The Good Soldier
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...
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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.
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Format: paperback
ISBN:
9781551113814 (1551113813)
Publish date: January 2nd 2003
Publisher: Broadview Press
Pages no: 368
Edition language: English
I have mixed feelings about this book. It's delivery is more impressive than its substance. It is told by an unreliable narrator in a chatty fireside style, but the narrator reveals that he wrote it over a long period and the information that he gives away and also his attitude shifts throughout the...
This book: it is so quiet, so unassuming that it sneaks up on you. You are maybe even sort of wondering why it’s a classic when it tells (you think) such a banal story. But in fact, while telling you one story, eventually another bleeds through. The presenting story: a man of a certain age, disencha...
Ford Madox Ford's 1915 novella The Good Soldier famously begins with the line, "This is the saddest story I have ever heard" (Part I, Chapter I*). It is a truly tragic tale. All the characters are caught between their own personality flaws and the expectations society holds for what are considered "...
I liked it. Mostly. To be precise, up to two-thirds; after that, the subject matter, the narrator (for it is largely a retrospective, first-person narrative by a middle-aged white male), and the style (increasingly exalted - think schoolgirls, not nobility) began to tire me. I think it was partly be...
The Good Soldier is the story of an American and an English couple and their various and interesting interactions. It's told in an Impressionist style, which I don't really like, to be honest, although I can see the literary merit in it - i.e. it's not told in chronological order but as if a real pe...
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