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A beautiful hardcover anthology of stories by a brilliant and surprising mix of classic and contemporary writers who have been inspired by trees and forests.
Trees have starred in stories ever since Ovid described the nymph Daphne s metamorphosis into a laurel, and the landscape of literature has long been enlivened by wild woodlands, sacred groves, and fertile orchards. This delightful collection ranges from Ovid to Austen and from Robin Hood s Sherwood Forest (via Thomas Love Peacock s Maid Marian) to Washington Irving s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and more stories from Eudora Welty, Tove Jansson, and D.H. Lawrence.
Here are forest-haunted fairy tales both classic (the Brothers Grimm) and inventively retold (Angela Carter). There is room in these woods for comedy as well as terror, in Stella Gibbons s Cold Comfort Farm, and Alexander McCall Smith s Head Tree. Notable writers from around the world contribute arboreal fiction from South Africa, Finland, France, Zimbabwe, Russia, Martinique, and India, as well as Britain, Ireland, Canada, and America. From Daphne du Maurier s The Apple Tree to R. K. Narayan s Under the Banyan Tree. The sheer range of stories in these pages will leave readers refreshed and dazzled.
Everyman's Library pursues the highest production standards, printing on acid-free cream-colored paper, with full-cloth cases with two-color foil stamping, decorative endpapers, silk ribbon markers, European-style half-round spines, and a full-color illustrated jacket.
List of contents
Preface by Fiona Stafford
JOHN LORNE CAMPBELL
Why Everyone Should Be Able to Tell a Story
OVID
Orpheus Audience of Trees
ALEXANDER MCCALL SMITH
Head Tree
WASHINGTON IRVING
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
DAPHNE DU MAURIER
The Apple Tree
SYLVIA TOWNSEND WARNER
Happiness
JANE AUSTEN
A Tale
YURI OLYESHA
Love
D. H. LAWRENCE
The Shades of Spring
STELLA GIBBONS
From Cold Comfort Farm
RODERICK FINLAYSON
The Totara Tree
EUDORA WELTY
A Still Moment
OVID
The Transformation of Daphne
MICHAEL MCLAVERTY
The Road to the Shore
DOROTHY BAKER
Summer
JOSEPH ZOBEL
Flowers! Lovely Flowers!
YVONNE VERA
Why Don t You Carve Other Animals
DAMON GALGUT
Shadows
TOVE JANSSON
The Forest
URSULA MORAY WILLIAMS
The Outlaws
THOMAS LOVE PEACOCK
From Maid Marian
JACOB AND WILHELM GRIMM
Iron Hans
ANGELA CARTER
The Company of Wolves
ANDREW LANG
The Gold of Fairnilee
MARY DE MORGAN
The Pool and the Tree
JEAN GIONO
The Man Who Planted Trees
GABRIEL HEMERY
The Man Who Harvested Trees (and Gifted Life)
OVID
Baucis and Philemon
R. K. NARAYAN
Under the Banyan Tree
About the author
Edited by Fiona Stafford
Summary
A beautiful hardcover anthology of stories by a brilliant and surprising mix of classic and contemporary writers who have been inspired by trees and forests.
Trees have starred in stories ever since Ovid described the nymph Daphne’s metamorphosis into a laurel, and the landscape of literature has long been enlivened by wild woodlands, sacred groves, and fertile orchards. This delightful collection ranges from Ovid to Austen and from Robin Hood’s Sherwood Forest (via Thomas Love Peacock’s Maid Marian) to Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” and more stories from Eudora Welty, Tove Jansson, and D.H. Lawrence.
Here are forest-haunted fairy tales both classic (the Brothers Grimm) and inventively retold (Angela Carter). There is room in these woods for comedy as well as terror, in Stella Gibbons’s Cold Comfort Farm, and Alexander McCall Smith’s “Head Tree.” Notable writers from around the world contribute arboreal fiction—from South Africa, Finland, France, Zimbabwe, Russia, Martinique, and India, as well as Britain, Ireland, Canada, and America. From Daphne du Maurier’s “The Apple Tree” to R. K. Narayan’s “Under the Banyan Tree.” The sheer range of stories in these pages will leave readers refreshed and dazzled.
Everyman's Library pursues the highest production standards, printing on acid-free cream-colored paper, with full-cloth cases with two-color foil stamping, decorative endpapers, silk ribbon markers, European-style half-round spines, and a full-color illustrated jacket.
