Maiden Castle (novel)
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Maiden Castle by John Cowper Powys was first published in 1936 and is the last of Powys so-called Wessex novels, following Wolf Solent (1929), A Glastonbury Romance (1932), Weymouth Sands (1934).[1] Powys was an admirer of Thomas Hardy, and these novels are set in Somerset and Dorset, part of Hardy's mythical Wessex.[2] American scholar Richard Maxwell describes these four novels "as remarkably successful with the reading public of his time".[3] Maiden Castle is set in Dorchester, Dorset Thomas Hardy's Casterbridge, and which Powys intended to be a "rival" to Hardy's Mayor of Casterbridge.[4] Glen Cavaliero describes Dorchester as "vividly present throughout the book as a symbol of the continuity of civilization.[5] The title alludes to the Iron Age, hill fort Maiden Castle that stands near to Dorchester.
Author | John Cowper Powys |
---|---|
Language | English |
Genre | Novel |
Published | 1936 US, 1937 UK |
Publisher | Simon & Schuster (US) Cassell (UK) |
Media type | |
Preceded by | Weymouth Sands (1934), Autobiography (1934) |
Followed by | Morwyn (1937) |
Powys, along with Phyllis Playter, returned permanently to England in June 1934 and, while staying near the village of Chaldon, Dorset, Powys began Maiden Castle in late August 1934,[6] In October 1934 they moved to Dorchester but then they moved again, to Corwen North Wales, in July 1935, where Maiden Castle was completed in February 1936.[7]
Until 1990 Maiden Castle was only available in an abridged version, because Powys original typescript of Maiden Castle had been reduced by about one-fifth of its original length for the previous editions. In 1990 the University of Wales Press published "the first full authoritative edition" under the editorship of Ian Hughes.[8]