Warner, Sylvia Townsend - William Jay Smith (essay date 1977)
William Jay Smith (essay date 1977)
SOURCE: A review of Kingdoms of Elfin, in The New York Times Book Review, March 27, 1977, pp. 6-7.
[In the following review, Smith says that while Warner is dextrous and sharp in her presentation of the elfin world to the reader, behind it all "the reader senses the author's fundamental skepticism. "]
This collection of tales [Kingdoms of Elfin] by Sylvia Townsend Warner is, to say the least, cause for celebration. Issued on the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of her novel Lolly Willowes, the first book ever chosen by the Book-of-the-Month Club, it has all the freshness, wit, originality of perception and clarity of insight that have won for her rhythmical prose so many admirers over so long a time. It offers us an unforgettable journey through time and space, a cast of truly fantastic characters and an impressive and seemingly unending display of verbal fireworks.
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