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Great Science-Fiction & Fantasy Works
Science-fiction & fantasy literature: a critical list with discussions.
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This is a brief discussion of William Morris and, of course, of some speculative-fiction books by Morris.
This discussion and list does not necessarily include every book by Morris: it includes only those books that I both know and like. Just as with the author list itself, omission of a particular item may mean I didn’t think highly enough of the omitted item, or it may simply mean that I have not yet sufficient familiarity with it. (In a very few cases, I have listed some books merely on the strength of my opinion of the author: all such books are clearly marked below, as throughout these lists, with a hash mark (#) before the title so you know what’s what.)
I don’t pretend that this discussion is a deep analysis. My intent is no more than to give you a rough idea of what kinds of tales Morris tells, how those tales are usually told, and what makes them and Morris worthy; in sum, to help you rank William Morris (and the works by Morris listed here) on your personal literary “to do” list.
A Few Words About William Morris
Regrettably, I have not yet had an opportunity to write an essay on this author, but the “Other Resources” section below will lead you to some information about the “Notable Books” listed farther down this page.
While there is a fair amount on the web about Morris, most of it is concerned with the activities of this polymath other than his writing: his art, his furniture, his tapestry designs, even his politics—but little about his remarkable fiction. The several scattered brief biographies largely repeat one another and add little if anything to our understanding of that fiction. Fortunately, there are a few useful resources.
The best essay I could find focussed on Morris’s fiction is William Morris: Dreamer of Dreams by Ian Covell, a lengthy, highly informative biography and appreciation of Morris’s fiction. The best overall Morris resource is clearly The William Morris Society, which maintains a quite comprehensive site. The Victorian Web site has a useful William Morris page with comments on his fiction as well as his life and other work. There’s also The William Morris Society of Canada. And that’s pretty much it for his fiction.
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