E. A. Wyke-Smith
1871–1935
Biography
Edward Augustine Wyke-Smith, who wrote as E. A. Wyke-Smith, lived from 1871 to 1935. He was born Edward Augustine Smith and later took back the older family surname by deed poll. His working life was unusual. He shipped out on a windjammer, worked as a cowboy in the American West and trained as a mining engineer, and he went on to manage mines in Mexico, Spain, Portugal, Norway and other countries. During the First World War he built a pontoon bridge across the Suez Canal.
He began writing fantasy for his own children. A critic, John Clute, has suggested that the tales were in part a response to the First World War. His first book, Bill of the Bustingforths, appeared in 1921, written at his children's request, and several more novels for young readers and for adults followed in the 1920s. The one that is still remembered is The Marvellous Land of Snergs, published in Britain in 1927 with pictures by the Punch cartoonist George Morrow. Its small, sociable Snergs love communal feasting, and the story sends its characters through dangerous forests and caverns.
The book's lasting interest comes from its link with J. R. R. Tolkien. Tolkien read it to his children and wrote warmly of it, and the likeness between the Snergs and the hobbits, in their looks, their love of shared meals and names such as Gorbo and Bilbo, has led readers to speculate that it was a major inspiration for The Hobbit. The Marvellous Land of Snergs is the title on this site, and it is worth reading both for its own charm and as the book Tolkien valued.
This biography was written by a language model. The sources below are where to check it; treat details with care.
Books
The marvellous land of Snergs
by E. A. Wyke-Smith
The Marvellous Land of Snergs is a children's fantasy, written by Edward Wyke-Smith and illustrated by the Punch cartoonist George Morrow. It was originally published in Britain by Ernest Benn in September 1927, and later published in the U.S. in 1928 by Harper & Brothers. It is…
Summary from Wikipedia: The Marvellous Land of Snergs (CC BY-SA 4.0)