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Marriage In Free Society
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32 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 28, 2007
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About the author
Edward Carpenter
404 books66 followersEdward Carpenter was an English socialist poet, socialist philosopher, anthologist, and early gay activist.
A leading figure in late 19th- and early 20th-century Britain, he was instrumental in the foundation of the Fabian Society and the Labour Party. A poet and writer, he was a close friend of Walt Whitman and Rabindranath Tagore, corresponding with many famous figures such as Annie Besant, Isadora Duncan, Havelock Ellis, Roger Fry, Mahatma Gandhi, James Keir Hardie, J. K. Kinney, Jack London, George Merrill, E D Morel, William Morris, E R Pease, John Ruskin, and Olive Schreiner.[1]
As a philosopher he is particularly known for his publication of Civilisation, Its Cause and Cure in which he proposes that civilisation is a form of disease that human societies pass through. Civilisations, he says, rarely last more than a thousand years before collapsing, and no society has ever passed through civilisation successfully. His 'cure' is a closer association with the land and greater development of our inner nature. Although derived from his experience of Hindu mysticism, and referred to as 'mystical socialism', his thoughts parallel those of several writers in the field of psychology and sociology at the start of the twentieth century, such as Boris Sidis, Sigmund Freud and Wilfred Trotter who all recognised that society puts ever increasing pressure on the individual that can result in mental and physical illnesses such as neurosis and the particular nervousness which was then described as neurasthenia.
A strong advocate of sexual freedom, living in a gay community near Sheffield, he had a profound influence on both D. H. Lawrence and E. M. Forster.
A leading figure in late 19th- and early 20th-century Britain, he was instrumental in the foundation of the Fabian Society and the Labour Party. A poet and writer, he was a close friend of Walt Whitman and Rabindranath Tagore, corresponding with many famous figures such as Annie Besant, Isadora Duncan, Havelock Ellis, Roger Fry, Mahatma Gandhi, James Keir Hardie, J. K. Kinney, Jack London, George Merrill, E D Morel, William Morris, E R Pease, John Ruskin, and Olive Schreiner.[1]
As a philosopher he is particularly known for his publication of Civilisation, Its Cause and Cure in which he proposes that civilisation is a form of disease that human societies pass through. Civilisations, he says, rarely last more than a thousand years before collapsing, and no society has ever passed through civilisation successfully. His 'cure' is a closer association with the land and greater development of our inner nature. Although derived from his experience of Hindu mysticism, and referred to as 'mystical socialism', his thoughts parallel those of several writers in the field of psychology and sociology at the start of the twentieth century, such as Boris Sidis, Sigmund Freud and Wilfred Trotter who all recognised that society puts ever increasing pressure on the individual that can result in mental and physical illnesses such as neurosis and the particular nervousness which was then described as neurasthenia.
A strong advocate of sexual freedom, living in a gay community near Sheffield, he had a profound influence on both D. H. Lawrence and E. M. Forster.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 17, 2015
At first, this small book seems like it might be a backwards glance at what marriage is. But in fact it's not. In many ways, surprisingly contemporary in how it outlines problems in marriage, Carpenter anticipates many of our social issues today.
What is significant about this work is that he poses "free society" in terms of the freedom of ownership. He foretold of a future when women should be free as well... free to earn her own living wages, same as any man.
While this small gem is scattered throughout the book, Carpenter foresees a future when marriage has to be between two free agents, rather than as a mode of domination of a man towards a woman. He tells a tragic tale of women stuck in servitude, raised separately from men, promised a life of everlasting romance but bound through economic needs to a husband. I was surprised at how fresh I found his outlook.
There are of course, some instances when Carpenter betrays his dated sensibilities, such as when speaking of sex (that women don't want it nearly as much, and men are just crazy over it) But his general treatment is idealistic. He paints a portrait of marriage as equals, outlining how society needs to change how it raises its young in anticipation of a hard wrought equality of two partners whose love can only grow through true commitment. It seems our ideas of marriage can benefit from some of his temperament, rather than embracing marriage as either one long endless honeymoon or one long endless ball of drama.
What is significant about this work is that he poses "free society" in terms of the freedom of ownership. He foretold of a future when women should be free as well... free to earn her own living wages, same as any man.
While this small gem is scattered throughout the book, Carpenter foresees a future when marriage has to be between two free agents, rather than as a mode of domination of a man towards a woman. He tells a tragic tale of women stuck in servitude, raised separately from men, promised a life of everlasting romance but bound through economic needs to a husband. I was surprised at how fresh I found his outlook.
There are of course, some instances when Carpenter betrays his dated sensibilities, such as when speaking of sex (that women don't want it nearly as much, and men are just crazy over it) But his general treatment is idealistic. He paints a portrait of marriage as equals, outlining how society needs to change how it raises its young in anticipation of a hard wrought equality of two partners whose love can only grow through true commitment. It seems our ideas of marriage can benefit from some of his temperament, rather than embracing marriage as either one long endless honeymoon or one long endless ball of drama.
January 10, 2025
God damn was this book hard to read. Probably due to the different time period. But I found many parts of this book amusing. Not because I disagree with what the author is saying but just because it's kind of funny.
February 21, 2022
I forget how Edward Carpenter’s “Marriage in Free Society” ended up in my stack (an old Brain Pickings reference of Maria Popova’s perhaps?), but my resolution this year to buy no books and reduce Tsundoku (Japanese: 積ん読).
Once again I find myself struggling to read in historical perspective a male authored book of a century or so ago discussing women and love, the other books being Thurber’s “Is Sex Necessary?” and C. S. Lewis’ “The Four Loves”. Surely all these men were not misogynists, but I am not an 1894 male with ‘Enlightened’ views towards women. No doubt, readers in 2358 will view askance my writing.
So why more than one star? Carpenter is a proponent of “the furtherance of the freedom and self-dependence of women”, believed co-education of children, espouses more open marriage (“tribunes”? And Intimacies outside of the deep love within the marriage??), and thought the then current laws and mores of marriage required revamping so that it was no longer a life sentence, but that people could move on. And he did recognize that in divorce, the only societal concern primarily should be the welfare of any children the union might have produced. He was ahead of his time.
Once again I find myself struggling to read in historical perspective a male authored book of a century or so ago discussing women and love, the other books being Thurber’s “Is Sex Necessary?” and C. S. Lewis’ “The Four Loves”. Surely all these men were not misogynists, but I am not an 1894 male with ‘Enlightened’ views towards women. No doubt, readers in 2358 will view askance my writing.
So why more than one star? Carpenter is a proponent of “the furtherance of the freedom and self-dependence of women”, believed co-education of children, espouses more open marriage (“tribunes”? And Intimacies outside of the deep love within the marriage??), and thought the then current laws and mores of marriage required revamping so that it was no longer a life sentence, but that people could move on. And he did recognize that in divorce, the only societal concern primarily should be the welfare of any children the union might have produced. He was ahead of his time.
April 15, 2019
Ahead of his time!
Freedoms we take for granted, were first imagined by visionaries. This man was open to imagining more fulfilling social arrangements.
Freedoms we take for granted, were first imagined by visionaries. This man was open to imagining more fulfilling social arrangements.
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November 4, 2025such clear-eyed analysis; must have been revolutionary in 1894
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews