Routledge Companion to William Morris

<p>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. </p><p>This <em>Companion</em> 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. </p><p>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.</p> <p>Introduction. Visions Not Dreams: Morris as Designer, Socialist, Entrepreneur, Poet . . . </p><p><em>Florence S. Boos</em></p><p>Part I: Morris’s Life, Family, and Environs</p><p>1. Morris’s Biographies </p><p><em>Michael Robertson</em></p><p>2 Business in the Creative Life of William Morris </p><p><em>Charles Harvey, Jon Press and Mairi Maclean</em> </p><p>3. Morris, Family, and the Woman Question</p><p><em>Florence S. Boos</em></p><p>4. 'Kelmscott Manor. Mr Morris’s Country Place' (1871–1896) </p><p><em>Julia Griffin</em></p><p>5. 'What came we forth for to see that our hearts are so hot with desire': Morris and Iceland</p><p><em>Martin Stott</em></p><p>Part II: Art: Preservation, Interior Design, and Adaptations </p><p>6. Morris and Architecture</p><p><em>Christopher Miele</em></p><p>7. William Morris and Stained Glass</p><p><em>Jim Cheshire</em></p><p>8. William Morris and Interior Design </p><p><em>Margaretta S. Frederick</em></p><p>9. William Morris and the Culture Industry: Appropriation, Art, Critique</p><p><em>Compiled by David Mabb</em> </p><p>Part III: Literature: Poetry, Art, Translation, and Fantasy </p><p>10. A Question of Ornament: Poetry and the (Lesser) Arts </p><p><em>Elizabeth Helsinger</em></p><p>11. Making Pictures: Morris's Pre-Raphaelite Poetics and Its Reception </p><p><em>David Latham</em></p><p>12. William Morris and the Classical Tradition</p><p><em>William Whitla</em></p><p>13 A Very Animated Conversation on Icelandic Matters: The Saga Translations of William Morris and Eiríkr Magnússon</p><p><em>Paul Acker</em></p><p>14. Rewilding Morris: Wilderness and the Wild in the Last Romances </p><p><em>Phillippa Bennett</em></p><p>15. Windy, Tangible, Resonant Worlds: The Nonhuman Fantasy of William Morris</p><p><em>John Plotz</em> </p><p>Part IV: Literature and Socialism </p><p>16. William Morris and British Politics: From the Liberal Party to the Socialist League</p><p><em>Frank C. Sharp</em></p><p>17. <i>News from Nowhere</i> in the Museum of Literary Interpretations</p><p><em>Tony Pinkney</em> </p><p>18. Literature and Socialism of the <i>Commonweal</i></p><p><em>Elizabeth Carolyn Miller</em></p><p>19. Desire and Necessity: William Morris and Nature </p><p><em>Patrick O’Sullivan</em></p><p>20. Morris and Marxist Theory </p><p><em>Owen Holland</em></p><p>Part V: Books: Collecting and Design </p><p>21 William Morris’s Book Collecting </p><p><em>Yuri Cowan</em></p><p>22. William Morris and the Kelmscott Press: Towards an Aesthetics of Environment </p><p><em>Nicholas Frankel</em> </p>