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 twentieth-century literature, by one of it...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 twentieth-century literature, by one of its most "Extraordinary, neglected geniuses," Said robertson 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.