The Hill of Dreams

English language

Published Nov. 10, 2019 by Standard Ebooks.

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3 stars (1 review)

An ancient Roman hilltop fort proves an irresistible draw to Lucian Taylor, but what awaits at the top isn’t just a view of the surrounding Welsh landscape but a bacchal experience his young soul isn’t ready for. This experience sets his path as he attempts to transcribe his increasingly elaborate visions into the perfect book; the book that will actually mean something more than the banal novels he sees the publishing houses push out.

        <p><i>The Hill of Dreams</i> is a semi-autobiographical work, with <a href="https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/arthur-machen">Arthur Machen</a> following a similar physical journey to the novel: a childhood in rural Wales followed by attempts to become an author in London. Machen was inspired by a review of <a href="https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/laurence-sterne/the-life-and-opinions-of-tristram-shandy-gentleman"><i>Tristram Shandy</i></a> that described it as “a picaresque of the mind,” and determined to write “a <a href="https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/daniel-defoe/the-life-and-adventures-of-robinson-crusoe"><i>Robinson Crusoe</i></a> of the soul.” The protagonist’s isolation from the rest of society certainly resonates with that …

50 editions

Subjects

  • Authors -- Fiction