The Wood Beyond the World by William Morris

I accidentally woke up really late today, so I ended up having to do another short read, but this gave me the opportunity to finish a book I started reading months ago and had never finished. I had only gotten about a third of the way through The Wood Beyond the World, which is supposedly the first fantasy novel. It really is a very interesting piece of literature. Written in the mid-19th century, the tale of intrepid Walter traveling through these fantastical lands on a personal quest (encountering magic, monsters, exotic lands and peoples, and a beautiful maiden) was apparently the first of its kind. My edition has a great introduction by Lin Carter that gives the piece some context.

I originally had some trouble, after the first five-ish chapters, in self-motivating to continue reading the tale because Morris does drone a tad. But he's not nearly as bad as Tolkein in that way. It takes some constant brain-work to read this story because Morris wrote it in an antiquated style to enhance the fantasy premise; I think that bard-like style--as well as the hero, Walter, not always living up to my expectations for a hero--caused me to feel enough antipathy that I put the reading of this one on pause.

But in returning to it, I was welcomed home by the wonderful medieval-style language, the many challenges of the quest, the characters' sense of chivalry, and the powerful fey. I still think Walter was a bit of a twit for a hero, but I enjoyed his successes and was well-pleased by the ending.

I HIGHLY recommend this to anyone who loves fantasy....Not necessarily because you'll definitely love this book, but because I think it's an important part of the history of our modern fantasy novels. Just as it's important to read Tolkein and McCaffery and Jordan and all those other names we're familiar with, it's important to read some Morris to see how fantasy has evolved. And it is really good.

~8/10~

P.S. If you are interested in writing a paper exploring gender roles in early fantasy, this would be a great book to use as a source!