News From Nowhere

Description

News from Nowhere was written and published by William Morris in 1890 and is one of the densest texts by the author, while also being a novel of great entertainment value.

William Morris was a real renaissance man. Textile pattern designer, translator, poet and social activist, Morris contributed immensely to all these fields and the creation of the genre of modern fantasy is also linked to his name. He was also an advocate of socialism, and News from Nowhere successfullyblends the author’s social views and his extraordinary talent as a story teller. The story of the book is narrated by the protagonist, William Guest, who participates in a meeting of the Socialist League, when he falls asleep and wakes up after a long time in a completely transformed society that has abolished private property and has eliminated crime, money, divorce, prisons and the class system. This utopian society is structured by and finds cohesion in the pleasure that people take in work as such.

The novel is much more than the fictionalized description of ideal society. It is also the description of the human being’s quest for love. In the universe of the book, love is also given an interpretation radically different from the protagonist’s old ideals – Ellen, the girl that the protagonist falls in love with, is a strong, emancipated working woman and a beautiful soul, too.

In his book, Morris expresses not only his hope that socialism can eliminate all evil as well as the boundaries between life, art and work, but he also formulates replies to the most common arguments against socialism such as the lack of the motivation to work.Written as a response to Edward Bellamy’s utopian novel entitled Looking Backward: 2000-1887, Morris depicts a socialist world that is motivated and kept together by joy of life and an ideal society that is able to function on its own, without being governed by a state.
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