5. Sufficiency and Simplicity in the Life and Writings of Edward Carpenter

Edward Carpenter, the sandal-wearing prophet of socialist self-sufficiency in the late nineteenth century, advocated the values of simplicity and self-sufficiency that was a source of inspiration to other late-Victorian radicals. On closer examination, however, Carpenter’s philosophy of daily life was one where self-sufficiency was grounded in a privileging of sensory and somatic experience that placed as much value on conviviality, creative self-expression and sexual liberation as on producing one’s own food, recycling and minimising unnecessary labour. As such, Carpenter offered a radical re-framing of sufficiency as an enriched mode of living and described how the ‘simplification of life’ opened up a world in which affective bonds between humans, animals, objects and the environment were given a new intensity and pleasure.