Parade's End


Book Description

This monumental novel, divided into four separate books, celebrates the end of an era, the irrevocable destruction of the comfortable, predictable society that vanished during World War I.




The Parade's End Tetralogy: Some Do Not, No More Parades, A Man Could Stand Up & Last Post


Book Description

Parade's End is a tetralogy by Ford Madox. The four novels were originally published under the titles: Some Do Not ... (1924), No More Parades (1925), A Man Could Stand Up — (1926), and Last Post (or The Last Post in the USA) (1928). It is set mainly in England and on the Western Front in World War I, where Ford served as an officer in the Welsh Regiment, a life vividly depicted in the novels. The novels chronicle the life of Christopher Tietjens, a brilliant government statistician from a wealthy landowning family who is serving in the British Army during World War I. His wife Sylvia is a flippant socialite who seems intent on ruining him. Tietjens may or may not be the father of his wife's child. Meanwhile, his incipient affair with Valentine Wannop, a high-spirited pacifist and suffragette, has not been consummated, despite what all their friends believe. The two central novels follow Tietjens in the army in France and Belgium, as well as Sylvia and Valentine in their separate paths over the course of the war. Ford Madox Ford ( 1873 – 1939) was an English novelist, poet, critic and editor whose journals, The English Review and The Transatlantic Review, were instrumental in the development of early 20th-century English literature. He is now remembered best for his publications The Good Soldier, the Parade's End tetralogy and The Fifth Queen trilogy.




Parade's End: The Complete Tetralogy


Book Description

Ford Madox Ford's 'Parade's End: The Complete Tetralogy' is a monumental work that delves into the complexities of love, war, and societal change during the tumultuous period of World War I. The tetralogy follows the life of Christopher Tietjens, a man torn between duty and desire, as he navigates the shifting landscapes of his personal life and society at large. Ford's distinctive writing style, characterized by its introspective and psychological depth, offers a profound exploration of human emotions and the impact of war on individuals. The intricate narrative structure and rich character development make this work a masterful piece of modernist literature. Ford Madox Ford, a British writer and editor, drew inspiration from his own experiences serving in the war when creating 'Parade's End'. His keen observations of human nature and the effects of war on individuals add a layer of authenticity to the novel, making it a compelling and emotionally resonant read. Ford's command of language and ability to capture the nuances of human relationships make 'Parade's End' a classic of twentieth-century literature. I highly recommend 'Parade's End: The Complete Tetralogy' to readers interested in immersive and thought-provoking literature that explores the complexities of human nature, love, and war. Ford's masterful storytelling and profound insights into the human condition make this tetralogy a must-read for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the impact of war on individuals and society.




The Complete Parade's End Tetralogy


Book Description

Parade's End is a tetralogy by Ford Madox. The four novels were originally published under the titles: Some Do Not ... (1924), No More Parades (1925), A Man Could Stand Up — (1926), and Last Post (or The Last Post in the USA) (1928). It is set mainly in England and on the Western Front in World War I, where Ford served as an officer in the Welsh Regiment, a life vividly depicted in the novels. The novels chronicle the life of Christopher Tietjens, a brilliant government statistician from a wealthy landowning family who is serving in the British Army during World War I. His wife Sylvia is a flippant socialite who seems intent on ruining him. Tietjens may or may not be the father of his wife's child. Meanwhile, his incipient affair with Valentine Wannop, a high-spirited pacifist and suffragette, has not been consummated, despite what all their friends believe. The two central novels follow Tietjens in the army in France and Belgium, as well as Sylvia and Valentine in their separate paths over the course of the war. Ford Madox Ford ( 1873 – 1939) was an English novelist, poet, critic and editor whose journals, The English Review and The Transatlantic Review, were instrumental in the development of early 20th-century English literature. He is now remembered best for his publications The Good Soldier, the Parade's End tetralogy and The Fifth Queen trilogy.




Essays on Music and Language in Modernist Literature


Book Description

This volume explores the role of music as a source of inspiration and provocation for modernist writers. In its consideration of modernist literature within a broad political, postcolonial, and internationalist context, this book is an important intervention in the growing field of Words and Music studies. It expands the existing critical debate to include lesser-known writers alongside Joyce, Woolf, and Beckett, a wide-ranging definition of modernism, and the influence of contemporary music on modernist writers. From the rhythm of Tagore’s poetry to the influence of jazz improvisation, the tonality of traditional Irish music to the operas of Wagner, these essays reframe our sense of how music inspired Literary Modernism. Exploring the points at which the art forms of music and literature collide, repel, and combine, contributors draw on their deep musical knowledge to produce close readings of prose, poetry, and drama, confronting the concept of what makes writing "musical." In doing so, they uncover commonalities: modernist writers pursue simultaneity and polyphony, evolve the leitmotif for literary purposes, and adapt the formal innovations of twentieth-century music. The essays explore whether it is possible for literature to achieve that unity of form and subject which music enjoys, and whether literary texts can resist paraphrase, can be simply themselves. This book demonstrates how attention to the role of music in text in turn illuminates the manner in which we read literature.




Ford Madox Ford’s Parade’s End


Book Description

The controversial British writer Ford Madox Ford (1873–1939) is increasingly recognized as a major presence in early twentieth-century literature. This series of International Ford Madox Ford Studies was founded to reflect the recent resurgence of interest in him. Each volume is based upon a particular theme, issue, or work; and relates aspects of Ford’s writing, life, and contacts, to broader concerns of his time. Ford is best-known for his fiction, especially The Good Soldier, long considered a modernist masterpiece; and Parade’s End, which Anthony Burgess described as ‘the finest novel about the First World War’, Samuel Hynes has called ‘the greatest war novel ever written by an Englishman’, and which was adapted by Tom Stoppard for the acclaimed 2012 BBC/HBO television series, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Rebecca Hall. Parade’s End is the subject of the fifteen essays here, by both established experts and new scholars. The volume includes groundbreaking work on the psycho-geography of the war in Ford’s novels; on how the war intensifies self-consciousness about performance and sensation; and on the other writers and artists Ford drew upon, and argued with, in producing his post-war masterpiece.




Some Do Not


Book Description

Christopher Tietjens, a brilliant, unconventional mathematician, is married to the dazzling yet unfaithful Sylvia, when, during a turbulent weekend, he meets a young Suffragette by the name of Valentine Wannop. Christopher and Valentine are on the verge of becoming lovers until he must return to his World War I regiment. Ultimately, Christopher, shell-shocked and suffering from amnesia, is sent back to London. An unforgettable exploration of the tensions of a society confronting catastrophe, sexuality, power, madness, and violence, this narrative examines time and a critical moment in history.




Edinburgh Companion to Twentieth-Century British and American War Literature


Book Description

The first reference book to deal so fully and incisively with the cultural representations of war in 20th-century English and US literature and film. The volume covers the two World Wars as well as specific conflicts that generated literary and imaginativ




The Last Post


Book Description

Following WWI, an English aristocrat struggles to find peace as he attempts to rebuild his life in this conclusion to the Parade’s End Tetralogy. The Great War is over. The ancestral home of Christopher Tietjens has been sold to an American. Christopher and Valentine Wannop now share a cottage with his brother and sister-in-law. A mathematician before the war, Christopher now earns a living selling antique furniture. It seems his world will be forever changed . . . Set over the course of one summer day, The Last Post follows its characters as they amble through a disorientating new world. Tensions arise for the inhabitants of the cottage. Valentine is pregnant and worried about her unmarried status as well as Christopher’s money troubles. Then Christopher’s estranged wife schemes to make their lives miserable. With the past haunting their present, the future seems uncertain for Christopher and Valentine. Praise for Parade’s End “The finest English novel about the Great War.” —Malcolm Bradbury “There are not many English novels which deserve to be called great: Parade’s End is one of them.” —W. H. Auden “The best novel by a British writer. . . . It is also the finest novel about the First World War. It is also the finest novel about the nature of British society.” —Anthony Burgess “The English prose masterpiece of the time.” —William Carlos Williams




The Good Soldier


Book Description

One of the most important works of twentieth-century British literature, The Good Soldier addresses the lives and interrelationships between two couples: one American, one British. A tragicomic novel of manners, in which John Dowell narrates the disintegration of both his own and another marriage, the work’s depiction of passion and intrigue offers an ironic reading of Edwardian-era values. The Broadview edition features the text of the first edition of the novel published by John Lane and The Bodley Head in 1915. It also includes: other writings by Ford Madox Ford (“On Heaven,” excerpts from Henry James: A Critical Study, “On Impressionism,” and “Techniques”); contemporary reviews; and Ezra Pound’s obituary of Ford Madox Ford.