L'âge de l'ersatz - Et autres textes contre la civilisation moderne

The hero of this romance is named Golden Walter, son of Bartholomew Golden, a great merchant in the town of Langton on Holm. Tired of his mundane life, Walter sets out on a sea voyage, anxious to see and learn more of the outside world, eventually winning for himself the kingdom of Stark-Wall and the love of a beautiful maiden.

Wood Beyond the World

Awhile ago there was a young man dwelling in a great and goodly city by the sea which had to name Langton on Holm. He was but of five and twenty winters, a fair-faced man, yellow-haired, tall and strong; rather wiser than foolisher than young men are mostly wont; a valiant youth, and a kind; not of many words but courteous of speech; no roisterer, nought masterful, but peaceable and knowing how to forbear: in a fray a perilous foe, and a trusty war-fellow. His father, with whom he was dwelling when this tale begins, was a great merchant, richer than a baron of the land, a head-man of the greatest of the Lineages of Langton, and a captain of the Porte; he was of the Lineage of the Goldings, therefore was he called Bartholomew Golden, and his son Golden Walter.

Now ye may well deem that such a youngling as this was looked upon by all as a lucky man without a lack; but there was this flaw in his lot, whereas he had fallen into the toils of love of a woman exceeding fair, and had taken her to wife, she nought unwilling as it seemed. But when they had been wedded some six months he found by manifest tokens, that his fairness was not so much to her but that she must seek to the foulness of one worser than he in all ways; wherefore his rest departed from him, whereas he hated her for her untruth and her hatred of him; yet would the sound of her voice, as she came and went in the house, make his heart beat; and the sight of her stirred desire within him, so that he longed for her to be sweet and kind with him, and deemed that, might it be so, he should forget all the evil gone by. But it was not so; for ever when she saw him, her face changed, and her hatred of him became manifest, and howsoever she were sweet with others, with him she was hard and sour.

The Wood Beyond the World

Rodolphe, le plus jeune fils du roi des Haults-Prés, s'enfuit de la maison paternelle pour partir en quête d'aventures et connaître la vie d'un chevalier errant.
Chemin faisant, il apprend l'existence d'une source magique à l'eau miraculeuse et se met en devoir de la découvrir. Son épopée le mènera par-delà les cita- delles des hommes, les forêts enchantées et les landes arides. Le jeune aventurier y rencontrera un grand nombre de figures extravagantes qui bouleverse- ront sa vision du monde, du Bien et du Mal, et de lui-même : de fiers bergers-guerriers défiant l'ordre établi, des brigands justiciers plus joyeux que des ménestrels, un mystérieux chevalier noir, un moine lubrique tout droit sorti des Contes de Canterbury, et une sorcière insoumise à la loi des hommes dont il tombera éperdument amoureux.

La source au bout du monde Tome 2

News from nowhere

Proviamo a immaginare una società dove bellezza e giustizia si incontrano, dove non ci sono convenzioni sociali come scuola, denaro, matrimoni e carceri e dove si respira eguaglianza tra i cittadini. Questo è l'esercizio che William Morris, scrittore, poeta ed artista inglese, ha portato avanti nel 1890 con questo romanzo utopico: l'invenzione del futuro. Il protagonista è William Guest, un militante socialista, che dopo una riunione finita con un'accesa discussione, torna a casa e si addormenta. Si sveglierà ben 113 anni dopo, nel XXI secolo, l'epoca in cui oggi viviamo. Dalla Londra di fine '800 si passa al 2003, dopo una rivoluzione negli anni '50 del 900 che ha radicalmente cambiato la società. Morris immagina il futuro per condannare il presente: lo fa con uno sguardo gentile ma capace di critiche profonde come la voglia di estirpare "inutili covi di speculazione" e "enormi fabbriche". Notizie da nessun luogo rappresenta una riflessione sull'uomo e sulla società e come tutte le utopie prevede tanto un approccio analitico quanto uno fantastico. Morris lo fa incentrando questo romanzo sui concetti di riduzione e semplificazione dei bisogni dell'uomo.

Notizie da nessun luogo

Long ago there was a little land, over which ruled a regulus or kinglet, who was called King Peter, though his kingdom was but little. He had four sons whose names were Blaise, Hugh, Gregory and Ralph: of these Ralph was the youngest, whereas he was but of twenty winters and one; and Blaise was the oldest and had seen thirty winters.

Now it came to this at last, that to these young men the kingdom of their father seemed strait; and they longed to see the ways of other men, and to strive for life. For though they were king's sons, they had but little world's wealth; save and except good meat and drink, and enough or too much thereof; house-room of the best; friends to be merry with, and maidens to kiss, and these also as good as might be; freedom withal to come and go as they would; the heavens above them, the earth to bear them up, and the meadows and acres, the woods and fair streams, and the little hills of Upmeads, for that was the name of their country and the kingdom of King Peter.

The Well at the World's End

Socialists no more than other people believe that persons are naturally equal: there are amongst men all varieties of disposition, and desires, and degrees of capacity; nevertheless these differences are inequalities are very much increased by the circumstances amongst which a man lives and by those that surrounded the lives of his parents: and these circumstances are more or less under the control of society, that is of the ordered arrangement of persons among which we live. So I say first that granted that men are born with certain tendencies those tendencies can be developed for good and evil by the conditions of our lives, and those conditions are in our own hands to deal with, taking us nation by nation as a whole. If we are careful to be prudent and wise for ourselves and just towards other people those inequalities which are natural can be used for making life pleasanter and more varied: but if we act stupidly and unjustly they become a source of misery to many, and of degradation to all.

I have admitted that men are not naturally equal, yet all persons must admit that there are certain things which we all need; in that respect we are equal: we all need food, clothes, and shelter, and clearly if we need these things we need them in sufficiency, and of good quality, or else we have not really got them. Since then these needs are common to all, it follows that if anyone is not able to satisfy his needs in these respects there is something wrong somewhere, either with nature, or the man himself, or with the society of which he forms a part and which therefore dictates to him how he shall live...

L'âge de l'ersatz - Et autres textes contre la civilisation moderne

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