The Cambridge Companion to William Morris

A vibrant gathering of influential voices who have participated in the critical, political, and curatorial revival of William Morris's work.

Marcus Waithe (Edited by)

9781108940634, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 23 May 2024

358 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.7 cm, 0.57 kg

'[A] comprehensive collection of essays that explores the full extent of Morris's multiplicity.' Dinah Birch, The Times Literary Supplement

In his short life, William Morris (1834-96) combined the roles of poet, author, painter, designer, translator, lecturer, political activist, journalist, weaver, bookmaker, and businessman. This volume draws together influential voices from different disciplines who have participated in the recent critical, political, and curatorial revival of his work, with essays exploring the contemporary resonance of his exceptional legacy. As a critic of capitalism, his thinking has thrived in these years of financial crisis; as a theorist of work and craftsmanship, his legacy interacts with a more recent ethics of making that questions the values of 'off-shored' production; and as a protector of landscape and buildings Morris's concern with what is precious strikes a chord in our age of environmental crisis. At the same time, a careful and scholarly approach observes the particularity of Morris's context, in a way that confounds the 'false friends' of hasty historical reception and reveals unexpected connections.

Part I. Senses of Place: Introduction Marcus Waithe
1. Oxford Tony Pinkney
2. Red House Tessa Wild
3. The Thames Basin Clive Wilmer
Part II. Authorship: 5. Experimental medievalism: The Defence of Guenevere and other Poems (1858) Martin Dubois
6. Troubling the heroic ideal: Morris's midlife poetry Florence Boos
7. Skaldic Morris: Translations from Old Norse Heather O'Donoghue
8. '[T]he whole man': Morris's public lectures Simon Grimble
9. Northern epic: Sigurd the Volsung (1876) Herbert Tucker
10. Utopian fiction: News from Nowhere (1890
1891) Matthew Beaumont
11. Morris's prose romances and the origins of fantasy Anna Vaninskaya
Part III. The Practical Arts: 12. Morris & Company: The poet as decorator Elizabeth Helsinger
13. Pattern: Textiles and wallpaper Caroline Arscott
14. Technologies of the book: Revisiting the Kelmscott Press Marcus Waithe
Part IV. Movements and Causes: 15. Practical socialism: Newspaper and propaganda work Ingrid Hanson
16. Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement Mary Greensted
17. Female fellowship: Morris, feminism and the New Woman Zoë Thomas
18. Landscape and environment Elizabeth Carolyn Miller
Part V. Influences and Legacies: 19. Morris and John Ruskin Stuart Eagles
20. Morris and Marxism Ruth Levitas
21. William Morris's 'Medieval Modern' afterlives Michael T. Saler
22. Morris in the twenty-first century Sara Atwood.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: c 1800 to c 1900 [DSBF]