Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Categories: 1848 births | 1888 deaths | English children's writers | English science fiction writers
Richard Jefferies
He was born at Coate, near Swindon, Wiltshire, the son of a farmer. From early in life he showed a great love of the countryside, but was evidently temperamentally unsuitable to follow his father as a farmer, and in 1866 he found employment as a newspaper reporter for the North Wiltshire Herald.
Two of his books were written as children's books, Wood Magic (1881) and Bevis: the story of a Boy (1882), which are regarded as minor classics.
His most famous work, After London (1885) is of the type that could be best described as "post-holocaust science fiction"; after some sudden and unspecified catastrophe has depopulated England, the countryside reverts to nature, and the few survivors to a quasi-medieval way of life. The first chapters consist solely of a loving description of nature reclaiming England: fields becoming overrun by forest, domesticated animals running wild, roads and towns becoming overgrown, the hated London reverting to lake and poisonous swampland. The rest of the story is a straightforward adventure/quest set many years later in the wild landscape and society; but the opening chapters set an example for many later science fiction stories.
He died at Goring-on-Sea, Sussex, having lived for some time in Eltham on the south-east fringes of London.
After his death, a number of posthumous collections were made of his writings previously published in neswpapers and magazines, beginning with Field and Hedgerow (1889), edited by his widow. New collections have appeared over the century following his birth, but even now not all have been reprinted in book form.
Early works included three by Henry Salt:
- Richard Jefferies: A Study (1894)
- Richard Jefferies: His Life and His Ideas (1905)
- The Faith of Richard Jefferies (1906)
Jefferies' works inspired Henry Williamson to take up writing ; Williamson edited a collection of Jefferies' writings with a title that indicates the great regard that he held for Jefferies:
- RICHARD JEFFERIES : Selections of his Work with details of his Life and Circumstances, his Death and Immortality (1947)
Works
- Free eBook of The Story of My Heart at Project Gutenberg
- Free eBook of Pageant of Summer at Project Gutenberg
- Free eBook of The Open Air at Project Gutenberg
- Free eBook of The Life of the Fields at Project Gutenberg
- Free eBook of Field And Hedgerow at Project Gutenberg
- Free eBook of Hodge And His Masters at Project Gutenberg
- Free eBook of The Amateur Poacher at Project Gutenberg
External links
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