View source for News from Nowhere

{{Short description|1890 novel by William Morris}}
{{Other uses}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}}
{{Infobox book | <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Novels or Wikipedia:WikiProject_Books -->
| name         = News from Nowhere (or An Epoch of Rest)
| image        = Kelmscott Manor News from Nowhere.jpg
| caption      = Frontispiece
| author       = [[William Morris]]
| country      = United Kingdom
| language     = English
| genre        = Novel
| publisher    = NA
| release_date = 1890
| media_type   = Print (Hardback, Paperback)
| pages        = 186
}}

'''''News from Nowhere'''''  is an 1890 novel combining [[utopian socialism]]<ref>{{Cite book |title=Utopia |last1=Tod |first1=Ian |last2=Wheeler |first2=Michael |date=1979 |translator-last1=Tist |translator-first1=A.F. |trans-title=Utopia |language=nl |orig-date=1978 |pages=108-117 |publisher=De Haan }}</ref> and [[soft science fiction]] written by the artist, designer and socialist pioneer [[William Morris]]. It was first published in serial form in the ''[[Commonweal (UK)|Commonweal]]'' journal beginning on 11 January 1890.

In the novel, the narrator William Guest falls asleep after returning from a meeting of the [[Socialist League (UK, 1885)|Socialist League]] and awakes to find himself in a future society based on [[common ownership]] and democratic control of the [[means of production]]. In Morris's society, there is no private property, no big cities, no authority, no monetary system, no marriage or divorce, no courts, no prisons, and no class systems. The society functions simply because the people find pleasure in nature, and therefore they find pleasure in their work.

The novel explores various aspects of this imagined society, including its organisation and the relationships which it engenders between people. The book offers Morris's answers to a number of frequent objections to socialism, and underscores his belief that socialism will entail not only the abolition of private property but also an end to divisions between art, life, and work.

[[File:News From Nowhere.jpg|thumb|320x320px|William Morris, ''News from Nowhere: Or, an Epoch of Rest'' (London, [[Kelmscott Press]], 1892); [[Pequot Library]] Special Collections]]

In the novel, Morris tackles one of the common [[criticisms of socialism]]: the supposed lack of incentive to work in a socialist society. Morris's response is that all labour should be creative and pleasurable. He differed in that regard from most socialist thinkers, who tended to view labour as a necessary burden, but argued that a well-planned, egalitarian society could reduce the amount of labour required from each worker.

''News from Nowhere'' was written as a [[libertarian socialist]] response to [[Edward Bellamy]]'s popular novel ''[[Looking Backward]]'' (1888), which exalted a type of industrialized [[state socialism]] that Morris abhorred. Morris was also seeking to influence the currents of thought at the time regarding the optimal tactics to bring about socialism.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Anarchism and Utopia: William Morris's News from Nowhere |author=Michael Holzman |journal=ELH |volume=51 |issue=3 |date=1984 |pages=589–603 |doi=10.2307/2872939 |jstor=2872939}}</ref>

== Background: ''Looking Backward'' ==
On 21 June 1889 in ''[[Commonweal (UK)|Commonweal]]'', Morris reviewed Edward Bellamy's novel ''[[Looking Backward]]'', which popularized belief in utopian socialism. In his review, Morris not only criticized the specifics of Bellamy's imagined society—especially its conception of how labour would be performed—he also objected to the fact that Bellamy's portrait was taken to be an authoritative account of what socialists believe:{{blockquote|In short a machine life is the best which Mr. Bellamy can imagine for us on all sides; it is not to be wondered at then that this, his only idea for making labour tolerable is to decrease the amount of it by means of fresh and ever fresh developments of machinery … I believe that this will always be so, and the multiplication of machinery will just multiply machinery; I believe that the ideal of the future does not point to the lessening of men's energy by the reduction of labour to a minimum, but rather the reduction of pain in labour to a minimum, so small that it will cease to be pain; a dream to humanity which can only be dreamed of till men are even more completely equal than Mr. Bellamy's utopia would allow them to be, but which will most assuredly come about when men are really equal in condition.<ref>{{cite web|last=Morris|first= William|title=Bellamy's Looking Backward|work=The William Morris Internet Archive Works (1889) |url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/morris/works/1889/commonweal/06-bellamy.htm |access-date=15 August 2022 }}</ref>}}
As [[Ben Davis (art critic)|Ben Davis]] writes, Morris deemed ''Looking Backward'' to be "too celebratory of the industrial side of progress and not attentive enough to the pastoral."<ref>{{cite book |title=Art in the After-Culture: Capitalist Crisis and Cultural Strategy |chapter=Art and Ecotopia |last=Davis |first=Ben |publisher=Haymarket Books |location=Chicago, Illinois |year=2022 |isbn=978-1642594621 |page=215}}</ref>

Morris also faulted Bellamy for a limited view of life, identifying five areas—work, technology, centralisation, cities, arts—which typified the "half change" advanced in ''Looking Backward''. Morris's review proposed an alternate future society that would address each of these areas. The proposals he outlined became the basis for his vision of utopia in ''News from Nowhere''.<ref>Morris, W. (2003). ''News from Nowhere''. Leopold, D (Ed.). New York, Oxford University Press Inc., New York.</ref>

== Gender roles ==
Of gender and the division of labor, Ruth Levitas writes:
{{blockquote|text=In ''News from Nowhere'' Morris describes women in the society as "respected as a child bearer and rearer of children, desired as a woman, loved as a companion, un-anxious for the future of her children" and hence possessed of an enhanced "instinct for maternity". The sexual division of labour remains intact. Women are not exclusively confined to domestic labour, although the range of work they undertake is narrower than that of man; but domestic labour is seen as something for which women are particularly fitted. Moreover, "The men have no longer any opportunity of tyrannising over the women, or the women over the men; both of those took place in old times. The women do what they can do best and what they like best, and the men are neither jealous nor injured by it." The practice of women waiting on men at meals is justified on the grounds that, "It is a great pleasure to a clever woman to manage a house skilfully, and to do so that all house-mates about her look pleased and are grateful to her. And then you know everybody likes to be ordered about by a pretty woman…"<ref name="Levitas1995">{{cite journal |last=Levitas |first= Ruth |title='Who Holds the Hose?' Domestic Labor in the Work of Bellamy, Gillman, and Morris |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20719365 |journal=Utopian Studies |volume=6 |issue=1 |date=1995 |page=78}}</ref>}}

Morris presents a society in which women are relatively free from the oppression of men; while domestic work, respected albeit gender-specific in Morris's work here as elsewhere, is portrayed as a source of potential pleasure and edification for all denizens of his utopia.

== Marriage ==
Morris offers a Marxist view of marriage and divorce. Dick and Clara were once married with two children. Then Clara "got it in her head she was in love with someone else", so she left Dick only to reconcile with him again.<ref>Marsh, Jan. "Concerning Love: News from Nowhere and Gender." ''William Morris & News from Nowhere: A Vision for Our Time''. Eds. Stephen Coleman and Paddy O'Sullivan. (Bideford, Devon: Green Books, 1990): 107–125</ref> Old Hammond informs the reader that there are no courts in ''Nowhere'', no divorce in ''Nowhere'', and furthermore no contractual marriage in ''Nowhere''.<ref name=Nowhere>{{cite book
| last=Morris
| first=William
| author-link=William Morris
| title=News from Nowhere and Other Writings
| publisher=[[Penguin Classics]]
| year=1994
| orig-year=1890
| isbn=0-14-043330-9
| url-access=registration
| url=https://archive.org/details/newsfromnowhereo0000morr
}}</ref>
In Nowhere, people live as they please in groups of varying sizes, and the nuclear family is not necessary.

== Education ==
In Morris's utopia, there is no formal schooling for children. People are free to choose their own form of education. Children in ''Nowhere''{{blockquote|often make up parties, and come to play in the woods for weeks together in the summer time, living in tents, as you see. We rather encourage them to do it; they learn to do things for themselves, and get to know the wild creatures; and you see the less they stew inside houses the better for them.<ref name=Nowhere/>}}
In this passage, Morris breaks away from the traditional educational institutions of 19th century England. Instead, learning through nature is the style best suited for his idealized agrarian society.

== Environment ==
The state of England's environment is a motif throughout the book, with the conditions in and around the [[River Thames]] offering a powerful comparison with the industrial era Morris was writing in. In ''News from Nowhere'', nature has been restored everywhere Guest travels, and pollution largely eliminated. In one of the best-known images from the book, what was previously Trafalgar Square has been re-planted as an apricot orchard, just as the surrounding streets of Piccadilly have become gardens:{{blockquote|Amidst all these gardens and houses it was of course impossible to trace the sites of the old streets: but it seemed to me that the main roadways were the same as of old.  We came presently into a large open space, sloping somewhat toward the south, the sunny site of which had been taken advantage of for planting an orchard, mainly, as I could see, of apricot-trees, in the midst of which was a pretty gay little structure of wood, painted and gilded, that looked like a refreshment-stall.{{sfn|Morris|1994|p=36}}}}

==Influence==
The title ''News from Nowhere'' has inspired many enterprises, including a [[Independent bookstore|political bookstore]] in Liverpool,<ref>{{cite web|author=News From Nowhere Co-operative Ltd |url=http://www.newsfromnowhere.org.uk/ |title=News From Nowhere Radical & Community Bookshop, Liverpool |publisher=Newsfromnowhere.org.uk |access-date=10 February 2013}}</ref> [[Tim Crouch]]'s theatre company,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.newsfromnowhere.net/ |title=Tim Crouch news from nowhere |publisher=Newsfromnowhere.net |access-date=10 February 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130118080727/http://www.newsfromnowhere.net/ |archive-date=18 January 2013 }}</ref> and a monthly social club. The News from Nowhere Club was founded in 1996 to "challenge the commercialisation and isolation of modern life", taking as its motto Morris's phrase that "Fellowship is life and the lack of fellowship is death." Its patron is [[Peter Hennessy]], historian of government, and it meets monthly in the [[church hall]] of [[St John the Baptist's Church, Leytonstone|St John the Baptist's, Leytonstone]],<ref>{{cite web |title=News From Nowhere Club |url=https://newsfromnowhereweb.wordpress.com/ |website=News From Nowhere Club |access-date=16 November 2022 |language=en}}</ref> about four km from the house where the artist grew up, now the [[William Morris Gallery]].

Many artistic creations are named "News from Nowhere". Some of these are closely connected to Morris's book, while others simply use the three-word title, or a variant of it. 
The [[Arts Council]] funded a short film in 1978, bringing ''News to Nowhere'' to life, starring [[Timothy West]] as Morris.<ref>{{cite work|title=22nd London Film Festival programme |page=42 |year=1978 |last=Turner |first=Adrian}}</ref> It described a fictional trip by Morris up the River Thames, exploring ideas of aesthetics and socialism.<ref>{{cite web |website=[[Time Out (magazine)|Time Out]] |url=https://www.timeout.com/movies/news-from-nowhere |title=News from Nowhere |date=10 September 2012 |access-date=10 February 2013}}</ref> The book was adapted by [[Sarah Woods]] as a radio play, broadcast by [[BBC Radio 4]] on 25 May 2016.

''News from Nowhere'' was an influencing factor in historian [[G. D. H. Cole]]'s conversion to socialism.<ref>Cole, Margaret. ''The Life of G.D.H. Cole'', pp. 33-34.</ref> 
The novel ''News from Gardenia'' (2012) by [[Robert Llewellyn]] was inspired by ''News from Nowhere''.
An April–May 2005 art exhibit at the [[Lucy Mackintosh Gallery]] in Lausanne, Switzerland—with six British artists: Michael Ashcroft, Juan Bolivar, Andrew Grassie, Justin Hibbs, Alistair Hudson, and [[Peter Liversidge]]—was called "News From Nowhere".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://lucymackintosh.ch/archives.php?id=19 |title=Galerie Lucy Mackintosh |publisher=Lucymackintosh.ch |access-date=10 February 2013}}</ref> Korean artists [[Moon Kyungwon]] and [[Jeon Joonho]] paid homage to the novel in their collaborative project "News from Nowhere" (2012).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newsfromnowhere.kr/ |title=Home: News from Nowhere |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120527064417/http://www.newsfromnowhere.kr/ |archive-date=27 May 2012 |access-date=10 February 2013}}</ref>

Folk singer [[Leon Rosselson]]'s song "Bringing the News from Nowhere", from his eponymous 1986 album, is a tribute to Morris. 
A track on ''[[Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!]]'' by [[Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds]] (2008) is called "[[More News from Nowhere]]". 
In 2013 the English band [[Darkstar (band)|Darkstar]] released an album titled ''[[News from Nowhere (Darkstar album)|News from Nowhere]]''. 
In 2008 [[Waltham Forest]] commissioned the composer Mike Roberts to create a new community symphony based on the story. Incorporating Morris's axiom of 'art for the people and by the people', the piece was written in collaboration with 180 primary school children, who composed fragments of music that were weaved into the final piece. The result was a 90-minute work for children's choir, orchestra and 10 other smaller ensembles. The work was recorded with the artistic support of the William Morris Gallery during 2014-15 for release in June 2015 to commemorate the novel's 125th anniversary.{{citation needed|date=November 2022}}

The animated video "News from Nowhere" (2022, 5 min) by Maltese artist and curator Raphael Vella was loosely inspired by William Morris's novel. Composed of around 1000 frames, this stop-motion animation presented a more [[dystopian]] version of the narrative, in which the artist wakes up to a world on fire. The animated video was on display in 2023 at [[Valletta Contemporary]] in Malta.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.inenart.eu/?p=27459 |title= Raphael Vella{{snd}}an interview by Maëla Sanmartín |date= 16 February 2023 |publisher=InEnArt |access-date=18 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230602110322/http://www.inenart.eu/?p=27459 |archive-date=2 June 2023}}</ref>

The opera ''New Year'' by Sir Michael Tippett was strongly influenced by Morris's book.

==See also==
* ''[[Erewhon]]'' — 1872 utopian novel and satire on Victorian society by [[Samuel Butler (novelist)|Samuel Butler]]
* ''[[Looking Backward]]'' — 1888 novel by [[Edward Bellamy]] in which the American protagonist falls asleep in 1887 and awakens in a socialist utopia in 2000
* [[List of books about anarchism]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Wikisource|News from Nowhere|''News from Nowhere''}}
{{Wikiquote|William Morris#News from Nowhere (1890)}}
{{Commons category}}
* {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/william-morris/news-from-nowhere}}
* {{Gutenberg|no=3261|name=News from Nowhere}}
*{{Librivox book|title=News from Nowhere|author=William Morris}}
*[https://myweb.uiowa.edu/fsboos/NewsFromNowhere/ An illustrated edition]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080513175716/http://morrissociety.org/socialist.html William Morris as Social Activist]
*[https://www.marxists.org/archive/morris/works/index.htm The William Morris Internet Archive: Works.] [[Marxists Internet Archive]]
*[https://www.icmus.co.uk/news-from-nowhere-fellowship-symphony ''News from Nowhere'' fellowship symphony and audio book]

{{William Morris}}
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[[Category:1890 in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:1890 British novels]]
[[Category:1890 science fiction novels]]
[[Category:British science fiction novels]]
[[Category:Environmental fiction books]]
[[Category:Libertarian science fiction books]]
[[Category:Novels by William Morris]]
[[Category:Social science fiction]]
[[Category:Socialist League (UK, 1885)]]
[[Category:Utopian novels]]
[[Category:Novels set in the future]]
[[Category:Fiction set in 1952]]
[[Category:Novels set in the 21st century]]
[[Category:Victorian novels]]
[[Category:Utopian socialism]]