Un Rêve de John Ball

by William Morris

Vers la fin du XIXe siècle, un conférencier socialiste s’endort. Divagant, promenant son esprit jusque dans la belle campagne anglaise du XIVe siècle, il rencontre quelques paysans, un ancien soldat, un prêtre rebelle. Ces hommes sont prêts à se battre ; mais, cette fois, ce ne sera pas pour leurs seigneurs, mais contre eux. John Ball, le curé qui sert de guide à ces rebelles, résume la pensée de tous en quelques mots : « Quand Adam bêchait et qu’Eve filait, où était alors le gentilhomme ? ». À leur manière, chacun de ces deux hommes se retrouve perdu dans un monde qui ne lui correspond pas. La discussion entre ces deux révoltés, portés par le même amour des hommes, se prolongera toute la nuit. Rêverie fantastique, nouvelle, traité philosophique, manifeste politique : Un rêve de John Ball, de l’écrivain, artiste, entrepreneur et militant William Morris (1834-1896) est tout cela à la fois. Il accompagne son lecteur dans un voyage onirique étonnant, mêlant aventures et réflexion, et qui s’achève sur un désir : celui de connaître « une lutte pleine d’espoir et une paix sans tâche, c’est-à-dire, en un mot, la vie ». Traduction de Marion Leclair.

Genres: Fiction, Fantasy, Classics, Historical Fiction, Science Fiction

Paperback

Published October 21, 2022

About the author

William Morris was an English architect, furniture and textile designer, artist, writer, socialist and Marxist associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English Arts and Crafts Movement. Morris wrote and published poetry, fiction, and translations of ancient and medieval texts throughout his life. His best-known works include The Defence of Guenevere and Other Poems (1858), The Earthly Paradise (1868–1870), A Dream of John Ball and the utopian News from Nowhere. He was an important figure in the emergence of socialism in Britain, founding the Socialist League in 1884, but breaking with the movement over goals and methods by the end of that decade. He devoted much of the rest of his life to the Kelmscott Press, which he founded in 1891. The 1896 Kelmscott edition of the Works of Geoffrey Chaucer is considered a masterpiece of book design.

Reviews

[Steve R]

Morris was a socialist. Morris loved medieval times. Morris helped found the genre of the fantasy novel. Morris was a champion of what he called the 'lesser arts': furniture making, wallpaper design, book publishing, dying of fabrics. Morris was a writer of epic verse and a translator of Icelandic sagas.

Put all these threads together, and it is easy to see how the fanciful dream of John Ball, a lieutenant under Wat Tyler in the English Peasant's Revolt of the late fourteenth century, could come about in this work of 1888. At one and the same time, it presents the honest grievances of the working men and women who were so severely oppressed under the dictates of the feudal system, provides a celebration of their cottage industry labours and tells a fanciful story of a simple life free of the stress and congestion of the modern urban England of the late nineteenth century.

At only about a hundred pages, and written in his simple, almost childlike prose, this book is a sheer delight to lose oneself in, suspend one's disbeliefs and for a little while luxuriate one's imagination in a blissful, simple imagination of a clean, simple, pure and pleasant world.

I had a professor at university who dismissed my fascination with Morris with the offhand comment that 'everyone thinks he was a crank'. Well maybe the world just needs more cranks like him!

[Zéro Janvier · Rating 3 out of 5]

Après avoir lu l'excellente biographie que E.P. Thomson lui a consacré, j'avais envie de lire les oeuvres littéraires de William Morris. J'ai donc commencé par son premier roman, A Dream of John Ball, publié en 1888.

Dans ce court roman, le narrateur, très probablement William Morris lui-même même s'il n'est pas nommé, raconte un rêve dans lequel il est plongé dans l'Angleterre du XIVe siècle et y rencontre John Ball, le prêtre dissident à l'origine de la Révolte des Paysans. Ils échangent sur leurs sociétés respectives, John Ball découvre que son rêve d'une société égalitaire ne s'est pas encore réalisé au XIXe siècle, mais le narrateur le rassure quelque peu en lui affirmant que son rêve est toujours vivant et que d'autres ont pris le relais pour le réaliser. Ainsi, William Morris nous présente John Ball comme un précurseur d'une longue tradition égalitaire qui s'incarnerait désormais dans le socialisme.

Au-delà des aspects politiques, William Morris montre dans ce texte sa passion pour l'époque médiévale et matérialité, notamment l'architecture. Le contraste entre le village médiéval qu'il visite en rêve et son environnement réel est saisissant, et on sent nettement toute la tradition romantique de l'auteur dans ses descriptions fines et nostalgiques.

Enfin, je dois dire un mot du style, joli, mais parfois un peu "lourd" de ce texte, qui le rend parfois ardu à lire. Si l'intention m'a beaucoup plu, l'exécution m'a un peu déçu.

[Orçun Güzer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sosyalist düşüncenin ütopyacı/romantik damarına yakın bir yazar olan William Morris, Orta Çağ’a düşsel bir yolculuk içeren bu felsefi hikâyesinde, bir ozan olan kahramanını, zalim lordlara isyan eden köylülerle ve onların dini lideri devrimci rahip John Ball (1338-1381) ile buluşturuyor. William Morris’in Tolkien’in ilham kaynaklarından biri olması beni pek ilgilendirmiyor, ama tarihsel fantezi ile politik angajmanı başarıyla birleştirmiş olmasını önemsiyorum. Kitabın çevirisinde yer yer aksamalar var; sanki çevirmen Morris’in şiirsel dilinin Türkçe’deki karşılığını bulamamış gibi. Bir de, çoğu cümlede bağlaçları ayırmayı unutmuş olmaları canımı sıktı. Kitabın son 10 sayfasında, yazarın benzer temaları işleyen “Kralın Dersi” (1901) adlı başka bir öyküsüyle karşılaşmak ise, tatsızlıkları unutturan hoş bir sürpriz oldu.

[Elprimordial Sorel · Rating 4 out of 5]

"El infierno lo conoce aquel que, cuando busca consuelo en el hombro ajeno, no lo encuentra porque no hay fraternidad, sino egoísmo. Por eso digo que los hombres ricos, vanidosos y despreciables, aunque no lo saben, ya viven en el infierno, pues desconocen la fraternidad y ni siquiera pensarían en ella aunque se sintieran muy afligidos; sus penas son sólo un mero recuerdo, una menudencia en la vida de aquellos que no conocen el infortunio"

"El deseo el diablo es que las mentiras surjan de la estéril verdad; y cierto es que los pobres esperan que los ricos sean distintos a ellos y se conviertan en sus señores como si los pobres vinieran de Adán y los ricos de quien lo creó, es decir, de Dios"

"Creedme, mientras vivo no puedo imaginar mi muerte, ni tan siquiera creer en ella, aunque sé con certeza que he de morir... Sólo puedo pensar en vivir de forma distinta"

"—¿Y decís que adorarán al que le roba aunque sepan que les roba? Muy diferentes deben de ser los hombres de esa época de los de ahora, y muy cobardes e imbéciles también. No son esos los hombres que yo he conocido en mi vida y por los que pienso morir.
—No –respondí–. Ellos no serán conscientes de que les roban. ¿No os he dicho acaso que se consideran hombres libres? ¿Y para qué?"

"Mirad a vuestro alrededor. Hace tan sólo un rato la luz de la luna nos iluminaba, aunque era de noche, y cuando la luz de la luna se desvaneció apareció en su lugar un tenue resplandor que alegró el mundo entero, pues todas las cosas y todos los seres de este mundo sabían que era la luz de un nuevo día. Es cierto que la luz de este día de verano que empieza a nacer ante nuestros ojos no es precisamente la imagen de lo que acontecerá en el futuro, pues se parecería más al amanecer de un día gris y frío, pero es justo así, bajo esa luz, como los hombres deben descubrir la solución y no bajo el encanto de la luz de la luna ni llevados por los sueños. Bajo esa mortecina luz, los hombres sabios y valientes deben buscar un remedio, como si de algo real y palpable se tratara, y no como una bendición venida de los cielos".

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

I need a refund for my time.

William Morris is an amazing artist, but his writing style dragged. A short book took me 2 hours and half to read because of the strange dialogue. If you begin your story by stating that you're not going to replicate the language because it seemed too strange, then it follows that you should use contemporary Victorian language.

The story was too overtly didactic - large swathes of dialogue dedicated solely to criticism of social climate was too much. I adored the idea of meeting someone in a dream and Morris could have done so much with it, but he instead opted to stuff his narrative with dialogue that was somehow Early Modern English and Victorian English simulataneously.

[Robert Lloyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book to be interesting. Though a work of fiction, there was a heavy dose of economic philosophy embedded in it. It shouldn't be read like a standard work of narrative fiction, rather as the interpretation of a real historical event's relevance to the economic and social realities of the industrial economy of late 19th century England. There were some beautiful lines in the book, but it was also a bit hard to follow at times. However the discussion between the narrator and John Ball about the future was very interesting.

[Esther Button · Rating 3 out of 5]

read for uni

A very interesting read - love a bit of Revolutionary socialism. Honestly, fairly dense but an enjoyable read. It was both depressing (it very aptly discusses the status of 'free men' under capitalism, where they are actually not free at all, but have to sell their labour to survive) and somewhat hopeful.

rating as of 04/03/2023: 3 stars

[Lucy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Never mind the socialism aspect, which looks a bit dodgy in light of twentieth century experience, I found the language he chose to use really irritating. Cod medievalism, why didn't he write it in Middle English if he wanted to be authentic.

[Gabriel Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

SING JOHN BALL AND TELL IT TO THEM ALL

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

An inspiring short novel, although slightly dry at parts.