Richard Jefferies
John Richard Jefferies (November 6 1848 - August 14 1888 ) was an English writer of journalism and fiction on the countryside.
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
The works marked with (e-book) are freely available in electronical form from Project Gutenberg; follow the link to retrieve them:
- The Story of My Heart ()
- Pageant of Summer ()
- The Open Air ()
- The Life of the Fields ()
- Field And Hedgerow ()
- Hodge And His Masters ()
