Barbarism and the 'New Goths': The Controversial Germanic Origins of Morris's Utopian Socialism

This essay examines William Morris's understanding of the concept of 'barbarism', a term which acquired a positive meaning both in the author's political thought and aesthetics. Morris's analysis of this important concept began very early, and was linked to his interest in Nordic literature and the Norse sagas. It was also enhanced by his two journeys to Iceland. Morris looked to the very inception of Western civilisation in order to undertake a stringent criticism of capitalist society: the Germanic world supplied him with a model for a society characterized by ideals and values opposed to those of the industrial world in which he lived.