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Ford Madox Ford (1873–1939)

Author of The Good Soldier

111+ Works 9,047 Members 192 Reviews 28 Favorited

About the Author

Born Ford Hermann Madox Hueffer in England in 1873, Ford Madox Ford came from a family of artists and writers that included his grandfather, the pre-Raphaelite painter Ford Madox Brown, and his uncles Gabriel Dante Rossetti and William Michael Rossetti. Ford's early works were published under the show more name Ford Madox Hueffer, but in 1919 he legally changed his name to Ford Madox Ford due to legal complications that arose when he left his wife, Elsie Martindale, and their two daughters. He also used the pen names Daniel Chaucer and Fenil Haig. Ford's early works include The Brown Owl, a fairy tale, children's stories, romances, and The Fifth Queen, a historical trilogy about Katherine Howard, the fifth wife of Henry VIII. He also collaborated with Joseph Conrad, whom he first met in 1898, on three novels: The Nature of Crime, The Inheritors, and Romance. Ford is best known for his novels The Good Soldier, which he considered both his first serious effort at a novel and his best work, and Parade's End, a tetralogy set during World War I. Both of these books explore a theme that appears often in Ford's writing, that of a good man whose old-fashioned, gentlemanly code is in conflict with modern industrial society. Ford also published several volumes of autobiography and reminiscences, including Return to Yesterday and It Was the Nightengale, as well as numerous works of biography, history, poetry, essays, travel writing, and criticism of literature and art. Although Ford and Martindale never divorced, Ford had significant, long-term relationships with three other women, all of whom took his name; he had another daughter by one of them. He died in Deauville, France, in 1939. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Ford Madox Ford

Series

Works by Ford Madox Ford

The Good Soldier (1915) 4,688 copies
Parade's End (1925) — Author — 1,704 copies
The Fifth Queen Trilogy (1962) 359 copies
Some Do Not... (1924) 179 copies
The Inheritors (1901) 167 copies
Romance (1903) 155 copies
A Man Could Stand Up (1926) 127 copies
No More Parades (1925) 126 copies
Last Post (1928) 99 copies
The Nature of a Crime (1924) 55 copies
Portraits From Life (1974) 52 copies
The Soul of London (1995) 52 copies
It Was the Nightingale (1933) 51 copies
Ladies Whose Bright Eyes (1911) 46 copies
Return to Yesterday (1932) 40 copies
The Rash Act (1656) 40 copies
The Ford Madox Ford Reader (1986) 34 copies
The Fifth Queen (2002) 32 copies
No Enemy (1984) 28 copies
Critical Essays (2002) 25 copies
Privy Seal His Last Venture (1990) 22 copies
The Fifth Queen Crowned (2009) 21 copies
War Prose (1999) 20 copies
England and the English (2003) 15 copies
The Brown Owl (1891) 12 copies
The Queen Who Flew (1894) 11 copies
Great Trade Route (1937) 9 copies
Collected poems 6 copies
Buckshee (1966) 5 copies
A Mirror to France (1926) 5 copies
The Heart of the Country (2012) 4 copies
The Shifting of the Fire (2001) 3 copies
The feather (2015) 2 copies
The Portrait (2016) 2 copies
Henry for Hugh (2012) 2 copies
AGENDA 2 copies
When the wicked man, (2012) 2 copies
On Heaven 1 copy
Il colpo di testa (1990) 1 copy
The critical attitude (1911) 1 copy
A JO KATONA 1 copy

Associated Works

A Farewell to Arms (1929) — Introduction, some editions — 21,876 copies
The Victorian Fairytale Book (1988) — Contributor — 451 copies
Imagist Poetry (Penguin Modern Classics) (1972) — Contributor — 158 copies
Imagist Poetry: An Anthology (1999) — Contributor — 136 copies
Victorian Fairy Tales (2014) — Contributor — 81 copies
Perversity (1925) — Translator, some editions — 54 copies
Conrad: A Collection of Critical Essays (1966) — Contributor — 37 copies
The Best Crime Stories Ever Told (2012) — Contributor — 32 copies
Vogue's First Reader (1942) — Contributor — 27 copies

Tagged

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Common Knowledge

Canonical name
Ford, Ford Madox
Legal name
Hueffer, Ford Hermann Madox (born)
Ford, Ford Madox
Other names
Hueffer, Ford Madox
Haig, Fenil
Chaucer, Daniel
Birthdate
1873-12-17
Date of death
1939-06-26
Burial location
Deauville, France
Gender
male
Nationality
UK
Birthplace
Merton, Surrey, England, UK
Place of death
Deauville, France
Places of residence
Merton, Surrey, England, UK
London, England, UK
Paris, France
Olivet, Michigan, USA
Provence, France
Deauville, France
Education
University College School, London, England, UK
Occupations
novelist
publisher
editor
literary critic
poet
teacher (show all 12)
essayist
travel writer
translator
historian
children's book author
soldier
Relationships
Brown, Ford Madox (grandfather)
Hueffer, Francis (father)
Hueffer, Oliver Madox (brother)
Bowen, Stella (friend)
Conrad, Joseph (friend)
Crane, Stephen (friend) (show all 18)
Gordon, Caroline (friend)
Hemingway, Ernest (friend)
Hulme, T. E. (friend)
Hunt, Violet (friend)
Joyce, James (friend)
Pound, Ezra (friend)
Rhys, Jean (friend)
Stein, Gertrude (friend)
James, Henry (friend)
Garnett, Olive (friend)
Garnett, Edward (friend)
Biala, Janice (friend)
Organizations
Olivet College (Michigan)
English Review (founder and editor)
Transatlantic Review (founder and editor)
The Imagists
British Army, Welch Regiment (officer)
Awards and honors
Doctor of Literature, Olivet College (1938)
Short biography
Ford Madox Ford (1873-1939), English novelist, poet, critic and editor; born as Ford Hermann Hueffer becoming Ford Madox Hueffer before settling on the name Ford Madox Ford

Members

Reviews

The author gives fair warning at the start of the novel that the story will be told from his view and in a rambling conversational style. As a result, this unusual approach takes some getting used to, but perseverance pays off as the last two thirds of the book prove a good read. This book deals with characters that are less than appealing but possibly reflect the weaknesses of the everyman and due to unfortunate luck circumstances seem to place them all where their weaknesses of character are brought to the fore.
This scenario however proves to be the ideal vehicle for the story to be a way of philosophising on relationships and in particular marriage. The book while not a page turner by any means, would be well worth a re-read to better consider the themes covered.
… (more)
 
Flagged
Daniel_M_Oz | 109 other reviews | Sep 20, 2023 |
For a book widely regarded as a classic, it just didn't work for me. Though not long, it went on too long for my taste. All of major characters are distasteful to a greater or lesser extent and the story (about two couples, one English, one American, and their uh, relationships on the eve of World War One) is largely tiresome. Worst of all, Ford's narrator is supposed to be American. Unfortunately, the narration is absolutely chock full of English idioms and English usage, making the narrator hard to buy.… (more)
½
 
Flagged
Gypsy_Boy | 109 other reviews | Aug 26, 2023 |
2023: Having given up on this four years ago, I had to try it again as it is a set text on a course I am doing, and I am glad I did. It was a little frustrating at the beginning - things remain quite opaque for a while and the narration feels slow - but then the leisurely pace grew on me. I thought the bulk of the book was very enjoyable, as you appreciate the different perspectives and revisiting of key moments. However, towards the end it all started to feel rather tawdry and I was glad to finish.

It is filled with people who would have really befitted from some sex education at school.

2019: Quitting at page 30. I'm finding it hard to get into and I don't have the energy. Not a lot is happening and yet great significance is seemingly attached to everything.
… (more)
 
Flagged
pgchuis | 109 other reviews | Aug 22, 2023 |

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Statistics

Works
111
Also by
15
Members
9,047
Popularity
#2,660
Rating
½ 3.7
Reviews
192
ISBNs
754
Languages
18
Favorited
28
Touchstones
459

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