Commonplace 99 George & His Contemporaries: William Morris.
If ever there was an 'heroic' Brit, William Morris stands head and shoulders above flimsy pretenders to that crown. Forget the affected and elitist twaddle his name now represents (wallpaper £45-60 a roll!!) - William Morris is the man who said: "The most grinding poverty is a trifling evil compared with the inequality of classes."
Now, what would George have made of that??!!
In February 1883, George wrote to Algernon recommending Morris' Earthly Paradise, an epic poem that was widely popular and that time, though not as celebrated now as perhaps it should be. He said: This is poetry you will really like; all old stories told in Chaucerian style, and abounding in the quaintest anachronisms. The mix of Greek and Scandinavian legends it detailed appealed to the both of them, as Algernon had a romantic streak, and a love of all things English historical. click to see if you like it. Oddly, he wrote to Algernon again, in May 1884 asking him if he had heard of the work, so maybe Algernon did not follow up that lead.
In June, 1884, George wrote this to Algernon: I grieve to see Morris in the companionship of Secular Review, & men like Ingersoll & the rest. It is deplorable. I confess I get more & more aristocratic in my leanings, & cannot excuse faults of manner in consideration of the end. More evidence for delusions of grandeur from the Wakefield shopkeeper's son??
In September, 1884, George went to the Gaussen familys' country house for a day which turned into an overnight visit. It blew his social climbing mind. He gives an excruciatingly lickspittle account of this, but there are two memorable highlights. George and some Gaussens took a walk over to Kelmscott, William Morris' house: This was sacred ground for me. The family were at home or we could have gone over the house (much as Lizzie Bennett and her family looked round Mr Darcy's mansion, Pemberley, and then found Colin Firth coming out of a duck pond looking both wet and hot simultaneously - the mark of a truly great actor haha!). However, back home at the Gaussen house, there was an astonishing piece of news - Mrs William Morris was in the Gaussen's drawing-room. George readied himself, and when he entered the room... discovered it was a Miss Gaussen dressed in aesthetical costume - her hair, black and glossy, George thought was astonishing. Then we went in to dinner, where I delivered an extempore lecture on aesthetic attire, to the general entertainment. I wonder what Algernon made of all this? And George was never the acme of sartorial fashion himself, so where he got this knowledge from is a mystery.
In September 1885, he writes this to Algernon:
Do you see the report of the row the Socialists have had with the police in the East End? Think of William Morris being hauled into the box for assaulting a policeman! (Think of George Gissing being hauled into the box for stealing from his friends at Owens College!) And the magistrate said to him: 'What are you?' - Great heavens! Morris answered: 'I am an artist & man of letters, I believe tolerably (sic) well known throughout Europe.' Of course, he should not have said that, but it was enough to drive him to it. But. alas, what the devil is such a man doing in that gallery? It is painful to me beyond expression. Why cannot he write poetry in the shade? He will inevitably coarsen himself in the company of ruffians. Is it necessary to point out George's hypocrisy here? He is writing to his brother, a man fully-conversant with George's jailbird past, but he seems to be oblivious to his own lack of insight into his psyche.
The day after the trial, which had discharged Morris but convicted his less influential and less wealthy, middle-class confrères, The Daily News of September 22nd, 1885 published a letter from Morris, who alleged the police were brutal with the demonstrating Socialists - which is why he had been arrested for retaliating and defending protesters by twatting one of the offending officers (in the parlance of our times!). The Pall Mall Gazette of September 21st also contained an account and comment on the right to free speech so brutally denied the demonstrating Socialists.
On his twenty-eighth birthday, George was about to delve more deeply into the Morris style of Socialism click in the name of research - he was up to his nethers in writing Demos at the time. He was off to a lecture at William Morris' home, to his shed-cum-lecture theatre. George did not get to see the great man in person, despite wanting to. He wrote to his little sister, Ellen (aged about 18), re Morris: His taking on Socialism is extraordinary, seeing that the man's life has hitherto been devoted to Art, & his poetry is of the same school as Rossetti. He makes no mention of which Rossetti he means - Mr or Ms - or why Morris' Socialist leanings are 'extraordinary'. And, to say Morris's life had been devoted to Art is like saying Stephen Hawking's life has been dedicated to IT. But, it shows how out of touch George was with radical thinking - Morris had been renowned for his interest in proto-type socialist movements (for example, the Democratic Federation started in 1881) for more than a decade before he formed the Socialist League in 1884. Is it any wonder George needed a crash course in politics in order to write the novel he was working on - which has nothing to do with anything like the Socialist movements of the time, and makes use of politics as simply a plot device, put in place to highlight the author's own negative, prejudiced views on the differences between social classes.
George went again to Kelmscott for a meeting of the Socialist League, where he got to see Morris's daughter. He writes to Algernon: There was Miss Morris - the secretary of the Branch - talking familiarly with the working men. She is astonishingly handsome; pure Greek profile, with hair short on her neck; wore a long dark fur-trimmed cloak, & Tam O'Shanter cap of velvet. Unmistakenly like her mother, - the origin of Rossetti's best type... What George might not have known, was that the mother - Mrs Jane Morris - was the daughter of a stableman and a laundress, and had been raised in very humble circumstances, unlike her husband, who was a bona fide middle-class toff. Or, if George did know about Jane's origins, did he wonder at how Morris had been so fortunate?
George goes on:
I am very busy with Socialism at present, as 'Demos' is much concerned with it. There is a Socialist candidate standing for Hampstead (some things never change haha! The former actress (now returned to her first calling - hooray!) Glenda Jackson was Labour MP for the safe seat of Hampstead and Highgate from 1992-2015). I heard him ranting in the street on Sunday morning; - the roughest type of working man, & - ye Gods! - breathing maledictions. He described the H. of Commons as a 'decrippled institootion!'
Makes you cringe, doesn't it, when George sneers so exuberantly. Without the likes of John E Williams to kick-start the shift to a fairer system of representation, Keir Hardie would never have emerged to lead a united band of Socialists and form The Labour Party click.
To read the manifesto William Morris' constructed for the the Socialist League click. And, click for more.
There are many excellent William Morris quotes; here are a few that would not have passed muster with our man:
I DO NOT WANT ART FOR A FEW, ANY MORE THAN EDUCATION FOR A FEW, OR FREEDOM FOR A FEW. George would never have signed up for this sort of thing. He believed Art was for an elite; that 'good' culture could only be understood and appreciated by a gifted and talented special group; and that social class was a sort of natural selection separating the wheat from the chaff of life. The irony here is that George, himself, was from the lower middle classes, and any social advantage he had in life was despite his origins and not because of them. Even his place in the school that made him, Alderley Edge, was won by the financial support of others: A fund was raised by public subscription is how it is described in Volume 1 of the Pierre Coustillas biography. The natural selection part holds true though - George, having a particularly useful skill-set that he managed to exploit at Owens College; in an age of high crime, the boy with a distinct lack of moral compass clambered over the more honest fellow-students of his set, to rise triumphant in Belle Vue Gaol. That selfish and conniving, lying and self-serving tendency saved him on more than one occasion throughout his life, so maybe he is one of Darwin's exemplars. But, if George had not been taken up as a good cause, and if that public fund had not been raised (for all three Gissing boys - and later, another one started for the education of George's two sons), and if he had been left by the wayside of life unable to flourish, then by natural selection, he would have ended his days scratting round Wakefield looking for a proper job.
Now, what would George have made of that??!!
In February 1883, George wrote to Algernon recommending Morris' Earthly Paradise, an epic poem that was widely popular and that time, though not as celebrated now as perhaps it should be. He said: This is poetry you will really like; all old stories told in Chaucerian style, and abounding in the quaintest anachronisms. The mix of Greek and Scandinavian legends it detailed appealed to the both of them, as Algernon had a romantic streak, and a love of all things English historical. click to see if you like it. Oddly, he wrote to Algernon again, in May 1884 asking him if he had heard of the work, so maybe Algernon did not follow up that lead.
In June, 1884, George wrote this to Algernon: I grieve to see Morris in the companionship of Secular Review, & men like Ingersoll & the rest. It is deplorable. I confess I get more & more aristocratic in my leanings, & cannot excuse faults of manner in consideration of the end. More evidence for delusions of grandeur from the Wakefield shopkeeper's son??
In September, 1884, George went to the Gaussen familys' country house for a day which turned into an overnight visit. It blew his social climbing mind. He gives an excruciatingly lickspittle account of this, but there are two memorable highlights. George and some Gaussens took a walk over to Kelmscott, William Morris' house: This was sacred ground for me. The family were at home or we could have gone over the house (much as Lizzie Bennett and her family looked round Mr Darcy's mansion, Pemberley, and then found Colin Firth coming out of a duck pond looking both wet and hot simultaneously - the mark of a truly great actor haha!). However, back home at the Gaussen house, there was an astonishing piece of news - Mrs William Morris was in the Gaussen's drawing-room. George readied himself, and when he entered the room... discovered it was a Miss Gaussen dressed in aesthetical costume - her hair, black and glossy, George thought was astonishing. Then we went in to dinner, where I delivered an extempore lecture on aesthetic attire, to the general entertainment. I wonder what Algernon made of all this? And George was never the acme of sartorial fashion himself, so where he got this knowledge from is a mystery.
 |
| Kelmscott Manor click |
Do you see the report of the row the Socialists have had with the police in the East End? Think of William Morris being hauled into the box for assaulting a policeman! (Think of George Gissing being hauled into the box for stealing from his friends at Owens College!) And the magistrate said to him: 'What are you?' - Great heavens! Morris answered: 'I am an artist & man of letters, I believe tolerably (sic) well known throughout Europe.' Of course, he should not have said that, but it was enough to drive him to it. But. alas, what the devil is such a man doing in that gallery? It is painful to me beyond expression. Why cannot he write poetry in the shade? He will inevitably coarsen himself in the company of ruffians. Is it necessary to point out George's hypocrisy here? He is writing to his brother, a man fully-conversant with George's jailbird past, but he seems to be oblivious to his own lack of insight into his psyche.
The day after the trial, which had discharged Morris but convicted his less influential and less wealthy, middle-class confrères, The Daily News of September 22nd, 1885 published a letter from Morris, who alleged the police were brutal with the demonstrating Socialists - which is why he had been arrested for retaliating and defending protesters by twatting one of the offending officers (in the parlance of our times!). The Pall Mall Gazette of September 21st also contained an account and comment on the right to free speech so brutally denied the demonstrating Socialists.
On his twenty-eighth birthday, George was about to delve more deeply into the Morris style of Socialism click in the name of research - he was up to his nethers in writing Demos at the time. He was off to a lecture at William Morris' home, to his shed-cum-lecture theatre. George did not get to see the great man in person, despite wanting to. He wrote to his little sister, Ellen (aged about 18), re Morris: His taking on Socialism is extraordinary, seeing that the man's life has hitherto been devoted to Art, & his poetry is of the same school as Rossetti. He makes no mention of which Rossetti he means - Mr or Ms - or why Morris' Socialist leanings are 'extraordinary'. And, to say Morris's life had been devoted to Art is like saying Stephen Hawking's life has been dedicated to IT. But, it shows how out of touch George was with radical thinking - Morris had been renowned for his interest in proto-type socialist movements (for example, the Democratic Federation started in 1881) for more than a decade before he formed the Socialist League in 1884. Is it any wonder George needed a crash course in politics in order to write the novel he was working on - which has nothing to do with anything like the Socialist movements of the time, and makes use of politics as simply a plot device, put in place to highlight the author's own negative, prejudiced views on the differences between social classes.
 |
| Jane Burden aka Mrs William Morris |
George went again to Kelmscott for a meeting of the Socialist League, where he got to see Morris's daughter. He writes to Algernon: There was Miss Morris - the secretary of the Branch - talking familiarly with the working men. She is astonishingly handsome; pure Greek profile, with hair short on her neck; wore a long dark fur-trimmed cloak, & Tam O'Shanter cap of velvet. Unmistakenly like her mother, - the origin of Rossetti's best type... What George might not have known, was that the mother - Mrs Jane Morris - was the daughter of a stableman and a laundress, and had been raised in very humble circumstances, unlike her husband, who was a bona fide middle-class toff. Or, if George did know about Jane's origins, did he wonder at how Morris had been so fortunate?
George goes on:
I am very busy with Socialism at present, as 'Demos' is much concerned with it. There is a Socialist candidate standing for Hampstead (some things never change haha! The former actress (now returned to her first calling - hooray!) Glenda Jackson was Labour MP for the safe seat of Hampstead and Highgate from 1992-2015). I heard him ranting in the street on Sunday morning; - the roughest type of working man, & - ye Gods! - breathing maledictions. He described the H. of Commons as a 'decrippled institootion!'
 |
| Glenda Jackson, Socialist. |
To read the manifesto William Morris' constructed for the the Socialist League click. And, click for more.
There are many excellent William Morris quotes; here are a few that would not have passed muster with our man:
I DO NOT WANT ART FOR A FEW, ANY MORE THAN EDUCATION FOR A FEW, OR FREEDOM FOR A FEW. George would never have signed up for this sort of thing. He believed Art was for an elite; that 'good' culture could only be understood and appreciated by a gifted and talented special group; and that social class was a sort of natural selection separating the wheat from the chaff of life. The irony here is that George, himself, was from the lower middle classes, and any social advantage he had in life was despite his origins and not because of them. Even his place in the school that made him, Alderley Edge, was won by the financial support of others: A fund was raised by public subscription is how it is described in Volume 1 of the Pierre Coustillas biography. The natural selection part holds true though - George, having a particularly useful skill-set that he managed to exploit at Owens College; in an age of high crime, the boy with a distinct lack of moral compass clambered over the more honest fellow-students of his set, to rise triumphant in Belle Vue Gaol. That selfish and conniving, lying and self-serving tendency saved him on more than one occasion throughout his life, so maybe he is one of Darwin's exemplars. But, if George had not been taken up as a good cause, and if that public fund had not been raised (for all three Gissing boys - and later, another one started for the education of George's two sons), and if he had been left by the wayside of life unable to flourish, then by natural selection, he would have ended his days scratting round Wakefield looking for a proper job.
WHATEVER YOU HAVE IN YOUR ROOMS THINK
FIRST OF THE WALLS; FOR THEY ARE THAT WHICH MAKES YOUR HOUSE AND HOME. George liked to fill his wall spaces with bookcases full of smelly, ancient books. Morley Roberts didn't think much of his friend's taste in décor and complained at how depressing George's rooms were. Notoriously, the letting agents of Cornwall Residences complained to their tenant that his windows were a filthy disgrace and ordered him to clean them - so one can imagine the build-up of nicotine and the dirt George found acceptable. As George was a great believer in domestic chores being a woman's duty, we can assume he was not one to pick up after himself.
I CANNOT SUPPOSE
THERE IS ANYBODY HERE WHO WOULD THINK IT EITHER A GOOD LIFE, OR AN AMUSING ONE,
TO SIT WITH ONE’S HANDS BEFORE ONE DOING NOTHING – TO LIVE LIKE A GENTLEMAN, AS
FOOLS CALL IT. George's ideal was to be thought of as a successful middle-class patriarch with no financial constraints. He seems to have resented every moment of time he wasn't engaged in self-directed work - which he sought to justify as all part of his creative process. But, was the choice of writing as an occupation just a smokescreen to get him time alone, away from the world he knew he found too complex and beyond his control? He chose what he thought would be a doddle of a job, which would pay well - then came a cropper when he failed to deliver what people wanted to publish/read. He failed to make his work commercial enough for great success, or to write pieces that would make him money. This kind of perversity smacks of masochism, but also ensured his home-life remained pinched - which would have increased the unhappiness of his two wives. This situation of misery he then exploited to excuse his character flaws to his associates and allow him two scapegoats to blame for his failings.
IF A CHAP CAN'T COMPOSE AN EPIC POEM WHILE HE'S WEAVING TAPESTRY, HE HAD BETTER SHUT UP, HE'LL NEVER DO ANY GOOD AT ALL.
 |
| William Morris Peacock wallpaper - imagine pasting and aligning the repeat pattern! |
IF A CHAP CAN'T COMPOSE AN EPIC POEM WHILE HE'S WEAVING TAPESTRY, HE HAD BETTER SHUT UP, HE'LL NEVER DO ANY GOOD AT ALL.
Wise words from Mr Morris!
No comments:
Post a Comment