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Product Description
Product Description
Since his death in 1896, William Morris has come to be regarded as one of the giants of the nineteenth century. But his genius was so many-sided and so profound that its full extent has rarely been grasped. Many people may find it hard to believe that the greatest English designer of his time, possibly of all time, could also be internationally renowned as a founder of the socialist movement, and could have been ranked as a poet together with Tennyson and Browning.
With penetrating insight, Fiona MacCarthy has managed to encompass all the different facets of Morris's complex character, shedding light on his immense creative powers as artist and designer of furniture, fabrics, wallpaper, stained glass, tapestry and books, and as a poet, novelist and translator; his psychology and his emotional life; his frenetic activities as polemicist and reformer; and his remarkable circle of friends, literary, artistic and political.
About the Author
With her widely acclaimed book Eric Gill, published in 1989, Fiona MacCarthy established herself as one of the leading writers of biography in Britain. This was followed by William Morris (1994), which won several literary awards including the Wolfson History Prize and was described by A.S. Byatt as 'one of the finest biographies ever published in this country.' Byron: Life and Legend (2002) was described as 'one of the great literary biographies of our time' by Mark Bostridge in the Independent on Sunday. Fiona MacCarthy writes regularly for the Guardian and lives in Derbyshire.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
54 of 54 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Fiona MacCarthy has excelled herself with this biography of William Morris. You could hardly ask for a greater wealth of material; clearly her research has been painstaking. But over and above the mere technicalities of being accurate and chronological, Fiona has created a very enjoyable read which quickly gets you very involved with the subject's often extremely complex life. The detail is prodigious, but never amounts to mere padding; on the contrary, it gives one an intimate picture of a passionate, industrious, inventive and vulnerable man whose numerous interests and enthusiasms invariably left him with too few hours in each day. If you thought you knew Morris, think again - there was so much more to the man than most would have surmised. I found the writing on his Icelandic preoccupations and his poetry particularly interesting, but there's social and sexual politics aplenty for those in need of them. Congratulations Fiona on an excellent book, one that I cannot imagine ever being eclipsed. A very worthwhile purchase.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I really enjoyed reading this book from beginning to end, even though I thought I was only interested in certain aspects of Morris' life. The comprehensive but readable coverage sets his achievements into the context of his life and times, and his personality is sympathetically portrayed, including in relationship to his wife and the developments in their marriage.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
As with her other biographies, Fiona MacCarthy researches her subject thoroughly and exhaustively. She writes, as always, in an elegant and literate style. She is a joy to read and here she shows such evident enthusiasm for that
colourful Pre-Raphaelite artist, William Morris, and his extraordinary artistic collaboration and lifelong friendship with Edward Burne-Jones.
She has also written a highly praised biography of Burne-Jones, thus pulling off a triumphant duo of works on two remarkable Pre-Raphaelite artists. Now she should tackle Dante Gabriel Rossetti. I would be fascinated to see what she makes of that maverick Pre-Raphaelite.
colourful Pre-Raphaelite artist, William Morris, and his extraordinary artistic collaboration and lifelong friendship with Edward Burne-Jones.
She has also written a highly praised biography of Burne-Jones, thus pulling off a triumphant duo of works on two remarkable Pre-Raphaelite artists. Now she should tackle Dante Gabriel Rossetti. I would be fascinated to see what she makes of that maverick Pre-Raphaelite.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Enjoyable
This is a very scholarly and well written biography but at times I did find it a little heavy going. Read more
Published 14 days ago by Joseph Kane
Excellent and thorough account
This is a definitive and thorough biography of Morris, written by an expert. I learned so much about Morris that I didn't know - I really don't think any aspect of his life and... Read more
Published 28 days ago by SJR
Mountains of research
I really admired the amount of work that had obviously gone into this biography. I really enjoyed the chapters on Morris's early life, but there was almost too much detail in some... Read more
Published 4 months ago by KAW
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