The Wood Beyond the World

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......more

Note, July 22, 2019: I edited this review just now, to correct a minor typo. For Morris (who was not only a writer, but an artist, scholar, and handicraft enthusiast as well), medieval Europe was a still-relevant social and economic model for the regeneration of modern society. It also profoundly inf......more

what the hell did i just read......more

William Morris's The Wood beyond the World is an excellent example of the Faerie Romance. Walter of Langton, finds himself on foreign soil and stumbles his way into what can only be called Faerie. There he falls in love with what must be an Elf-maiden and must battle a dwarf, an enchantress, and an......more

I am convinced that all ratings of this book are inflated by at least one star because people know going in that Morris was a key figure in the development of modern fantasy and an important influence on Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. Granted, there are several of good ideas here which are utilized much mor......more