EDCMOOC discussion

Are you with Ellen or her grandfather? Are we "brisker and more alive" because of our society based on competition? Would literature in an egalitarian, peaceful society lack a "spirit of adventure"? And would that be a bad thing? Or can you imagine living in a society in which it is the "world we live in which interests us; the world of which we are a part, and which we can never love too much"?

I'm enjoying this book, thanks for pointing it out. I am a third through. So far, I would prefer this new society, particularly the choices in work. There are many times when I just don't want to be indoors 5 days a week. It feels very restrictive.

I'm also about a third of the way through, and also enjoying the book. I especially liked how the Houses of Parliament is now a storehouse for cabbages, turnips, and dung! Overall, there is plenty to mull over in the society it describes - as compared to our own - and plenty to pick holes in and disagree with. The imaginative leap it takes is refreshing though, and just to imagine a London, Glasgow, Manchester, or anywhere else, as a totally different place, and to think of how we live now as a forgotten memory is pretty comforting and inspiring. I wonder what Morris would have written now? And is the craft movement coming back in to our lives? Either because of "needs must" in the recession, or just because we want to change the way we live?

I have also read 'Useful Work versus Useless Toil' One of Morris' lectures. Struck me as incredibly relevant in how work is viewed and carried out, particularly poignant this week as the morality of 'work' is pushed amid the demonstration of benefit claimants, a race to the bottom and what is likely to be a forerunner to lowering the minimum wage.

*demonisation - typing on the phone..