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Title	:	Porius
Author	:	John Cowper Powys
Book Format	:	Hardcover
Book Edition	:	First Edition
Pages	:	Pages: 751 pages
Published	:	August 16th 2007 by Overlook (first published 1951)
Categories	:	Fiction. Historical. Historical Fiction. Mythology. Arthurian. Literature. Fantasy. Novels

Porius

John Cowper Powys

Hardcover | Pages: 751 pages

Rating: 4.32 | 116 Users | 27 Reviews

Commentary In Pursuance Of Books Porius

"Porius stood upon the low square tower above the Southern Gate of Mynydd-y-Gaer, and looked down on the wide stretching valley below." So begins one of the most unique novels of twentieth-century literature, by one of its most "extraordinary, neglected geniuses," said Robertson Davies of John Cowper Powys. Powys thought Porius his masterpiece, but because of the paper shortage after World War II and the novel's lengthiness, he could not find a publisher for it. Only after he cut one-third from it was it accepted. This new edition not only brings Porius back into print, but makes the original book at last available to readers. Set in the geographic confines of Powys's own homeland of Northern Wales, Porius takes place in the course of a mere eight October days in 499 A.D., when King Arthur - a key character in the novel, along with Myrddin Wyllt, or Merlin - was attempting to persuade the people of Britian to repel the barbaric Saxon invaders. Porius, the only child of Prince Einion of Edeyrnion, is the main character who is sent on a journey that is both historical melodrama and satirical allegory. A complex novel, Porius is a mixture of mystery and philosophy on a huge narrative scale, as if Nabokov or Pynchon tried to compress Dostoevsky into a Ulyssean mold. Writing in The New Yorker, George Steiner has said of the abridged Porius that it "combines [a] Shakespearean-epic sweep of historicity with a Jamesian finesse of psychological detail and acuity. Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom!, which I believe to be the American masterpiece after Melville, is a smaller thing by comparison." This new, and first complete, edition of the novel substantiates both Steiner's judgement and Powys's claim for Porius as his masterpiece.

Details Books Conducive To Porius

Original Title:	Porius
ISBN:	1585673668 (ISBN13: 9781585673667)
Edition Language:	English

Rating About Books Porius

Ratings: 4.32 From 116 Users | 27 Reviews

Crit About Books Porius

One week in the life of a British prince in the year 399. A huge sprawling epic. I've read it three times and I'll read it again. No-one writes like John Cowper Powys.

Powys was born in Shirley, Derbyshire, where his father was vicar. His mother was descended from the poet William Cowper, hence his middle name. His two younger brothers, Llewelyn Powys and Theodore Francis Powys, also became well-known writers. Other brothers and sisters also became prominent in the arts. John studied at Sherborne School and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and became a teacher



What can I possibly write about this book in this itty-bitty space and unleavening atmosphere. Porius is the magnum opus no one has ever heard of. Read Porius. Here are more reasons why.

Well...where to begin. Having finally finished, I think of moss and dankness and the kinds of creatures who live in moss and dankness. I loved so much in this book. Because there is no other book like it...utterly and wonderfully and brilliantly unique. But long. Really long. And sort of smelly... in the best way. I love Porius and Rhun and Morfydd and especially Teleri. You will too...if you have what it takes to lose yourself in the Gaer. No one writes about the interplay of male and female

Interim review. I'm on p. 424, but just want to get this off my chest. I have a problem with John Cowper Powys: I don't know where his allegiances are. What I strongly suspect is that he's a better person than me in that he doesn't have allegiances. In Atlantis, I was against the Olympian gods and on the side of the revolution, whether that were a revolt of women, of giants and monsters, or of an earlier set of gods. I'd have said he was, until the end when Atlantis, home of the revolution,

I loved this book but, of course, I love all things Arthurian. It is not a fast read so, unless you are ready to commit, I would not enter into it lightly. Powys had such a knack for recreating a magical, wondrous ancient Wales similar to the world of the Mabinogi. If you like getting inside the head of a character, try this one out.