Book description
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.
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.
