Questions of travel: William Morris in Iceland

Poet and novelist Lavinia Greenlaw's poetic reflections onWilliam Morris'sIcelandic Journal, one of the overlooked masterpieces of travel literatureThe great Victorian designer and decorative artist William Morris was fascinated byIceland and wrote a book documenting his travels there.

He gets caught up withquestions of travel, noting his reaction to the idea of leaving or arriving, to hurryand delay, what it means to dread a place you've never been to or to encounter theactuality of a long-held vision.

He is sensitive to the emotional landscape of his bandof travelers and, above all, continuously analyzing and fixing this ';most romanticof all deserts.'Lavinia Greenlaw follows in his footsteps, and interposes his prose with her own';questions of travel.' The result is a new and composite work that brilliantlyexplores our conflicted reasons for not staying at home.