"Travail utile, fatigue inutile" est un texte fondamental. À l'heure des bullshit jobs, ce texte prémonitoire fait figure de manifeste, de bréviaire, alors que le modèle économique dévastateur mis en place depuis un demi-siècle semble parvenu en bout de course. La révolution industrielle, la démesure de la production dans le capitalisme émergent, nourri de la pensée libérale utilitariste, ont consacré l'idée d'un travail de plus en plus aliénant, qui a rompu avec le réel, le monde et la nature.
Poète, écrivain, décorateur et pionnier du socialisme britannique, William Morris (1834-1896) exècre la société de son temps. Il s'insurge contre les effets dévastateurs de la mécanisation et de la recherche du profit sur les conditions de travail et la vie des ouvriers. La richesse produite par le système économique non seulement engendre de la laideur, mais se résume aussi à une forme de domination car injustement partagée ; elle s'oppose à la prospérité, ce bien-être matériel et moral de tous les individus auquel contribue l'art.
En 1857, dans une Angleterre victorienne patriarcale, William Morris, poète de 23 ans proche du mouvement préraphaélite, s'empare de la légende arthurienne qui connaît alors une popularité croissante. Mais, au lieu de célébrer les exploits des chevaliers, l'auteur décide de donner pour la première fois la parole à la reine Guenièvre. Reprenant l'un des épisodes les plus célèbres du mythe du Camelot durant lequel la souveraine est accusée d'adultère avec Lancelot, William Morris place Guenièvre au centre de son récit et lui laisse le champ libre pour qu'elle présente seule sa défense devant un parterre de juges : tous des chevaliers, tous des hommes. La reine développe alors ses arguments, défend son amour et montre qu'elle a aussi été contrainte dans une condition qu'elle n'a pas voulue.
William Morris (1834-1896), poète, romancier, imprimeur, penseur libertaire, est l'auteur des Nouvelles de nulle part (nouvelle édition à paraître chez Libertalia en 2022). Il est considéré comme l'un des précurseurs de la pensée écologique radicale.
Il n'y a probablement aucune série de phénomènes sur laquelle les travaux de l'esprit scientifique moderne aient répandu moins de lumière que sur les procédés des beaux-arts. Ce fait ressort clairement des idées que nous associons encore avec le terme esthétique. Appeler un sujet esthétique, c'est demander qu'il soit exempt d'une investigation claire et profonde. La cause de cette opinion régnante se trouve sans doute dans la nature des spéculations présentées jusqu'ici comme des contributions à une théorie des arts. Ces spéculations semblent pouvoir être rangées parmi les preuves les plus frappantes de la stérilité de la méthode métaphysique... Cependant cette domination de la pensée métaphysique dans le domaine de l'art ne rend pas entièrement raison de l'absence de toute conception scientifique de l'esthétique... La psychologie peut enseigner à l'artiste les conditions de ses effets ; elle peut lui indiquer une raison pour laquelle il doit rechercher une certaine disposition dans les couleurs ou une certaine unité d'émotions, si son oeuvre doit plaire... La psychologie peut jouer un double rôle dans les problèmes esthétiques. En premier lieu elle peut fournir, dans de certaines limites, une base scientifique distincte pour la solution de ces problèmes. Elle nous offre une certaine quantité de principes objectifs solides, pour établir une théorie de l'art. En second lieu elle peut déterminer les cas où les problèmes sont insolubles et indiquer les raisons pourquoi ils ne peuvent être résolus.
Texte intégral révisé suivi d'une biographie de William Morris. Peintre, écrivain et décorateur anglais, William Morris (1834-1896) étudie la théologie puis la peinture et l'architecture, fortement influencé par John Ruskin et Eugène Viollet-le-Duc. Il se distingue de ses amis préraphaélites par un plus grand engagement social et un retour à l'art gothique motivé par des raisons politiques de tendance libertaire et marxiste. Il rend l'industrie responsable des conditions inhumaines de la vie des ouvriers et clame son aversion pour la machine. Il oppose la créativité de l'individu à une production de masse indifférente à la valeur esthétique. Il importe, selon lui, de retrouver les coutumes et le système de production artisanale de l'époque médiévale où l'artisan le plus humble était un artiste et le plus grand artiste un artisan. Estimant qu'il faut rehausser les arts décoratifs au niveau des arts majeurs, il fonde une société qui produit et vend tableaux, sculptures, meubles, tapisseries, tissus décoratifs et vitraux. On le traite d'utopiste mais aussi de visionnaire. Le groupe des préraphaélites le suit dans cette entreprise et collabore avec lui dans son atelier artisanal d'art appliqué, baptisé Arts and Crafts, qui diffuse bientôt ses inventions décoratives où domine l'arabesque florale, annonciatrice du futur modern style. Un mouvement artistique du même nom suit, où s'illustreront entre autres des artistes comme Walter Crane, Edward Burne-Jones, Ford Madox Brown et Dante Gabriel Rossetti. William Morris continue parallèlement de se vouer à la littérature. Il publie des poèmes, des essais politiques et des traductions de Virgile et d'Homère. Politiquement très engagé, il participe à la fondation de la Ligue Socialiste (ancêtre du Parti travailliste anglais) dont il dirige le journal, The Commonweal. Vers la fin de sa vie, il se consacre à l'art typographique et à l'édition d'art, réalisant de éditions enluminées extrêmement raffinées, dont celle des oeuvres complètes de Geoffrey Chaucer.
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The Water of the Wondrous Isles is a landmark in fantasy fiction. First published a year after Morris's death in 1897 by Kelmscott Press-Morris's own printing company-the novel follows Birdalone, a young girl who is stolen as a baby by a witch who takes her to serve in the woods of Evilshaw.
After she encounters a wood fairy that helps her escape the witch's clutches, Birdalone embarks on a series of adventures across the titular Wondrous Isles. These isles are used by Morris both as parables for contemporary Britain and as vehicles for investigating his radical socialist beliefs. As Birdalone travels through the isles she slowly evolves into the embodiment of the Victorian "new woman," embracing hard physical labor, healthy exercise, higher education, socialist values, and financial freedom, while rejecting sexual exploitation, physical abuse of both women and children, and the restrictive sexual mores of the era. This makes her unique in the fantasy fiction of the era as one of the genre's first examples of a strong female hero.
This socialistfeminist allegory is presented in an Arthurianstyle fantasy world complete with magic, witches, fairies, knights both chivalrous and evil, and castles (indeed, anyone doubting the allegorical nature of the work only needs to look at the name of the tale's main redoubt: "The Castle of the Quest"). The language is purposefully archaic, reveling in vocabulary drawn from the language's Anglo roots; and the prose is lent a hypnotic quality by its lack of quotation marks to offset dialog, and its short chapters characterized by a fairytalenarrative voice.
This is a practical manual for diagnostic testing, focusing on the historical and contemporary research on functional disorders in general, and functional visual disorders in particular. Functional Ophthalmic Disorders: Ocular Malingering and Visual Hysteria is a how-to manual that is written for the practicing ophthalmologist and optometrist, complete with color photos that allow the reader to see pictures of select diseases. In addition to the photos, videos are provided online to illustrate the various tests and possible results conducted on a mock patient to assist in the differential diagnosis. Written and edited by leaders in the field, some of the topics covered include history of functional disorders, ophthalmologic examination in malingering and techniques and tests for functional and simulated defects.
It is assumed by most people nowadays that all work is useful, and by most well-to-do people that all work is desirable. Most people, well-to-do or not, believe that, even when a man is doing work which appears to be useless, he is earning his livelihood by it--he is "employed," as the phrase goes; and most of those who are well-to-do cheer on the happy worker with congratulations and praises, if he is only "industrious" enough and deprives himself of all pleasure and holidays in the sacred cause of labour...
Here, you see, are two kinds of work - one good, the other bad; one not far removed from a blessing, a lightening of life; the other a mere curse, a burden to life. What is the difference between them, then? This: one has hope in it, the other has not. It is manly to do the one kind of work, and manly also to refuse to do the other. What is the nature of the hope which, when it is present in work, makes it worth doing? ...
Stolen as a child and raised in the wood of Evilshaw as servant to a witch, Birdalone ultimately escapes in her captor's magical boat, in which she travels to a succession of strange and wonderful islands.
The hero of this romance is named Golden Walter, son of Bartholomew Golden, a great merchant in the town of Langton on Holm. Tired of his mundane life, Walter sets out on a sea voyage, anxious to see and learn more of the outside world, eventually winning for himself the kingdom of Stark-Wall and the love of a beautiful maiden.
A young Viking sets off on a quest to rescue his kidnapped bride and, along the way, discovers an earthly paradise. Somehow he must turn his back on this paradise to complete his quest to find a woman he barely knows.
In a realm of ancient wonders and forgotten lore, The Story of the Glittering Plain unfolds. Join Hallblithe, a young shepherd, as he embarks on an extraordinary quest to find the fabled Glittering Plain, a land of eternal youth and happiness. Along his perilous journey, he encounters enigmatic beings, faces treacherous trials, and uncovers secrets that will forever alter his destiny. Immerse yourself in William Morris's enchanting masterpiece, where the boundaries of reality blur and the power of imagination reigns supreme.
In the realm of Arthurian legend, where chivalry and romance intertwine, William Morris's "The Defence of Guenevere and Other Poems" unveils a tapestry of love, betrayal, and the complexities of the human heart. Through the voice of Guenevere, the enigmatic queen, Morris challenges traditional narratives, exploring the depths of her passion for Lancelot and the consequences of their forbidden love. With lyrical prose and vivid imagery, this collection of poems transports readers to a world of knights, ladies, and the eternal quest for truth and redemption.
In the realm of ancient myth and legend, where the boundaries between worlds blur, a tale unfolds that will captivate your imagination. The Well at the World's End, the fourth installment in William Morris's epic saga, transports you to a realm where the forces of good and evil clash in a timeless struggle. Join Ralph, the young hero, as he embarks on a perilous quest to find the legendary Well, a source of both life and destruction. Along the way, he encounters mythical creatures, faces treacherous trials, and uncovers secrets that will forever alter the fate of his world.
In the realm of fantasy, where magic weaves its enchanting spell, a timeless tale unfolds. Child Christopher, a valiant knight, embarks on a perilous quest to rescue the fair Goldilind from the clutches of the evil sorcerer, Malignus. As he traverses treacherous forests and battles formidable foes, Christopher's unwavering determination and the power of love guide his path. Along the way, he encounters a cast of extraordinary characters, including the wise old wizard, Merlin, and the mischievous sprite, Puck. With each step, the boundaries between reality and imagination blur, leading to a breathtaking climax that will leave readers spellbound.
News from Nowhere (1890) is a classic work combining utopian socialism and soft science fiction written by the artist, designer and socialist pioneer William Morris. In the book, the narrator, William Guest, falls asleep after returning from a meeting of the Socialist League and awakes to find himself in a future society based on common ownership and democratic control of the means of production. In this society there is no private property, no big cities, no authority, no monetary system, no divorce, no courts, no prisons, and no class systems. This agrarian society functions simply because the people find pleasure in nature, and therefore they find pleasure in their work. In the novel, Morris tackles one of the most common criticisms of socialism; the supposed lack of incentive to work in a communistic society. Morris' response is that all work should be creative and pleasurable. (Summary by Wikipedia)
The Wood beyond the World is a fantasy novel by William Morris, perhaps the first modern fantasy writer to unite an imaginary world with the element of the supernatural, and thus the precursor of much of present-day fantasy literature. His use of archaic language has been seen by some modern readers as making his fiction difficult to read, but brings a wonderful atmosphere to the telling.Morris considered his fantasies a revival of the medieval tradition of chivalrous romances. In consequence, they tend to have sprawling plots of strung-together adventures. In this story, Walter leaves his father and his own unfaithful wife and sets sail in search of adventure. This he finds aplenty, encountering love, treachery and magic in the Wood of the title and in travelling through the Mountains of the Folk of the Bears. But can he find happiness and peace by means of his Quest?Read by Cori Samuel. Edited by Mandarine. Summary by Cori with reference to Wikipedia.
News from Nowhere describes the encounter between a visitor from the nineteenth century, William Guest, and a decentralized and humane socialist future. Set over a century after a revolutionary upheaval in 1952, these 'Chapters from a Utopian Romance' recount his journey across London and up the Thames to Kelmscott Manor, Morris's own country house in Oxfordshire.
What is the condition of Society under which we live? Is it satisfactory, is it quite as we should all like it to be? Does it quite please you who are listening to me, so that there is nothing you want to alter in it?
If that is the case, then none of my hearers are poor, and none have any fear of becoming poor; I am speaking to a crowd of rich men who are quite sure that they will always be rich. Well I see that is not quite the case; some of us are poor, some of us are afraid of becoming poor; some of us have to do very unpleasant work; all of us have to work more than we like; and we know of people who are worse off in all these matters than we are: So we do want to alter things if we could: we are not quite contented: if we say we are, we are not speaking truly but say so because we don't `want to argue, or because we want to get something out of rich people whose interest it is that we should be contented.
Well I should wonder if we were contented; for when we look at the present state of Society we find that the majority of people have every reason to wish to be better off than they are, that in point of fact they are living in misery. Let us look at the various conditions of life and see what portion of the whole people has good reason to be pleased with their share of the wealth, ease, good living, in a word, the happiness of this most highly civilized country...
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"News from Nowhere" is a novel by William Morris that depicts a future society based on common ownership and democratic control. In this society, there is no private property, no authority, and no class systems. The people find pleasure in nature and their work, which is seen as creative and pleasurable. The book addresses objections to socialism and emphasizes the abolition of divisions between art, life, and work. Women in this society are respected as child bearers and rearers, and domestic work is seen as something for which women are particularly suited. The society practices monogamy but is not bound by contractual marriage. Education is chosen by individuals, and children are encouraged to learn through nature. Morris envisions an ideal society free from the burdens of industrialization, where people live in harmony with the natural world.
When his wife cheats on him, Golden Walter leaves his mundane life to start a new one at sea. Horrific news forces him to turn around, however, but before he can reach home, a storm carries his ship to a faraway country. A country inhabited by people he has seen before. In a vison. With novels like `The Wood Beyond the World' (1894) William Morris has gone down in history as the forerunner for much of the modern-day fantasy genre. C.S. Lewis, who wrote `The Chronicles of Narnia', cited Morris as one of his favourite authors, and J.R.R. Tolkien was influenced by Morris' fantasies in writing `The Lord of the Rings' trilogy.
The tale tells that in times long past there was a dwelling of men beside a great wood. Before it lay a plain, not very great, but which was, as it were, an isle in the sea of woodland, since even when you stood on the flat ground, you could see trees everywhere in the offing, though as for hills, you could scarce say that there were any; only swellings-up of the earth here and there, like the upheavings of the water that one sees at whiles going on amidst the eddies of a swift but deep stream.
The tale of the House of the Wolfings in its struggles against the legionaries of Rome then advancing into Northern Germany.
Glówny bohater i narrator powie´sci William wraca ze spotkania Ligii Socjalistycznej i zapada w sen. Budzi sie w ´swiecie zrealizowanych postulatów, gdzie porzadek spoleczny jest urzadzony w oparciu o wspólna wlasno´s´c, a ´srodki produkcji sa poddane demokratycznej kontroli. ´Swiat stal sie plaski i równy - zniknely prywatne majatki, duze metropolie, hierarchie klasowe, a nawet wiezienia. Spolecze´nstwo wrócilo do swoich agrarnych korzeni.
William Morris byl entuzjasta socjalizmu. Jego ksiazka jest utopijna wizja ´swiata urzadzonego zgodnie z ta idea, zawiera takze elementy miekkiej fantastyki.
Interesujaca lektura dla milo´sników motywu utopii, jak w powie´sci "Wyspa" Aldousa Huxleya czy w "Podrózach Guliwera" Jonathana Swifta.
William Morris (1834-1896) - brytyjski pisarz, projektant tkanin i socjalista. Zaczynal jako autor fikcji historycznych, ale ´swiat zapamietal go przede wszystkim jako prekursora wspólczesnej fantastyki. Interesowal sie Islandia i wraz z tamtejszym uczonym Eiríkurem Magnússonem przetlumaczyl na jezyk angielski serie islandzkich sag.
"For surely there is no square mile of earth's inhabitable surface that is not beautiful in its own way, if we men will only abstain from willfully destroying that beauty; and it is this reasonable share in the beauty of the earth that I claim as the right of every man who will earn it by due labour; a decent house with decent surroundings for every honest and industrious family; that is the claim which I make of you in the name of art. Is it such an exorbitant claim to make of civilization? of a civilization that is too apt to boast in after-dinner speeches; too apt to thrust her blessings on far-off peoples at the cannon's mouth before she has improved the quality of those blessings so far that they are worth having at any price, even the smallest"...
