The Wood Beyond the World

by William Morris

Overview

Facsimile edition of a superbly illustrated medieval adventure fantasy from the legendary Kelmscott Press. One of the first novels to combine reality and the supernatural, which inspired Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, others.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780486227917
Publisher:	Dover Publications
Publication date:	04/19/2017
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Polymath William Morris (1834–96) was a prolific writer of novels and essays as well as a translator of medieval texts. Although best known in his lifetime as a poet, Morris is chiefly remembered today for his designs, which he issued from his highly successful decorative arts firm. He also founded the Kelmscott Press, which he dedicated to the hand-printing of a select number of beautiful books.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Introduction
William Morris: A Brief Chronology
A Note on the Text

The Wood Beyond the World

Appendix A: Morris and Medieval Narrative

1. From Morris’s and A.J.Wyatt’s Translation of Beowulf (1895)
2. From Morris’s and Eírikr Magnússon’s Translation of The Story of the Volsungs and Niblungs (1870)
3. From Malory’s Morte D’Arthur (1471)

Appendix B: Morris and Socialism

1. “The Socialist Ideal: Art” (1891)
2. “How I Became a Socialist” (1894)

Appendix C: Works by Morris’s Contemporaries

1. From Karl Marx, Das Kapital (1867)
2. From John Ruskin, Pre-Raphaelitism (1851)
3. From Robert Buchanan, “The Fleshly School of Poetry: Mr. D.G. Rossetti” (1871)
4. William Hurrell Mallock, “How to Make a Modern Pre-Raphaelite Poem” (1872)
5. From May Morris, The Collected Works of William Morris (1913)

Selected Bibliography

Editorial Reviews

Robert Boenig's meticulously edited, beautifully annotated edition of William Morris’s late prose romance, The Wood Beyond the World, will satisfy any teacher or reader wanting to learn more about Morris’s preoccupations at the end of his life. Boenig’s introduction alone makes the edition necessary reading. The supplementary materials, ranging from Morris’s work on a translation of Beowulf to his essay on ‘The Socialist Ideal: Art,’ and works by contemporaries such as Marx, Ruskin, and Mallock, expand richly the ways in which this edition may be used.” — Barry Qualls, Rutgers University

“The first new scholarly edition in thirty years, and an admirable achievement.” — Robert Clark, University of East Anglia

From the Publisher