ABSTRACT
In the second half of the nineteenth century, utopian alternatives to the destitution, squalor and disease wrought by the capitalist exploitation of labour proliferated. Among these was the utopian narrative of William Morris’s News from Nowhere. 1 While the intellectual and indeed moral scaffolding of Morris’s work is rooted in nineteenth-century concerns and debates, it raises issues and provides images of social transformation which are still quite salient today. Although he is little known today other than for his many Arts and Crafts designs, especially his wallpapers, Morris’s News from Nowhere presents a narrative whose vision stands at the centre of what was and still is a lively, even acrimonious, debate among those dedicated to the reformation and/or transformation of art and society.
