Renaissance fair socialismWilliam Morris (1834–1896) was an English author, visual artist, textile designer, and socialist agitator. As the most prominent artist in the British Arts and Crafts movement, Morris created drawings, paintings, book illustrations, fabrics, furniture, and stained glass windows that harkened back to the Middle Ages. He was also a rather prolific man of letters, and his literary works, not surprisingly, were likewise often set in medieval times. His novel A Dream of John Ball was published in 1888.
The narrator of the novel is a present-day Englishman of the 1880s who falls asleep and dreams himself back into the Middle Ages. Specifically, he finds himself amid the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381, a rebellion that swept across large portions of England. Serfs fighting for the right to own property and be their own masters rose up in arms against the regime of King Richard II. The narrator falls into a band of such rebels in County Kent. The inspirational leader of this cadre of freedom fighters is John Ball, a real-life clergyman whom Morris portrays as a sort of Robin Hood figure. Jack Straw, another historical figure from the revolt, also appears in the novel.
After quickly being accepted into this band of rebels, the narrator fights along side them in an encounter with the king’s forces. In this battle that takes up roughly the first half of the novel, Morris indulges his ardor for medieval culture, lovingly describing in vivid detail all the garments, weaponry, and accoutrements of these 14th-century warriors. This extended action sequence reads like a few chapters disembodied from Ivanhoe or some other Sir Walter Scott novel. There’s much medieval pageantry and heroic derring-do but not much of a story. Morris emphasizes the fellowship between these daring and forthright men while implying that such fellowship no longer exists in the modern world. In Morris’s eyes, this picturesque world of medieval farmers and craftsmen would have been an idyllic utopia, were it not for the oppression they endured under feudalism.
The second half of the novel is an improvement over the first. When the narrator finally sits down to talk to John Ball, the story actually goes somewhere and has a purpose. Ball can somehow sense that his conversation partner is a visitor from the future. He asks the narrator if his dream of equality and brotherhood of man will ever come to fruition. The narrator regrettably informs Ball that although serfdom and feudalism would cease to exist in England, men will still be bound as wage-slaves within an oppressive system run by greedy oligarchs. Although much has changed in half a millennium, the ultimate status of the common man has changed little. He proceeds to explain capitalism in lingo evocative of the Middle Ages, with many thees and thous and the use of antiquated words like “villeins” and “thralls” instead of “serfs” or “proletariats.” The Peasant’s Revolt is regarded by some radicals as an inspirational prototype (albeit unsuccessful) for a socialist revolution. While there is no hope for John Ball’s rebels, Morris encourages readers of 1888 to hold out hope for an overthrow of the oligarchy and freedom for the common man.
Morris is regarded as a pioneer of the science fiction and fantasy genres in English literature. A Dream of John Ball is merely a baby step in that direction. The only science fiction element is the time travel, which takes place in a dream and therefore could just be the narrator’s imagination. A couple years after this novel, Morris would write a more overtly sci-fi and more overtly socialist work, News from Nowhere, which is superior to A Dream of John Ball in just about every way I can think of. Nevertheless, the second half of A Dream of John Ball is well-conceived, eloquently executed, and daringly outspoken for its time.
A kinder, gentler utopia
News from Nowhere, a utopian novel by English author, artist, and socialist activist William Morris, was published in 1890. The narrator is an active member of the Socialist League, a British revolutionary group. As the book opens, he returns from a League meeting, having engaged in heated debate with his comrades over the ideal society of the future, and turns in for the night. When he awakens the next morning, he has been inexplicably transported to the early 21st century. To his pleasant surprise, he finds that England has been transformed into the socialist society of his dreams.
If this plot sounds identical to Edward Bellamy’s 1888 novel Looking Backward, it’s no coincidence. Morris was displeased with Bellamy’s industrial vision of socialism and wrote this work in response. Though the premise of the story is essentially a rip-off of Bellamy’s plot, set in London instead of Boston, overall Morris’s novel is not only a departure from but also an improvement over Bellamy’s rather dull political-economic treatise. Regardless of whether you agree with Morris’s vision of utopia, he presents his ideas in a far more entertaining package than his American counterpart.
The narrator never reveals his real name, but asks his newfound friends of the future to call him William Guest. A fellow named Dick takes Guest under his wing and invites him on a little journey. Of course, Guest is full of questions about this brave new world and interrogates Dick along the way. Unlike Bellamy, Morris manages to keep the conversation lively, interesting, and fun, despite the preachy subject matter. Guest tries to play it cool and not reveal he’s a relic from the past, but when he brings up topics like money, prisons, schools, and politics, almost no one knows what he’s talking about, because they don’t have any of these things in their society. Morris’s socialist vision is a post-mechanical society that resembles an idyllic view of medieval times, only devoid of any class system. All labor is done by hand. Citizens work when they choose, and they often choose to do so, simply for the joy of being artisans. Handcrafts play an integral part in this society, which is not surprising given Morris’s prominent role in the Arts and Crafts Movement.
Dick introduces Guest to his grandfather, Old Hammond, who remembers the revolution that led to the overthrow of the old order and the establishment of the new. This lengthy history gets a little long-winded, but includes a few stirring scenes that are a refreshing change from the overall bucolic tone of the book. In its final third, unfortunately, the novel takes a downward slide. Dick and Guest travel up the Thames to a hay-making festival, and Morris treats us to repetitive descriptions of the landscapes and houses they see along the way. Only a denizen of London would appreciate this detailed depiction of how each individual suburb of the city has reverted to its pastoral roots.
Though it fizzles toward the end, News form Nowhere is still an enjoyable read for those who enjoy idealistic literature of the 19th century. Relax, enjoy the smell of the grass and the songs of the birds, and open your mind to a better life. Though I doubt Morris’s utopia will ever come to fruition, I for one certainly wouldn’t mind living there.
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