William Morris (1834–96) was an English poet, decorative artist, translator, romance writer, book designer, preservationist, socialist theorist, and political activist, whose admirers have been drawn to the sheer intensity of his artistic endeavors and efforts to live up to radical ideals of social justice.
This Companion draws together historical and critical responses to the impressive range of Morris’s multi-faceted life and activities: his homes, travels, family, business practices, decorative artwork, poetry, fantasy romances, translations, political activism, eco-socialism, and book collecting and design. Each chapter provides valuable historical and literary background information, reviews relevant opinions on its subject from the late-nineteenth century to the present, and offers new approaches to important aspects of its topic.
Morris’s eclectic methodology and the perennial relevance of his insights and practice make this an essential handbook for those interested in art history, poetry, translation, literature, book design, environmentalism, political activism, and Victorian and utopian studies.
Introduction. Visions Not Dreams: Morris as Designer, Socialist, Entrepreneur, Poet . . . .
Florence S. Boos
Section 1: Morris’s Life, Family, and Environs
1. Morris’s Biographies
Michael Robertson
2 Business in the Creative Life of William Morris
Charles Harvey, Jon Press and Mairi Maclean
3. Morris, Family, and the Woman Question
Florence S. Boos
4. "Kelmscott Manor. Mr Morris’s Country Place" (1871-1896)
Julia Griffin
5. "What came we forth for to see that our hearts are so hot with desire": Morris and Iceland
Martin Stott
Section 2: Art: Preservation, Interior Design and Adaptations
6. Morris and Architecture
Christopher Miele
7. William Morris and Stained Glass
Jim Cheshire
8. William Morris and the Rise of Interior Design
Margaretta Frederick
9. William Morris and the Culture Industry: Appropriation, Art, Critique
David Mabb
Section 3: Literature: Poetry, Art, Translation and Fantasy
10. A Question of Ornament: Poetry and the (Lesser) Arts
Elizabeth Helsinger
11. Making Pictures: Pre-Raphaelite Poetry and Its Reception"
David Latham
12. William Whitla’s "William Morris and the Classical Tradition"
William Whitla
13 "A Very Animated Conversation on Icelandic Matters": The Saga Translations of William Morris and Eiríkr Magnússon
Paul Acker
14. Rewilding Morris: Wilderness and the Wild in the Last Romances
Phillippa Bennett
15. Windy, Tangible, Resonant Worlds: The Non-Human Fantasy of William Morris
John Plotz
Section 4: Literature and Socialism
16. William Morris and British Politics: From the Liberal Party to the Socialist League
Frank C. Sharp
17. News from Nowhere in the Museum of Literary Interpretations
Tony Pinkney
18. William Morris and the Literature and Socialism of the Commonweal
Elizabeth C. Miller
19. Desire and Necessity: William Morris and Nature
Patrick O’Sullivan
20. Morris and Marxist Theory
Owen Holland
Section 5: Books: Collecting and Design
21 William Morris’s Book Collecting
Yuri Cowan
22. William Morris and the Kelmscott Press
Nicholas Frankel
Biography
Florence S. Boos is the author of two books on Morris’s poetry. She has also edited several of his works, and is the general editor of the William Morris Archive.
"The Companion is an outstanding and extraordinary guide to all aspects of the reformer’s life and work, animated by the recognition that because of Morris’s versatile activities, no single scholar could ever attempt to research all aspects of the man. It has 22 chapters in over 600 pages with very fresh and fascinating visual material, including over 120 mostly unpublished images."
--Five Books
