Parade's End
"Parade's End" is the title Ford Madox Ford gave to his greatest work, the four Tietjens novels which - in Graham Greene's words - tell 'the terrifying story of a good man tortured, pursued, driven into revolt, and ruined as far as the world is concerned by the clever devices of a jealous and...
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"Parade's End" is the title Ford Madox Ford gave to his greatest work, the four Tietjens novels which - in Graham Greene's words - tell 'the terrifying story of a good man tortured, pursued, driven into revolt, and ruined as far as the world is concerned by the clever devices of a jealous and lying wife'. He wanted to see the book printed in one volume: "Some Do Not" (1924), "No More Parades" (1925) and "A Man Could Stand Up" (1926), with his afterthought, "The Last Post" (1928). Christopher Tietjens is the last of a breed, the Tory gentleman, which the Great War, a savage marriage to Sylvia, and the qualities inherent in his nature, define and unravel. Here, the War's attritions offered no escape from domestic witchcraft. Opposite Tietjens is Macmaster, a Scot, different in class and culture, at once friend and foil. Here, Ford's art and his human vision achieve their greatest complexity and subtlety. Gerald Hammond is Professor of English at the University of Manchester, author of "The Making of the English Bible", "Fleeting Things" and other critical volumes and editor of the "Selected Poems of John Skelton" and of "Richard Lovelace" in the "FyfieldBooks" series. This volume is part of The Millennium Ford project which aims to bring all the major writings of this great writer back into circulation.
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Format: paperback
ISBN:
9781857548921 (1857548922)
Publish date: March 1st 2007
Publisher: Carcanet Press Ltd.
Pages no: 846
Edition language: English
Series: Parade's End -4 (#1)
bookshelves: film-only, ipad, spring-2014, published-1928, war, wwi, tbr-busting-2014, lifestyles-deathstyles, lit-richer, love, edwardian, women, classic, britain-england, bucolic-or-pastoral, christian, epic-proportions, families, filthy-lucre, mental-health, military-maneuvers, ouch, period-piec...
[spoiler] I did see the mini-series before I read this book and it might have had some affect on my enjoyment, so a re-read is happening sometime next year. The book was slower than what I expected after watching the mini-series and I was not expecting the chapters long flashbacks. I have a feeling ...
The pacing of the plot was very, very slow. Indeed, I found myself enjoying this book more on days where I could give it a listen for 3-5 hours at a time because then I felt that the book was moving forward. Set in a time period and place where not only WWI is taking place, but the Suffragette movem...
Hard to get into but worth the effect. Absolutely moving and impressive. Wonderful. Makes you laugh, cry, draw back in horror.
Five months...a little misleading since with the exception of the 'No More Parades', which took me ages to get into, and then afterwards took a big fat pause for three to four months (all of that waiting, waiting waiting), 'Parade's End' was a smooth read for such a dense novel. Through the pompousl...