ABOUT THIS BOOK

A critical biography of the great modernist editor and novelist.

Ford Madox Ford (1873–1939) lived among several of the most important artists and writers of his time. Raised by Pre-Raphaelites and friends with Henry James, H. G. Wells, and Joseph Conrad, Ford was a leading figure of the avant-garde in pre-WWI London, responsible for publishing Ezra Pound, Wyndham Lewis, and D. H. Lawrence. After the war, he moved to Paris, published Gertrude Stein, and discovered Ernest Hemingway. A prolific writer in his own right, Ford wrote the modernist triumph The Good Soldier (1915) as well as one of the finest war stories in English, the Parade’s End tetralogy (1924–1928). Drawing on newly discovered letters and photographs, this critical biography further demonstrates Ford’s vital contribution to modern fiction, poetry, and criticism.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Max Saunders is an interdisciplinary professor of modern literature and culture at the University of Birmingham. His books include Ford Madox Ford: A Dual Life.

REVIEWS

"We need this subtle, astute, witty and insightful biography of one of the major writers of the twentieth century. Saunders is passionate about Ford’s writing and guides us through his novels with masterful panache. Ford emerges as a man deeply enmeshed in the artistic currents of his times but always divided against himself, living perilously across epochs as he turned impressions into truths."

— Lara Feigel, King’s College London

"\Saunders firmly places the sometimes elusive Ford Madox Ford at the epicenter of British modernism. In so doing, he has not only written a scintillating and intimate life of a key literary figure and his work but given us a panorama of the greats that peopled his epoch. This is the best kind of biography: astute, erudite, and eminently readable."

— Lisa Appignanesi OBE, writer and novelist

"Saunders is the doyen of Ford scholars, and this new biography serves to enhance that reputation. It not only untangles the intellectual complexities behind the work of a major British Modernist, but adds a layer of cutting-edge research. The recent discovery of a cache of letters between Ford and his last partner, the painter Janice Biala, provides new evidence to analyze his 'politics.' What emerges is an image of a thoroughly modern, apolitical feminist and 'Green', self-reflexive in his thinking, a postmodern writer long before postmodernism became fashionable.

— Martin Stannard, University of Leicester, author of 'Muriel Spark: The Biography'

"The analysis is sharp . . . [and] testifies to the talents of a literary master of the modernist era."

— Publishers Weekly

"A model for what a short biography can be: well-paced, sure-footed at the task of navigating the writer’s vast corpus to concentrate on high points."

— Wall Street Journal

“As Saunders deftly illustrates in this assured study, Ford was constantly evolving.”

— Booklist

"Saunders captures both the boldness and anxiety that fueled the life and work of a literary giant. Biography is as much an art as poetry or fiction; of course one must use facts or particulars as a starting point. But the subtlety of description, analysis, and interpretation infuse the material with values — ethereal and metaphysical — that rise above the prosaic."

— Arts Fuse

"The good news here is that there is only good news. To his authoritative two-volume biography of Ford Madox Ford (1996) - Max Saunders has now added a brief and timely 'critical life'. This crisp book, both scholarly and accessible, is perfect for students and jaded ephebes alike . . . The book adds newly discovered archival material (notably the loving, happy letters between Ford and Janice Biala, his shrewd and cheerful final partner) and focuses with renewed emphasis on Ford as a critic . . . Saunders [is] a reliable guide to Ford’s diligent, conscious craft – and to his remarkable life."

— Times Literary Supplement

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Contents

Preface

1. Youth: A Pre-Raphaelite Prodigy; Marriage to Elsie Martindale, 1873–94

2. Cosmopolitan Countryside: Impressionism on the Romney Marsh; Breakdown, 1894–1905

3. Edwardian London, the English Review and Violet Hunt, 1905–13

4. Impressionism, Modernist Poetics and The Good Soldier, 1913–15

5. War and Post-War Reconstruction: Stella Bowen, Paris, the transatlantic review, New York, 1915–29

6. Parade’s End: The Novelist as Historian of His Own Time, 1924–8

Coda: ‘A Franco-American Writer’: Surviving the Depression with Janice Biala, 1930–39

References

Select Bibliography

Acknowledgements

Photo Acknowledgements

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