Utopias and Dystopias in the Fiction of H. G. Wells and William Morris
This book is about the fiercely contrasting visions of two of the nineteenth century’s greatest utopian writers. A wide-ranging, interdisciplinary study, it emphasizes that space is a key factor in utopian fiction, often a barometer of mankind’s successfu
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UTOPIAS & DYSTOPIAS IN THE FICTION OF
H.G. WELLS & WILLIAM MORRIS Landscape and Space
With a Foreword by Patrick Parrinder and an Introduction by Michael Sherborne
Utopias and Dystopias in the Fiction of H. G. Wells and William Morris
Emelyne Godfrey Editor
Utopias and Dystopias in the Fiction of H. G. Wells and William Morris Landscape and Space
Editor Emelyne Godfrey London, United Kingdom
ISBN 978-1-137-52339-6 ISBN 978-1-137-52340-2 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-52340-2 Library of Congress Control Number: 2016958207 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016 The author(s) has/have asserted their right(s) to be identified as the author(s) of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Cover image © Tim Gainey / Alamy Stock Photo Cover design by Jenny Vong Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Macmillan Publishers Ltd. The registered company address is: The Campus, 4 Crinan Street, London, N1 9XW, United Kingdom
Foreword
When H.G. Wells’s Time Traveller arrives in the far future his expectations, it seems, are shaped by the utopianism of William Morris: ‘“Communism,” said I to myself … [T]he whole earth had become a garden.’1 The reality of the year 802,701 proves to be far different, but the link to News from Nowhere has been made. And Wells, like Morris, was an imaginative writer who would soon turn to politics. Both men were public intellectuals and radical socialists, though of very different denominations. Some 18 months after the publication of The Time Machine, Wells would respond to Morris’s death with an affectionate, if barbed, tribute.2 Both Morris and Wells belong in the utopian tradition that stretches from Thomas More and Jonathan Swift through to contemporaries such as Margaret Atwood and Kim Stanley Robinson. Moreover, they were authors of formal and in
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