The Wood Beyond the World by William Morris

The Wood Beyond the World by William Morris

The Wood Beyond the World is a fantasy novel by William Morris, with the component of the supernatural. It was first distributed in hardcover by Morris' Kelmscott Press, in 1894. The book's significance in the history of fantasy literature was perceived by its republication by Ballantine Books in 1969.When the wife of Golden Walter betrays him for another man, he ventures out from home on a journey to stay away from a quarrel with his family. He has a dream of three figures: a stately Lady, his House Maid, and a Draf in a yellow hood. The Dwarf uncovers that Walter has wandered into the place where there is the Woman, who keeps an excellent house at the core of the wood. Walter and the House Maid are pursued by a Dwarf who claims that the Maid has killed the stately Lady. The HouseMaid uncovers that she welcomed the King's Son to her bed, and cast a glamour over him such that he looked like Walter.At the point when the Lady went into the room, she believed him to be an untrustworthy Walter and killed him in his sleep; the House Maid then, killed the Lady with a knife. They proclaim their affection for each other, and Walter breaks the Servant's iron ring.

William Morris (1834-1896) was an accomplished writer, textile designer and artist. A utopian socialist, he was associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English Arts and Craft Movement, and was a founding member of the Socialist League in Britain. Greatly influenced by the medieval period, Morris helped establish the modern fantasy genre though his works The Defence of Guenevere and Other Poems, A Dream of John Ball, and The Well at the World's End. Authors like J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis were greatly influenced by works like The House of the Wolfings, The Roots of the Mountains, and The Wood Beyond the World. Morris was also an accomplished publisher, founding the Kelmscott Press in 1891, whose 1896 edition of the Works of Geoffrey Chaucer is considered a masterpiece of book design.