This story is the most sophisticated of William Morris’s stories
in The Oxford and Cambridge Magazine. The first two chapters, published in September, are similar to earlier stories, such as “Gertha’s
Lovers” and “Svend
and his Brethren”. Each of these stories has a
medieval setting, and focuses on family lineage and knightly heroism.
“The Hollow Land”, however, adds a moral ambiguity
absent from the earlier stories: the narrator asks, “Had our
house been the devil’s servants all along? I thought we were
God’s servants.” (573). In the second part, published
in October, Morris takes the story in a different direction as the
narrator travels into “the hollow land,” a sort of
purgatory. The closing chapters question divine judgment, redemption, and
the power of art.
Like many of the stories in the Magazine, “The Hollow
Land” shows the clear influence of
Malory’s Morte d’Arthur
, especially in the vocabulary Morris uses: words such as
“undern” and “flatlings” give
the story an archaic tone, one not achieved in Morris’s other
tales in the Magazine.
When Sydney Cockerell and Robert Proctor edited Morris's contributions to
The Oxford and Cambridge Magazine for republication, they used this story as the title of the
collection, The Hollow Land and Other Contributions to The Oxford
and Cambridge Magazine (LeMire).
This collection contains 2 texts and images, including:
The Oxford and Cambridge Magazine text
Scholarly Commentary
Guest Editor: PC Fleming
Introduction
This story is the most sophisticated of William Morris’s stories in The Oxford and Cambridge Magazine. The first two chapters, published in September, are similar to earlier stories, such as “Gertha’s Lovers” and “Svend and his Brethren”. Each of these stories has a medieval setting, and focuses on family lineage and knightly heroism. “The Hollow Land”, however, adds a moral ambiguity absent from the earlier stories: the narrator asks, “Had our house been the devil’s servants all along? I thought we were God’s servants.” (573). In the second part, published in October, Morris takes the story in a different direction as the narrator travels into “the hollow land,” a sort of purgatory. The closing chapters question divine judgment, redemption, and the power of art.
Like many of the stories in the Magazine, “The Hollow Land” shows the clear influence of Malory’s Morte d’Arthur , especially in the vocabulary Morris uses: words such as “undern” and “flatlings” give the story an archaic tone, one not achieved in Morris’s other tales in the Magazine.
When Sydney Cockerell and Robert Proctor edited Morris's contributions to The Oxford and Cambridge Magazine for republication, they used this story as the title of the collection, The Hollow Land and Other Contributions to The Oxford and Cambridge Magazine (LeMire).
Printing History
First printed in The Oxford and Cambridge Magazine ,1856, in two parts: the first part in September and the second part in October.