is dead this many and many a year; but they take to them still a new woman, one after other, as they may happen on them, to be in the stead of the Ancient Mother. And to tell thee the very truth right out, she that lieth dead in the Pillared Hall was even the last of these; and now, if they knew it, they lack a God. This shall we tell them.”
—The Wood Beyond the World by William Morris
The version I own is a facsimile of the Kelmscott Press edition with calligraphy and illustrations by Edward Burne-Jones. It’s beautiful and an absolute bitch to read out loud; the odd hyphenated breaks, the antiquated language, the dialogue within a block of text with only tree leaves as markers. Man, oh man. The story’s really just a series of “and then this happened”, which, to be fair, was the usual form for fiction from the mediaeval era which this book is affecting. But I don’t really find that so much as a failing as much as an immersion into a style that is largely lost now. With adverbs and conjunctions like “sithence” and “whenas” and “betimes”, I can’t help except feel the restoration of missing pieces to an inscription in ancient low-relief. It’s certainly a challenge for me, but not in the usual sense. Kind of like when I read “Anna Karenina” in the Doubleday edition from 1934 or “Don Quixote” from Thomas Shelton’s Jacobean-era translation in the Collier edition—a veritable eye exam as well as cognitive test.
Despite its visual appeal, the words are starting to crawl and crash into one another, becoming a kind of cross-eyed palimpsest. How did those scribes not go crazy, oh . . . I guess any mortification of the flesh, even if it is just the fingertips and eyeballs, is enough to assure your bench at the table of the great Scriptorium in the sky. I think I would’ve rather preferred to be a flagellant, using that damn scourge on others instead.
Well, we’ve all got our forms of personal torture. And apparently mine is trying to read crammed font in a half-assed British accent to the wife while she nearly burns herself on the baking stone. Forsooth, I fear the fury of the Kitchen Maid and her ceaseless birching, and so I must needs read on!
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their hands, and that we may scarce escape them. Yet I deem that we may deal with the peril by wisdom.”“What is the peril?” said Walter; “I mean, what is the worst of it?”
Said the Maid: “To be offered up in sacrifice to their God.”
“But if we escape death at their hands, what then?” said Walter.
“One of two things,” said she; “the first that they shall take us into their tribe.”
“And will they sunder us in that case?” said Walter.
“Nay,” said she.
Walter laughed and said: “Therein is little harm then. But what is the other chance?”
Said she: “That we leave them with their goodwill, and come back to one of the lands of Christendom.”
Said Walter: “I am not all so sure that this is the better of the two choices, though, forsooth, thou seemest to think so. But tell me now, what like is their God, that they should offer up new-comers to him?”
“Their God is a woman,” she said, “and the Mother of their nation and tribes (or so they deem) before the days when they had chieftains and Lords of Battle.”
“That will be long ago,” said he; “how then may she be living now?”
Said the Maid: “Doubtless that woman of yore agone is dead this many and many a year; but they take to them still a new woman, one after other, as they may happen on them, to be in the stead of the Ancient Mother. And to tell thee the very truth right out, she that lieth dead in the Pillared Hall was even the last of these; and now, if they knew it, they lack a God. This shall we tell them.”
—The Wood Beyond the World by William Morris
The version I own is a facsimile of the Kelmscott Press edition with calligraphy and illustrations by Edward Burne-Jones. It’s beautiful and an absolute bitch to read out loud; the odd hyphenated breaks, the antiquated language, the dialogue within a block of text with only tree leaves as markers. Man, oh man. The story’s really just a series of “and then this happened”, which, to be fair, was the usual form for fiction from the mediaeval era which this book is affecting. But I don’t really find that so much as a failing as much as an immersion into a style that is largely lost now. With adverbs and conjunctions like “sithence” and “whenas” and “betimes”, I can’t help except feel the restoration of missing pieces to an inscription in ancient low-relief. It’s certainly a challenge for me, but not in the usual sense. Kind of like when I read “Anna Karenina” in the Doubleday edition from 1934 or “Don Quixote” from Thomas Shelton’s Jacobean-era translation in the Collier edition—a veritable eye exam as well as cognitive test.
Despite its visual appeal, the words are starting to crawl and crash into one another, becoming a kind of cross-eyed palimpsest. How did those scribes not go crazy, oh . . . I guess any mortification of the flesh, even if it is just the fingertips and eyeballs, is enough to assure your bench at the table of the great Scriptorium in the sky. I think I would’ve rather preferred to be a flagellant, using that damn scourge on others instead.
Well, we’ve all got our forms of personal torture. And apparently mine is trying to read crammed font in a half-assed British accent to the wife while she nearly burns herself on the baking stone. Forsooth, I fear the fury of the Kitchen Maid and her ceaseless birching, and so I must needs read on!
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LibraryThing member Tonari
"The Wood beyond the World" is considered to be the first novel of modern fantasy ever written.The plot briefly: Walter, a brave and honest young man, escapes from his mean wife and embarks on a ship to explore the world and its wonders. A storm leads him and his fellows in a strange land where he
I found "The Wood beyond the World" to be a very pleasant story. Of course from a modern reader point of view the plot can seem naive, but many of today's so-called "New Tolkien" are far worse (and let me say much more cliched).
The main weakness of the book is its language, a Shakespeare-inspired Elizabethan English quite difficult to understand. Non English-speakers will need a lot of patience to get through this, but if you are really interested in the genre it will not be a waste of time, given the importance of this piece of literature in the evolution of fantasy.
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will find adventures, perils, enchanting maids, evil dwarfs and wicked mistresses.I found "The Wood beyond the World" to be a very pleasant story. Of course from a modern reader point of view the plot can seem naive, but many of today's so-called "New Tolkien" are far worse (and let me say much more cliched).
The main weakness of the book is its language, a Shakespeare-inspired Elizabethan English quite difficult to understand. Non English-speakers will need a lot of patience to get through this, but if you are really interested in the genre it will not be a waste of time, given the importance of this piece of literature in the evolution of fantasy.
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LibraryThing member jen.e.moore
This is clearly an ancestor of Narnia, what with the evil queen and her dwarf servant, and their enemy the lion. As an actual reading experience it's rather weird, with the forced archaic language and the very shallow depth of realism to the characters. As literary history, the inspiration for
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people like Lewis and Tolkien who are the fathers of modern fantasy writing, it's fascinating. Show Less
LibraryThing member antiquary
This is on of William Morris's pioneering fantasies, or neo-medieval romances. While it is not my favorite of his tales(that is The Sundering Flood) it is an interesting precursor of the great 20th century high fantasy writers like Tolkien and Eddison. It is more like Eddison in that it is written
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in a consciously archaic English, though more Anglo-Saxon medieval than Eddison's baroque..The plot involves an admirable young man, Golden Walter, son of a wealthy merchant; although having all kinds of good qualities, Walter is unhappily obsessed with his unfaithful wife (possibly an echo of Morris's unfaithful wife Jenny) and therefore sets out on a sea voyage on one of his father's ships. This Dover edition is a facsimile of Morris's neomedieval Kelmscott Press edition. The Gothic typeface is a little hard to read, but the overall effect is lovely. Show Less
LibraryThing member JoClare
After a disastrous marriage to an unfaithful wife, Walter sails away on a ship, but catches a glimpse of a beautiful queenly woman, a misshapen dwarf, and a lovely young slave girl. When he arrives in a distant land, he encounters all three in a beautiful house in the Wood Beyond The World, where
Walter stays there as a guest, and falls in love with the beautiful Maid, despite her mistress's jealousy. But the Lady has taken a liking to him, and despite his love for the Maid, Walter is drawn in by the Lady's magical charm. And breaking free of the jealous sorceress could be fatal for himself and the Maid -- even if they escape, they still have to deal with the savage wilderness of the Wood Beyond the World.
(have not read this one yet, review from Dover)
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the sexy, manipulative Lady is currently living with a cold-hearted prince.Walter stays there as a guest, and falls in love with the beautiful Maid, despite her mistress's jealousy. But the Lady has taken a liking to him, and despite his love for the Maid, Walter is drawn in by the Lady's magical charm. And breaking free of the jealous sorceress could be fatal for himself and the Maid -- even if they escape, they still have to deal with the savage wilderness of the Wood Beyond the World.
(have not read this one yet, review from Dover)
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LibraryThing member schteve
Very likely the first fantasy novel, defined as a heroic adventure set in an imaginary world where magic works.
Morris's prose is deliberately archaic and fans of Lord Of The Rings and similar will find it hard to read but this is where it all started.
Morris's prose is deliberately archaic and fans of Lord Of The Rings and similar will find it hard to read but this is where it all started.
LibraryThing member antiquary
I agree with CSL it is a wonderful title, and I suspect it inspired the wood between the worlds in Magician's Nephew. I read the story when young but do not recall it as well as some others e.g. Sundering Flood or House of the Wolfings.
LibraryThing member lindawwilson
A fairy tale, as expected, but too silly for my tastes.
LibraryThing member DinadansFriend
Dover chose to reprint this is the typeface designed by the author so it is high quality medieval fakery. The story whose language is very "White Company" fake medieval, still conveys the story quite well. The effect is to make modern typeface versions of Morris' fantasy works to seem a little
The novel was written prior to 1894.
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cheap. oh, it is a love story, and has a happy ending. There are bears, for Tolkien fans...and a town named Starkwall for the Game of thrones people.The novel was written prior to 1894.
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LibraryThing member jennannej
It takes a while to get into the flow of this book; it's written in an old English style. Kind of a strange book and I didn't always quite know where this book was going. By the end I really liked it. Perfect fantasy kind of ending.
LibraryThing member Equestrienne
Even though it is not really deserving of five stars, I'm feeling generous today, so there.
I confess to being a fan-girl of William Morris, and as far as I am concerned everything he has ever created deserves eleven out of ten stars. Those wallpaper designs.......the man is a god............Red
To me this fantasy is an exercise in wish fulfillment. Golden Walter is clearly an autobiographical character. Jane Morris is the lady.....as to the true identity of the maid......? any theories?
Oh, and yeah, I know that this book is unacceptable to politically correct literary deconstructivists......they kinda hate this book a lot. Another motive for the five star rating, and just because I can.
I confess to being a fan-girl of William Morris, and as far as I am concerned everything he has ever created deserves eleven out of ten stars. Those wallpaper designs.......the man is a god............Red
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House, do you need more proof than that?To me this fantasy is an exercise in wish fulfillment. Golden Walter is clearly an autobiographical character. Jane Morris is the lady.....as to the true identity of the maid......? any theories?
Oh, and yeah, I know that this book is unacceptable to politically correct literary deconstructivists......they kinda hate this book a lot. Another motive for the five star rating, and just because I can.
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LibraryThing member TheGalaxyGirl
I read this when I was young but did not recall any of the story. It is interesting to see the elements which later influenced Dunsany and Lewis and Tolkien, but the prose is so affected that it isn't easy to read. The ending is a little strange. Overall, I found this book to be more intellectually
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interesting than emotionally gripping. Show Less
Subjects
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1892
Physical description
261 p.; 8.08 inches
ISBN
048622791X / 9780486227917