SOURCE: "The Romances: Wood Magic, Bevis, and After London," in RichardJefferies: A Critical Study, University of Toronto Press, 1965, pp. 100-22.

In the following essay, Keith explores some interconnections between Jefferies's romances—Wood Magic, Bevis, and After London.

[Let us] consider the three… fictional works of Jefferies' maturity, Wood Magic (1881), Bevis (1882), and After London: or Wild England (1885), under the general term "romances." The first two are naturally linked by a common hero, Bevis, though they are so different in tone and intention that this superficial connection is somewhat misleading. But there are good reasons for considering all three books together. In all, Jefferies is concerned not only with the real world but with a dream-world; indeed, the latter is generally more important and more central than the former. But it is a dream-world which, in various significant ways, reflects everyday experience. Jefferies is not escaping into fantasy; instead he...