"Porius stood upon the low square tower above the Southern Gate of Mynydd-y-Gaer, and looked down on the wide stretching valley below." So begins one of the most unique novels of 20th-century literature, by one of its most "extraordinary, neglected geniuses," said Robertston Davies of John Cowper Powys. Powys thought "Porius" his masterpiece but, because of the paper shortage after World War II and the novel's lengthiness, he could not find a publisher for it. Only after he cut one-third from it was it accepted. This new edition not only brings "Porius" back into print, but makes the original book at last available to readers. Set in the geographic confines of Powys's own homeland of Northern Wales, the epic of "Porius" takes place in the course of eight October days in AD 499, when King Arthur - a key character in the novel, along with Myrddin Wyllt, or Merlin - was trying to persuade the people of Britain to repel the barbaric Saxon invaders. Porius, the only child of Prince Einion of Edeyrnion, is the main character, who is sent on a journey that is both historical melodrama and satirical allegory. A complex novel, "Porius" is a mixture of mystery and philosophy on a huge narrative scale.