Lore of Proserpine

Lore of Proserpine is a 1913 book by Maurice Hewlett (1861-1923), the English novelist and essayist, and the strangest work in his output: a series of essays and narratives presented as the author’s own encounters with fairies and nature spirits in the English countryside. Hewlett writes with apparent seriousness about visions of dryads, oreads, and the hidden folk, framing the book between memoir, fantasy, and a Platonist meditation on the reality behind appearances, with Proserpine standing as the goddess of the natural world’s double life. Critics have never settled how literally Hewlett meant it. The book belongs with the Edwardian fairy literature of Arthur Machen and the early Walter de la Mare, and it remains a curiosity prized by readers of English fantasy. Free PDF download available on BDeBooks.