William Morris

Sixteen handsome renderings based on projects by one of Victorian England's foremost leaders of the Arts and Crafts movement. Includes adaptations of wallpaper and textile designs as well as scenes of Adam Naming the Beasts, Sleeping Apostles, Angel and Woman, and many more.

News from Nowhere (1890) is the most famous work of one of the greatest British writers and thinkers, William Morris. It is a utopian picture of a future communist society, drawing on the work of Ruskin and Marx and written in response to what Morris saw as soulless and mechanical visions of socialism. In this work of his last years, Morris distilled many of his leading ideas on politics, art and society, imagining a world in which capitalism has been abolished by a workers’ revolution and nature and society have become beautiful habitations for humanity. In an era that has seen the collapse of state socialism, Morris’s damning critique of this conception, and his positing of a powerful alternative, have important contemporary resonances.

News from Nowhere (1890) is the most famous work of one of the greatest British writers and thinkers, William Morris. It is a utopian picture of a future communist society, drawing on the work of Ruskin and Marx and written in response to what Morris saw as soulless and mechanical visions of socialism. In this work of his last years, Morris distilled many of his leading ideas on politics, art and society, imagining a world in which capitalism has been abolished by a workers’ revolution and nature and society have become beautiful habitations for humanity. In an era that has seen the collapse of state socialism, Morris’s damning critique of this conception, and his positing of a powerful alternative, have important contemporary resonances.

William Morris is well recognized as an eclectic and energetic contributor to the Victorian artistic and literary scene. Readers of Morris’s languid poetic narratives and archaic prose romances will be intrigued by this editions of his single socialist play, a lively and rich experiment in political prose that offers an unusual example of Morris’s boisterous humor and satirical style. Written during the fall of 1887 and subsequently performed until at least the summer of 1888, Morris’s The Tables Turned; or Nupkins Awakened is an interesting early experiment in agit-prop theater. Readers of this new edition will undoubtedly conclude that the interlude is not at all what they would expect of the better known sensibilities of William Morris. The parody, and overall realistic ambiance of the play seem far removed from Morris’s medievalesque temper. Morris’s “morality play” in satirical dress reveals how he utilized a relatively realistic medium for expressing both his frustration with and his vision for British socialism during the later part of the nineteenth century.

Poet, pattern-designer, environmentalist and maker of fine books, William Morris (1834-96) was also a committed socialist and visionary writer, obsessively concerned with the struggle to achieve a perfect society on earth. News From Nowhere, one of the most significant English works on the theme of utopia, is the tale of William Guest, a Victorian who wakes one morning to find himself in the year 2102 and discovers a society that has changed beyond recognition into a pastoral paradise, in which all people live in blissful equality and contentment. A socialist masterpiece, News From Nowhere is a vision of a future free from capitalism, isolation and industrialisation. This volume also contains a wide selection of Morris's writings, lectures, journalism and letters, which expand upon the key themes of News From Nowhere.

"This astute and long overdue reappraisal provides a lucid overview and a wealth of contextual information. An excellent resource." -- Shannon L. Rogers, Saint Joseph’s University, Editor, Newsletter of the William Morris Society in the United States"through his insightful introduction and careful selection of documents, [Arata] has created an invaluable edition of News from Nowhere." -- Peter Stansky, Stanford University