Morris for the Americans
William Morris. Prophet of England's New Order. By Lloyd Eric Grey. (Cassell. 15s.)
LET me admit it at once: this biography has all the characteristics I most dislike. I am repelled by the arch chapter-headings, "A Little Boy Questions His Small World," "Marxism Is Not Enough, and Mr. Hyndman is a Domineering Fellow," and so forth. Boredom succeeds repulsion when sentences like "Little William approached respectfully, tip-toeing in agony of mind, and waited for them to notice him" are succeeded by flat, and indeed almost meaningless, commentary: "his magnificent books, Towards Democracy, hailed as the outstanding prose writing of the early 'eighties, England's Ideal and Civilisation, reminiscent in many ways of Clive Bell's famous essay on 'Civilisation' a half-century later, and England, Awake ! comparable to Lord Godfrey Elton's [sic] England Awake !, were to make his name famous among poets, artists and social reformers from 1883 onwards." An unreasonable amount of time is spent in the pursuit of " influences " ; almost always a vain occu- pation and particularly so when the quarry invariably vanishes into thin air. "This much of the vision of ICant's cosmopolitical system Is similar to that which Morris envisioned almost a century later. There is no evidence, however, that Morris either read or was influenced by the great German philosopher." Reduced to a state bordering on frenzy by this sort of thing, the reader (this reader at least) is unnecessarily irritated by such relatively minor errata as Princcp for Prinsep, Ackland for Acland, and the coupling of Wilber- force with Pusey as leaders of the Anglo-Catholic movement.
Nevertheless, once this ill-temper is worked off, it must be allowed that the gigantic figure of William Morris contrives to push his way through these pages and to emerge whole and recognisable at the end. Quotation is lavish, from the earliest poems to the later political speeches and writings, and the enchanting Burne-Jones cartoons sprinkle the text. The story is all there ; for the period of Socialist activity in particular there is a most painstaking accumu- lation of evidence. Mr. Grey gives us perhaps too little about the workshops (and almost nothing about the minor revolution in taste which they helped to produce) but still enough to suggest both why Morris held that salvation lay through joy in craftsmanship and why his own life as a craftsman failed to satisfy him. For even to those who prefer Rome to Reykjavik, and cherish some doubts concerning the Nordic virtues and the advantages of living in the Dark Ages? Morris, with his force, his anger and his free undis- ciplined mind, must remain a Titan, consistently greater than any of his works. This, upon the whole, is made apparent.
I suspect, however, that Mr. Grey has it in mind not only to paint the portrait of a great man but also to use this portrait to help his American public to understand the curious phenomenon of English Socialism. Hence his subtitle. In pursuit of this end his use of evidence is optimistic to a degree. "That Morris had an unusually important part to play in the founding of the modern British Labour Party," he writes, "is indicated by a letter of Mr. J. S. Middleton, Secretary of the Labour Party, . . . who wrote that, while he had never associated Morris's activities with those of Transport House,' nevertheless he could find himself able to sup. pose' that we [i.e., Transport House and the Labour Party] are tho historical heirs to his activities.'" Would Morris, who loathed State Socialism and had nothing but contempt for bourgeoh standards of civilisation, find himself "able to suppose" anything of the sort if he surveyed the present scene ? But these issues are evaded. No serious attempt is made to answer the question of what, precisely, Morris's legacy to British Socialism was ; or how, if at all, his thought on the subject (as distinct from his example) affected the thought of his successors. The hypothetical American enquirer, indeed, may well be as much puzzled at the end as at the beginning of this large, conscientious but imperceptive book.
LErric.E FOWLER.
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