The Wood Beyond the World

When his wife cheats on him, Golden Walter leaves his mundane life to start a new one at sea. Horrific news forces him to turn around, however, but before he can reach home, a storm carries his ship to a faraway country. A country inhabited by people he has seen before. In a vison. With novels like ‘The Wood Beyond the World’ (1894) William Morris has gone down in history as the forerunner for much of the modern-day fantasy genre. C.S. Lewis, who wrote ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’, cited Morris as one of his favourite authors, and J.R.R. Tolkien was influenced by Morris’ fantasies in writing ‘The Lord of the Rings’ trilogy. William Morris (1834-1896) was a British writer, textile designer and Socialist. His earliest works were historical fiction, but today he is known for being the forerunner of modern-day fantasy. He took a keen interest in Iceland and translated a series of Icelandic sagas to English together with the Icelandic scholar Eiríkur Magnússon.