One of the most significant examples of English writing on Utopia
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.
By:
William Morris
Introduction by:
Clive Wilmer
Edited by:
Clive Wilmer
Imprint: Penguin Classics
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 198mm,
Width: 130mm,
Spine: 23mm
Weight: 325g
ISBN: 9780140433302
ISBN 10: 0140433309
Pages: 480
Publication Date: 02 December 2004
Audience:
General/trade
,
ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
"Part 1 Romance: the story of the unknown Church; a King's lesson; two extracts from ""A Dream of John Ball""; ""News from Nowhere"". Part 2 Lectures: the lesser arts; some hints on pattern-designing; useful work versus useless toil; the hopes of civilization. Part 3 Occasional prose: ""Looking Backward"" - a review of ""Looking Backward"" by Edward Bellamy; under an elm-tree, or, thoughts in the countryside; preface in ""The Nature of Gothic"" by John Ruskin; foreword to ""Utopia"" by Sir Thomas More; how I became a socialist; a note by William Morris on his aims in founding the Kelmscott Press. Part 4 Letters: [the Eastern question]: letter to the ""Daily News""; [anti-scrape]: letter to the ""Athenaeum""; [St Mark's, Venice]: letter to the ""Daily News""."
William Morris (1834-1896) was one of the most influential thinkers and artists of his time. At Oxford, with the painter Burne-Jones, he fell under the influence of Ruskin and Rossetti. Preoccupied with the poverty of modern design he taught himself at least thirteen crafts and founded his own design firm, Morris & Co. In the late 1870s he became active in political and environmentalist matters and converted to socialism in 1883, helping to found the Socialist League a year later. Clive Wilmer read English at King's College, Cambridge. He also edited Ruskin and Rossetti for the Penguin Classics, and has translated poetry from several languages.
Reviews for News from Nowhere and Other Writings
First published in 1890 and now republished in paperback, this is Morris's magnum opus, a utopian picture of a future communist society which draws on the work of Ruskin and Marx and was written in response to what Morris saw as soulless and mechanical visions of socialism. In an era that has seen the collapse of state socialism, this book gives us a powerful insight into just why the statist version of socialism failed and offers us a vision for our own time of a non-collectivist society in which small-scale forms of cooperation avoid the damaging consequences of rampant individualism and unregulated global capitalism. And it's a good read. (Kirkus UK)
