William Morris, News from Nowhere

Robert Boenig (Texas A&M University)
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On January 11, 1890, William Morris began a serialization that ran into October of that year of his utopian masterpiece

News from Nowhere

in

Commonweal

, a periodical whose aim was to convert people to Socialism. The novel was published in book form in an unauthorized American edition at the end of 1890, with the authorized British version issued by Reeves & Turner appearing in 1891. Morris followed this up with his highly decorated Kelmscott Press edition in 1892. Shortly before beginning

News from Nowhere

, he had written his

A Dream of John Ball

, a dream vision in which he wakes up in the past – specifically in 1381 – to witness some of the events of the Peasants’ Revolt; it is natural to suppose that

News from Nowhere

, a dream vision in which Morris wakes up in the future, after…

2868 words

Citation: Boenig, Robert. "News from Nowhere". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 18 January 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=3275, accessed 19 March 2024.]

3275 News from Nowhere 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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