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William Morris: A Life for Our Time Hardcover – September 26, 1995
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In this biography, Fiona MacCarthy brings all the strands together, from the dreamy boy in a London suburb spinning medieval fantasies to the great bearded patriarch dividing his time between the design and production of beautiful fabrics, the translation of Icelandic epics, and the promotion of Socialism on street corners. Her understanding of his work as an artist-craftsman is profound, yet she is equally illuminating about the strange mixture of nostalgia and yearning for change that shaped his politics. At the same time, she is prepared to deal frankly and in detail with his often painful personal life.
- Print length780 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherKnopf
- Publication dateSeptember 26, 1995
- Dimensions6.75 x 2.5 x 9.75 inches
- ISBN-100394585313
- ISBN-13978-0394585314
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Product details
- Publisher : Knopf (September 26, 1995)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 780 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0394585313
- ISBN-13 : 978-0394585314
- Item Weight : 3.75 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.75 x 2.5 x 9.75 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,656,870 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #3,076 in Artist & Architect Biographies
- Customer Reviews:
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What strikes me in particular is McCarthy's care in delving into Morris' psyche & private life. While there's plenty to be gleaned from both his writing & the memoirs of others, she often tells us that she won't speculate on this or that particular topic because she simply doesn't have enough information to deliver a reasonably probable answer. The anguished tangle of Morris' marriage & friendships is illuminated as much as possible, but some of it remains hidden by Victorian propriety even now. To her credit, McCarthy leaves it there without resorting to wild hunches & pathography. Suffice it to say that Morris' psyche was obviously as rich & complicated as his many artistic talents were diverse.
Still, there is much to say about this enormously energetic & driven man, and McCarthy does her best to convey as much as she can in a lucid, unencumbered fashion. There's just so much to deal with! Yet she invariably makes everything clear for the reader -- timelines, influences, relationships, artistic responses -- and all of it in context of Morris' time & place in history. Further, she offers a sympathetic & keen-eyed appraisal of his work as a writer, a Socialist, and a wide range of artistic pursuits. Some of his frequently disparaged work is shown to be more than popular & critical opinion would have it; at the same time, she unerringly points out its flaws & weaknesses. Without over-praising Morris as a creative artist, she does take him more seriously than others have in the past, and invites us to see that as well. The poetry comes out better than expected, however uneven; and the late romances reveal much of his worldview, filtered through fine storytelling.
Lastly, Morris is sometimes regarded as well-meaning but naive in his attitudes toward Socialism & the living of a meaningful life. McCarthy remedies that short-sighted verdict by thoroughly examining the growth of his worldview, finding in him a man very much aware of his own times & anticipating the increased crassness & emptiness of modern society. In this he remains a relevant figure, with much to say about our contemporary consumerist world, so driven by greed, power & sheer ugliness as the expense of the human spirit.
A book well worth several readings -- most highly recommended!
In fact I have already finished reading this superbly documented and generously
illustrated biography by the talented Fiona MacCarthy. I am quite a fan of her biographies.
I am a committed Pre-Raphaelite junkie, preferring to lose myself in this wonderful
Victorian art world. I have by now quite a library of books on the Pre-Raphaelites largely
purchased from Amazon both in the U K and the U S A, all arriving without fail in far off
Australia within the delivery time promised.
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