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La source au bout du monde #2
The Well at the World's End: Volume II
The Well at the World's End is a high fantasy novel by the British artist, poet, and author William Morris. It was first published in 1896 and has been reprinted regularly ever since. Using language with elements of the medieval tales which were his models, Morris tells the story of Ralph, the youngest son of King Peter of Upmeads. Their kingdom being rather humble, Ralph and his three elder brothers are bored of the provincial life, so one day they request permission from their father to explore the world. The king allows the three eldest sons to depart, but bids Ralph to stay to ensure at least one living heir. Ralph, desperate for adventure and against his father's will, sneaks away.
248 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1896
About the author
William Morris
1,749 books500 followersPeople best remembered wallpaper and furniture designs of William Morris, British painter, craftsman, and social reformer, whose poetry includes
Sigurd the Volsung
, the epic in 1876.
The Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood and the Arts and Crafts Movement associated William Morris, an English architect, textile, artist, writer, and Marxist. Morris wrote and published fiction and translations of ancient and medieval texts throughout his life. He worked his known The Defence of Guenevere and Other Poems (1858).
William Morris wrote The Earthly Paradise (1868–1870), A Dream of John Ball , and the utopian News from Nowhere .
William Morris, an important figure in the emergence, founded the Socialist league in 1884 but broke with the movement over goals and methods before the end of 1880s, that decade.
He founded the press of Kelmscott in 1891 and devoted much of the rest of his life. People consider the edition, masterpiece of Kelmscott of 1896 of the Works , book of Geoffrey Chaucer.
The Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood and the Arts and Crafts Movement associated William Morris, an English architect, textile, artist, writer, and Marxist. Morris wrote and published fiction and translations of ancient and medieval texts throughout his life. He worked his known The Defence of Guenevere and Other Poems (1858).
William Morris wrote The Earthly Paradise (1868–1870), A Dream of John Ball , and the utopian News from Nowhere .
William Morris, an important figure in the emergence, founded the Socialist league in 1884 but broke with the movement over goals and methods before the end of 1880s, that decade.
He founded the press of Kelmscott in 1891 and devoted much of the rest of his life. People consider the edition, masterpiece of Kelmscott of 1896 of the Works , book of Geoffrey Chaucer.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
March 3, 2015
I kept looking for deeper pattern, deeper symbolism, and deeper meaning, and am left with a confused message. The whole of Volume One was travel through troubled lands, with each city/town/nation beset by some injustice. Ralph avoids entanglement, floating above worldly matters.
Here, the final stages of the journey to the WELL is like a purification quest, through hardship and strange adventure.
But what of afterward? Becoming a Friend of the Well conveys benefits tangible and intangible, and one would think that this is the key for Ralph and his new bride Ursula to have the physical and moral strength necessary to resolve the troubles and bring new peace to all.
But this is not the case. The return journey reveals a changed landscape, where most lands have solved their own problems, and when not, Ralph and Ursula do not become involved. It is only upon their return to Upmeads--the journey complete--that there is a "Scouring of the Shire" final adventure, as Ralph cleans up the mess of banditry and conflict that developed in his absence.
I was expecting the most obvious resolution, that it was necessary for Ralph to become a Friend of the Well to solve these problems, or otherwise to show that Ralph's spiritual adventures were unrelated and unnecessary to worldly concerns. Instead it is neither.
Here, the final stages of the journey to the WELL is like a purification quest, through hardship and strange adventure.
But what of afterward? Becoming a Friend of the Well conveys benefits tangible and intangible, and one would think that this is the key for Ralph and his new bride Ursula to have the physical and moral strength necessary to resolve the troubles and bring new peace to all.
But this is not the case. The return journey reveals a changed landscape, where most lands have solved their own problems, and when not, Ralph and Ursula do not become involved. It is only upon their return to Upmeads--the journey complete--that there is a "Scouring of the Shire" final adventure, as Ralph cleans up the mess of banditry and conflict that developed in his absence.
I was expecting the most obvious resolution, that it was necessary for Ralph to become a Friend of the Well to solve these problems, or otherwise to show that Ralph's spiritual adventures were unrelated and unnecessary to worldly concerns. Instead it is neither.
November 21, 2017
So this book influence the likes of Tolkien and C. S. Lewis. It is High Fantasy. Reminding one of the tales of Arthur and his Knights. This is a book that H. G. Wells compared to Thomas Malory. In it you have a King Gandolf and a King Peter, there is also a white horse named "Silverfax." It is a relatively obscure book by today's standards. But it was a significant influence on many fantasy writers. One thing I did find lacking is how it flowed. Unlike the fantasy of La Morte de Arthur, it is a littel more dry and has an uneven flow.
October 14, 2016
Better than the first volume ... The ending would have been even more satisfying if instead of the interruption, it had just slowly built up in one volume. The roles of women are interesting here and there is some kind of servant-leadership thing happening.
August 18, 2017
I can't tell if this was ever meant to be published in two separate volumes . . . Ballantine did it in the 70s but others have stuck it between the same covers in other editions and its not like its that massive where you need special binding to contain it. Nor does reading the first volume on its own provide a satisfying reading experience unless you want to congratulate yourself for the challenge of making it through the kind of prose that is rarely seen by anyone outside of medieval scholars. No, if you're in this you're in it for the haul.
Fortunately, if you're made it through the first volume it should be fairly smooth sailing as we've established the premise and introduced most of the characters that Ralph randomly encounters on his journey to find the magic well (more or less in the spirit of adventure, otherwise known as "because its there"), including the lady who becomes the love of his life, despite him having to fend off the advances of literally every other woman in the book.
The addition of Ursula (or Dorothea, as I think she's called at another point) actually takes the book into very interesting territory. Its not the romance aspect, which is fairly typical of books written around that time, but how she's written as someone with a mind of her own and not dependent on swooning after Ralph to remind us that she still exists. She has every intention of getting to the well with or without him, disguises herself as a boy and for the most part acts as an equal partner during the course of their journey to the well. I don't know if this was Morris intentionally trying to be progressive or working for the sake of expedience (a chunk of the book has them as the only two characters so Ralph monologuing to a girl who keeps fluttering her eyelashes at him would get old fast) but considering that fantasy for quite a long time featured women as either evil witches, romantic objects, damsels to be saved or window dressing its probably worth noting there's probably are some benefits of being an innovator, as you don't have rely on everyone else to tell you what you should be doing.
Tolkien fans will probably be surprised to find a wise sage dressed in grey here who helps guide them to the well and a fellow named "Gandolf", especially since the latter is an evil warlord, which makes for a bit of a jarring moment like you've stepped into some strange fantasy version of a made-up place. But the presence of the ancient woods and the old sage and the quest to get to the well gives the book a sense of drifting magic, a place removed from the world itself. Its a shame then when the book seems to climax early and the remainder of the novel is taken up with the journey back, basically retracing their steps in the opposite direction, with stops to illustrate how stuff has changed since they first came that way.
What it means is that we seem to spend far too much time in Utterbol, which has just experienced a change for the better in rulers, and without a goal beyond "getting back home" it sucks a bit of the momentum out of the book. Ursula recedes more into the background as well, with the quest done and heroic manliness clogging the pages there isn't that much for her to do, which takes some of the unique flavor out of the earlier chapters. But your enjoyment of these parts may depend on how invested you are in these people and how you can maintain interest in the prose, as the plot becomes extremely episodic, literally a series of encounters on the road.
Its not all bad, though, as random encounters with his brothers showcases a sense of family dynamics (you feel like these people are related to each other) and it all starts to gradually build toward a large battle that has nothing to do with the well but it is exciting in its own way as newly confident Ralph gathers his forces. Its right at the end here, as the dust settles and we take stock of what's happened, that the book once again taps into that sense of old mythology, giving us an end and a future and an eternity that does feel strangely earned.
Its a strange book, of its time and timeless, and probably not for everyone trying to retrace all of Tolkien's influences as Morris' land lacks the weight of Middle-Earth, the ancient sense of history that lurks behind every rock and tree. Its dreamier here, the sense of someone looking outside their window at rolling hills and distant rivers and deep forests and wondering what if this isn't our world, what if this could be another world entirely. Some of the best fantasies are fairy tales in a sense, taking familiar elements and skewing them, reassembling what we've seen all along as something new. In that vein he gives us a world like ours, and not, where the best way to discover it is by fearless exploration, where what we know and what we don't know can sometimes be the same, and caps it all off with the very English notion that once you've seen what the world can offer, the only place a journey can end is the cozy hearth of home, to be surrounded by the ones you love and realize how blessed the days are which you're given.
Fortunately, if you're made it through the first volume it should be fairly smooth sailing as we've established the premise and introduced most of the characters that Ralph randomly encounters on his journey to find the magic well (more or less in the spirit of adventure, otherwise known as "because its there"), including the lady who becomes the love of his life, despite him having to fend off the advances of literally every other woman in the book.
The addition of Ursula (or Dorothea, as I think she's called at another point) actually takes the book into very interesting territory. Its not the romance aspect, which is fairly typical of books written around that time, but how she's written as someone with a mind of her own and not dependent on swooning after Ralph to remind us that she still exists. She has every intention of getting to the well with or without him, disguises herself as a boy and for the most part acts as an equal partner during the course of their journey to the well. I don't know if this was Morris intentionally trying to be progressive or working for the sake of expedience (a chunk of the book has them as the only two characters so Ralph monologuing to a girl who keeps fluttering her eyelashes at him would get old fast) but considering that fantasy for quite a long time featured women as either evil witches, romantic objects, damsels to be saved or window dressing its probably worth noting there's probably are some benefits of being an innovator, as you don't have rely on everyone else to tell you what you should be doing.
Tolkien fans will probably be surprised to find a wise sage dressed in grey here who helps guide them to the well and a fellow named "Gandolf", especially since the latter is an evil warlord, which makes for a bit of a jarring moment like you've stepped into some strange fantasy version of a made-up place. But the presence of the ancient woods and the old sage and the quest to get to the well gives the book a sense of drifting magic, a place removed from the world itself. Its a shame then when the book seems to climax early and the remainder of the novel is taken up with the journey back, basically retracing their steps in the opposite direction, with stops to illustrate how stuff has changed since they first came that way.
What it means is that we seem to spend far too much time in Utterbol, which has just experienced a change for the better in rulers, and without a goal beyond "getting back home" it sucks a bit of the momentum out of the book. Ursula recedes more into the background as well, with the quest done and heroic manliness clogging the pages there isn't that much for her to do, which takes some of the unique flavor out of the earlier chapters. But your enjoyment of these parts may depend on how invested you are in these people and how you can maintain interest in the prose, as the plot becomes extremely episodic, literally a series of encounters on the road.
Its not all bad, though, as random encounters with his brothers showcases a sense of family dynamics (you feel like these people are related to each other) and it all starts to gradually build toward a large battle that has nothing to do with the well but it is exciting in its own way as newly confident Ralph gathers his forces. Its right at the end here, as the dust settles and we take stock of what's happened, that the book once again taps into that sense of old mythology, giving us an end and a future and an eternity that does feel strangely earned.
Its a strange book, of its time and timeless, and probably not for everyone trying to retrace all of Tolkien's influences as Morris' land lacks the weight of Middle-Earth, the ancient sense of history that lurks behind every rock and tree. Its dreamier here, the sense of someone looking outside their window at rolling hills and distant rivers and deep forests and wondering what if this isn't our world, what if this could be another world entirely. Some of the best fantasies are fairy tales in a sense, taking familiar elements and skewing them, reassembling what we've seen all along as something new. In that vein he gives us a world like ours, and not, where the best way to discover it is by fearless exploration, where what we know and what we don't know can sometimes be the same, and caps it all off with the very English notion that once you've seen what the world can offer, the only place a journey can end is the cozy hearth of home, to be surrounded by the ones you love and realize how blessed the days are which you're given.
February 21, 2020
This review covers volume I as well. This early version of heroic fantasy is fascinating on a few fronts. Morris is the obvious ancestor of figures such as CS Lewis (quoted on the back cover, in fact) and JRR Tolkien but the less obvious antecedent of pretty much all subsequent heroic fantasy. His unpredictable plotting, moral ambiguity (what characters really think is often obscure, who is good or bad it to a large extent a function of what side one is on, rather than a function of simple good vs evil binarism, etc), sexual frankness (by the standards of his time, anyway--Morris's characters are far more sexual beings than are those of Lewis or Tolkien, far less so than those of GRR Martin--though slavery, rape, and other despicable stuff lurks beneath the surface here), and willingness to kill of characters who seemed destined for significant roles is impressive. Despite the moral ambiguity, though, the characters tend to be rather flat, as Morris imitates the characterization models (and even, to a limited extent, the language) of medieval romance. The plot is also rather dilatory--very much episodic, with little sense of connection between episodes, despite the fact that much of it taken up with the quest for the Well at the World's End. Said well seems to afford those who drink from it extended life and vitality, though its exact virtues are not spelled out. Nevertheless, essential reading for anyone interested in the history of modern fantasy.
October 30, 2017
The Well at the World's End, Volume II by William Morris is not really a second volume, but rather a continuation of this picaresque romance, divided probably by the editor because it was too long to fit into one volume. Ralph continues on with Ursula (formerly called Dorothea) to find the Well, and having found it, the two marry and return to Ralph's home, the Upmeads. Of course, even though Dorothea/ Ursula is the woman Ralph marries for the "they lived happily ever after" ending, she was not his primary love in volume I. The Lady of Abundance (love # 1 in volume 1, and a previous drinker of the well), however was killed, maybe knowing that Ursula would replace her. As with most medieval picaresque romances, many of the episodes are suspenseful in their own right, but until the end there is fairy little suspense in the work as a whole.
However, it is a pleasant story, with medieval language and descriptions as one would expect from a Pre-Raphaelite work. I enjoyed it as a story, and as a source of odd knowledge. For example, J.R.R. Tolkien praised it and claimed it as an inspiration for his own work, yet one of the most memorable villain's name, Lord of Utterbol, was Gandolf. While it was fun to read, I would recommend many other texts before it, since it is rather long and rambling. Historically, it is the first pure fantasy, but there are so many, many more today.
However, it is a pleasant story, with medieval language and descriptions as one would expect from a Pre-Raphaelite work. I enjoyed it as a story, and as a source of odd knowledge. For example, J.R.R. Tolkien praised it and claimed it as an inspiration for his own work, yet one of the most memorable villain's name, Lord of Utterbol, was Gandolf. While it was fun to read, I would recommend many other texts before it, since it is rather long and rambling. Historically, it is the first pure fantasy, but there are so many, many more today.
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November 18, 2021let us to horse and begone
it is early hours for those who seek
the Well at the World's End
it is early hours for those who seek
the Well at the World's End
June 12, 2024
What a bloody long journey. I need to discuss this with someone who has also read it to figure out how I feel about it…
March 8, 2013
If this thing were assigned in some college lit class, it would have slid uncracked to the bottom of my backpack, lost before I hit the lunch-rush at the cafeteria. Of course, I’d look up a few things. Make a few notes on theme and imagery, regurgitate critical reception. Something to sound smart enough to slough through an essay on the exam.
But this wasn’t for school, wasn’t for something as silly as credit. No, this was for something sacred: This was for Book Club. And the first rule of Book Club is that you read the book for Book Club. (Except when you don’t, but I’m too new to beg a free pass.)
read more here: http://blog.gw-1.com/2013/03/08/shelf...
But this wasn’t for school, wasn’t for something as silly as credit. No, this was for something sacred: This was for Book Club. And the first rule of Book Club is that you read the book for Book Club. (Except when you don’t, but I’m too new to beg a free pass.)
read more here: http://blog.gw-1.com/2013/03/08/shelf...
April 14, 2011
I should have added this when I reviewed the first volume. The story continues and it is just as good as the first volume - I find it annoying that these aren't simply combined into one. Anyway, Morris is unique as a fantasy writer (not only because he was one of the first, if not The First), his grasp of archaic language is wonderful and really helps to immerse the reader in a medieval atmosphere. It's almost in the story-telling style of those of King Arthur's knights or Howard Pyle's Robin Hood - except more dreamlike. Not necessarily action-packed. (You won't like it, if that's what you're looking for.) I dip into this book every so often, as if to remind myself of a beautiful dream.
November 24, 2016
Morris's use of Middle English makes this a laborious read but, having read Volume I, I could not abandon young Ralph as he quests to quench his thirst for a soulful life from the Well At The World's End (the Fountain of Youth more like). Some unnecessary lengthy speechifying could have been left out. Although I would call the author's style staid and dry, Ralph's romantic attachment sweetens the plot considerably. P.S. Please also refer to my review of Volume I.
November 14, 2013
And so from Utterbol across deserts and wastelands we follow Ralph and Ursula to the WELL at the WORLD'S END on the lonely shore of a sullen ocean; and then back again to Upmeads. A long and occasionally arduous journey, but one well worth taking.
June 29, 2010
Loved it just as much as the first volume!
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April 27, 2011
read in early 90s
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January 15, 2012This worthy tome shall thy speech render incomprehensible even unto several months hence.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews