Meeting with Jane

Jane's comments on my Dissertation Proposal:

This is an interesting topic, Katerina, but at present you have too many chapters and are trying to do too much. You give an outline of a number of huge topics -the Romantic's development of an ecological view; the Victorians's industrialisation, colonization, capitalization and mechanization. You could only deal with these in the most general way. Some reference to these topics is certainly essential as the background to your argument, but what you need to do is focus on News from Nowhere and its relation to Morris's ecological views and specific Romantic influences.

Suggested books: 

The pastoral vision of William Morris: 'The earthly paradise by Blue Calhoun

The Country and the City by  Raymond Williams 

Our plan:

1  Make an alternative outline plan. 

    I need to see where the focus will be on. On Ruskin  or  

    Keats, most have talked about Morris's influence by R. 

     but less about the Morris-Keats connection. Look into 
    Morris's letters for references about Keats or the other 
    Romantics. Make a clear distinction as to which is the 
    greatest impact on Morris. What does my research has to 
    offer. Think, what I new am I saying through my diss. 

    what do I add to it all.

2  The 1st chapter will be an introduction to Nowhere,

    5000words. 

   Use Chapter 7 as the beginning of the dissertation. 

   Continue with chapter 7 and create a more detailed account 

   of the link between Nowhere and Keats' poems.

    Use Chapter 4 and expand it, explain Morris's interest in 

    Nature.  Which are Morris's influences.

    Do some parallel reading of Keats and Morris and see

    where are the similarities, compare and contrast)

3   Expand Chapter 5, Read more about the Ecology in 

     Nowhere

To summarize:
By 15th of July
I write and email the new diss outline, the 1st chapter and an expansion of the chapter 3, Ecology in Nowhere. 
Keep in touch with her and ask for any questions I might have during this time.


By the 5th of August I will send to Jane my new extract on Garden in Nowhere.

Water Quality of Thames

In the dissertation proposal  I write "This above extract offers a characteristic description of Thames, the existence of salmon can be signal of good water quality, an observation is in sharp contrast to the reality of Thames during Morris’s year and much more to the Thames of the twenty-first century."  However, Jane commented on this: No, actually, the quality of Thames water is much improved and fish returning (though not salmon, I think)
Checking the matter I found that she is very true indeed. Quotes from a website on Thames:
 Despite this, as late as 1800 records show that nearly 3000 salmon per year from the Thames were being sold in London fishmarkets. However, the last salmon, until fairly recently, was recorded upstream of London Bridge in 1833. 

The Thames through London is tidal and consequently twice a day the tide moves up and down the River. This movement causes the mud on the River bed to be continually stirred up giving the river its ‘dirty’ brown and murky appearance as the silt becomes suspended in the water. But, contrary to popular belief, the river is not polluted. The water quality is very good and in fact the tidal Thames is now acknowledged to be one of the cleanest metropolitan rivers in the world. But this has not always been the case. There was concern about the pollution of the tidal Thames as far back as Medieval times when an Act of Parliament in 1383 ordered that anyone with latrines over the Wallbrook Stream (a small tributary of the Thames in central London) would have to pay 2 shillings a year towards the cost of cleaning up the River. There was another Act in 1388 making it illegal to pollute ditches, rivers, water and the air of London. In 1535, at the time of Henry VIII, a further Act was passed prohibiting the casting of rubbish and pollution into the Thames. However, with no means of enforcement and a growing population with no means of disposing of its waste, the Acts were rather ineffectual.

The 1841 census showed that there were 270,000 houses in Central London. It is most likely that all of these houses would have had cesspits which, more often than not, overflowed. Consequently, the tidal Thames was considerably polluted.

By this time the Industrial Revolution was well under way and an increasing number of factories, slaughter houses, tanneries and other industries grew up along the banks of the River. This, together with a growing population, led to an increase in pollution from industrial wastes and overflowing cesspits.

Two key events finally spelt the destruction of the Thames - the rapid increase in the use of the water closet (which dramatically increased the volume of water borne waste) and the the requirement in the Metropolitan Building Acts 1844 & 1847 that all new buildings be connected to the common sewers. This meant that more and more waste from the population of London went directly into the River untreated and by 1849 fish had disappeared from the tidal Thames. At that time water was still being abstracted from the Thames for public consumption and cholera was rife.

Between 1831 and 1866 there were 4 cholera epidemics during which over 35,000 people died, but it was not until the third epidemic in 1853/4 that cholera was linked to the water supply. It was at this time that the clean up began.

In 1855, the eminent scientist Michael Fariday wrote to 'The Times' regarding the appalling state of the River Thames. In it he wrote'....surely the River which flows so many miles through London, ought not to be allowed to become a fermenting sewer...'

In 1858 a heatwave occurred and the disgusting smell from the River caused so much disruption to Members of Parliament that they hung sheets soaked in chloride of lime from the windows of the House of Commons. In addition, many tons of chalk lime, chloride of lime and carbolic acid were tipped into the Thames but with little or no effect. This became known as the year of the 'Great Stink'. Immediately prior to this, between 1848 and 1855, six successive Commissions were set up to seek a solution to the pollution problem. In 1855 the last Commission was replaced by the Metropolitan Board of Works who considered many proposals. After much debate and acrimony, it was the plan of the Board's own Chief Engineer, Joseph Bazalgette (later Sir), which was finally adopted. This scheme involved the construction of a network of sewers on both sides of the river running down to outfalls at Beckton on the north bank and Crossness on the south bank. It was considered by the Board that these were far enough downstream not to cause offence as sewage was to be discharged on the ebb tide from large storage tanks. There was criticism of the scheme by some who thought the outfalls should be placed further downstream but in 1858, following the 'Great Stink' which concentrated the minds of the politicians, the Board was absolved from the need to obtain Government approval and at the same time made exempt from the control of the Thames Conservancy set up the previous year. The scheme therefore went ahead as originally planned and was completed in 1864. It was officially opened by the Prince of Wales in 1865. The scheme did lead to an improvement in the River in Central London but the problem was transferred downstream to Barking adjacent to the outfalls where large mud banks were building up. In 1878 the Thames pleasure Steamer'Princess Alice', with about 800 people on board, sank, with the loss of 600 lives, in the vicinity of the Beckton outfall after colliding with another vessel the 'Bywell Castle'. An Inquiry into the accident found that the deaths had been accelerated by the putrid state of the water. A Royal Commission was appointed in 1882 to look into the state of the River around the Outfalls and this resulted in new treatment methods being introduced at both Beckton and Crossness. This involved the settling out of the solid matter from the sewage effluent and its subsequent disposal at sea. In 1889 the Metropolitan Board Of Works was replaced by the London County Council which carried out an examination of the whole system. Improvements were made to the capacity of the sewers and new intercepting sewers were constructed to reduce the discharge of storm overflows. At last, in the late 1890's, there were reports of a much cleaner River and an increase in fish life. But London continued to grow and as the population and number of industries grew so did the pollution. Tributaries of the Thames were becoming severly polluted due to the geographic sprawl of London and in the 1930's complaints were once again being voiced about the unsatisfactory state of the River. During the Second World War bomb damage to sewers and sewage treatment works throughout London lead to further pollution which was made worse by the widespread use of non-biodegradable detergents. By the 1950's, the combined effect of sewage effluent, industrial discharges and thermal pollution from power stations and gas works, produced a River that was virtually dead. Water quality was so poor that during summer months large stretches of the River were devoid of any oxygen with the result that there was no established population of fish between Fulham and Tilbury. Following the report prepared for the Thames Survey Committee in 1961 by the Pollution Research Board and the report of Professor Pippard in the same year,improvements to sewage treatment works and the diversion of some industrial discharges from the River, gradually brought about a cleaner River and in 1974 salmon returned to the Thames - the first for 150 years! Salmon The life cycle of the Salmon requires a high standard of water quality in the whole of the catchment. Salmon spawn in the upper freshwater tributaries producing young salmon which then migrate to the feeding grounds at sea.  On reaching the sea, Salmon grow rapidly and after one to three years they make their return journey to their home river to spawn and continue the cycle. Such a life cycle requires good environmental conditions in the sea, the estuary, the river and its tributaries. The Salmon has fastidious  requirements which makes the species an excellent indicator of environmental quality. In 1979 the Thames Salmon Re-habilitation Scheme was launched in conjunction with the Thames Salmon Trust with the long term aim of restoring a self sustaining Salmon population in the River Thames. The Scheme involves fish rearing and stocking, the construction of Salmon ladders in the weirs upstream in the non-tidal Thames and a programme of evaluation. The last Salmon ladder to be built on the Thames was opened at Boulters Weir on 19 May 2000 by the Duke of Wellington. This completed the current programme and all the weirs from Teddington to Mapledurham now have ladders installed. The Scheme has been successful with a sustained regular run of Salmon since 1982 with a record return of 338 Salmon in 1993. This is despite the fact that the migratory period for the returning Salmon is April to November, with the key period being July and August, which coincides with the period of reduced environmental quality on the tidal Thames due to reduced river flows and increased water temperatures. Unfortunately, since 1993 the numbers of returning Salmon have declined but there are still around 50 a year returning. Not only have the Salmon returned: in the last 25 years some 120 species of fish have been recorded in the River Thames including 20 species of freshwater fish, 14 euryhaline fish (fish that can tolerate both salt and fresh water) and 86 marine fish. These include Smelt (perhaps the most unusual and internationally recognised as rare), Bass, Twaite Shad, Sea Lamprey and Allis Shad all of which need a clean river for part of their life cycle. Their presence in the River is of great ecological value. Furthermore, the tidal Thames supports over 350 species of invertebrates, 38 species of bird and 300 plant species.

(source: http://www.the-river-thames.co.uk/environ.htm)

Tasks for Week 2 ( 23-30 June)

My tasks for this week are
1   Finish the reading of News from Nowhere by Saturday night.
2   Find my rhythm. Set up my regular daily pattern of work and follow it. Start working early in the morning
     for 4-5 hours and 3-4 hours in the evening. A minimum of 6 hours I have to work per day no matter what.
     Morning or night.
3   Think of what I will talk with Jane on Thursday. Ask fro Diss examples and to be given REAL deadlines.
4   Pick  hand-outs from INTO
5   Start reading about the literature review.

Notes
-   Keep a record of my reading time.
-   Set Deadlines. Daily, mid-week and weekly.
-   Maintain my focus for as longer as possible.
-   Remember that I am not writing my dissertation but I am DRAFTING it. In revising my drafts
     and realising my weaknesses I get to it.
-   Check ELE resources.
-   August Tutorials. Finishing my Diss by end of July gives me August for editing and perfecting my child.

Week 2 - Morris and Us: The Eden Project and Ecological Societies

China-Italy-Greece

Last night, sat cross-legged Ma-Lan, our Italian couch-surfer, Flavio and myself empowered a triangle between finance, philosophy and life. Ma-Lan, after explaining about the debts of Greece, the greatest owner of Greek's economy is Japan, that the country is already sold....Ma-Lan concludes, actually, the whole system should be destroyed and re-planned. But because we are financial people, we don't want to...

The whole thing should be re-done! That's exactly what (eventually) happened in Nowhere and how this happened is the whole explanation of this novel's existence.

Ecological Societies

My dissertation is my summer project, my greatest project so far. And this also a cause of constant and questioning  for me  concerning the usefulness of my project. Its usefulness depends on the links I draw between Morris and the 21st cent. society. I want to make a research based in UK probably, and find which about contemporary "ecological societies"; talk about one or two and  examine the relationship between those and the ecological society of Morris.

The link is that both aim to communicate with men the need to acknowledge and restore our connection with the natural world. The Eden Project offers a change of consciousness about our relationship with the environment through our food, furniture, tradition, literature. It is a demonstration of the universal interconnection of plant life to the human. By revisiting Eden and spending a week there, volunteering and generally getting a close feeling of what the whole project is about will be enhancing for the linking of Morris to the 21st century.

Photos by Katerina Kyriacou
1st photo: from Dartmoor, Merrivile
2nd & 3rd Photo: from Eden Project

Day Two and Three

Reading on the toilet, the bed, train, bench, on my desk and son on. Reached page 113, Chapter 12, I got to read till page 230.

Continuation of chapter reading & summaries.

9 CONCERNING LOVE
 Dick's great-grandfather, Old Hammond, seems strangely familiar to William. A beautiful young woman, Clara, is also there and goes off to spend some time with Dick. They have lived together previously for two years, and are going to be together again. Old Hammond then explains that divorce courts no longer exist, since quarrels over private property relationships have become a thing of the past. Neither is there any "unvarying conventional set of rules by which people are judged". Housekeeping and childbearing are fully respected as vital activities, and men and women live and work happily together in harmony and freedom.

10 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
William then asks about education. Old Hammond denounces the destructive indoctrination of the old schooling system, which was born of the poverty it perpetuated. Now no learning is forced, but is always available when sought. He then describes in detail all the changes that have been made to the urban and rural landscape of London and the rest of the country, with the gradual breaking down of the rigid distinction between country and town.

11 CONCERNING GOVERNMENT
Government, which was just "the machinery of tyranny", no longer exists at all; the whole people is the "parliament".

12 CONCERNING THE ARRANGEMENT OF LIFE
more to follow

Discussing with Barry

I:  Hey Barry I found a key quote on the world of Nowhere as old Hammond explained to Guess. Here it is:
"This is how we stand. England was once a country of clearings amongst the woods and wastes, with a few towns interspersed, which were fortress for the feudal army, markets for the folk, gathering places for the craftsmen. It then became a country of huge and foul workshops and fouler gambling-dens, surrounded by an ill-kept, poverty-stricken farm, pillaged by the masters of workshops.  It is now a garden, * where nothing is wasted and nothing is spoilt, with the necessary dwellings, sheds, and workshops scattered up and down the country, all trim and neat and pretty. (105) The footnotee on "It is now a garden", explains that Morris's writing, including Nowhere, influenced the Garden City movement in United States and Britain. He also affected modern ideas about gardening, notably through the work of Gertrude Jekyll.(413)

B:  Yes, is a very good quote indeed. You see Gertrude Jekyll was well as Morris were rich and they things for rich. The poor couldn't and cannot afford beautiful furniture.

I:  Yes, you are right, what they did was for rich people. However, the important things is, looking at their work now, that the rich were the ones with the power as well as influence. They were the ones that directed the running of  the manufacture and building industry. Therefore, the rich were the ones with the greater impact on people's lives and the environment.

If Morris and Ruskin along with the praise for the beautiful things, supported fair working conditions through which workers were allowed to their labour, then their work did not only affect wealthy people but also latter's perception of the working people.

So, Barry by playing devil's advocate brought out of me some very crucial thought concerning the usefulness of Morris's work and its relation to us now. Bless him!


And additional idea for my dissertation that came to me yesterday is :after discussing on the ecology in Nowhere, talk about ecology in the 21st century. Possible talk about the green-fashion to recycle and use reclycli-able material, organic, fair-trade etc. to the extend that the consumers are confused as what is the best to buy. Also talk about particular ecological society, even farm societies as they seem to be at Coed Hills or Embercombe. It will be interesting to make a parallel reading of the world of Nowhere to 21st West or to a particular ecological society.

Question whether we are we, now closer to Morris' Nowhere than the Victorian Era was? Theoretically, it seems that at the present time, more people and to a greater depth are more concerned about the damage we cause to the environment. 

DAY ONe

Spend my afternoon in the library, from 5pm, now its nearly 11pm.
Much messing in the Internet and little actual reading of my book. Its silly.
My reading has taking me until the end of Chapter 6 of News from Nowhere.

I am on page 83 and the story finishes on page 230. So, I have some 150 pages left.
My aim is to read these 150 pages my the day after tomorrow, following "the task to be accomplished" set last week.

To help me bring it all back to my mind and recapitulate the atmosphere of it all, I recall that so far I have read the following chapters:
1 Discussion and Bed

2 A Morning Bath

3 The Guest House and Breakfast Within

4 A Market by the Way

5 Children on the Road

6 A Little Shopping

7 Trafalgar Square
They arrive at a transformed Trafalgar Square, which William only just recognizes. Dick becomes exasperated at the thought of the history he has read of the state violence which had taken place there in 1887. It transpires that prisons have been abolished, together with the rest of the machinery of oppression. They then come across some workshops, and some men working on the road repairs, whose work is being positively enjoyed, being fully under their control.

8 An Old Friend
William and Dick arrive at the old British Museum, which William remembers very well. The building has been maintained, mainly for fear of damaging the books and other collections of they had to be moved for rebuilding to take place. Dick's great-grandfather mostly lives there, and Dick says that there may be someone else there whom he particularly would like to see himself.

9 Concerning Love untill 32 The Feast's Beginning - The End.
e.t.c.