Bøker av Ford Madox Ford

No More Parades is the second in Ford Madox Ford¿s Parade¿s End series. The book, released just a few years after the close of the war, is based on Ford¿s combat experiences as an enlisted man in World War I, and continues the story first begun in Some Do Not ¿.Christopher Tietjens, after recovering from the shell shock he suffered in Some Do Not ¿, has returned to the edge of the war as a commanding officer in charge of preparing draft troops for deployment to the front. As the ¿last true Tory,¿ Tietjens demonstrates talent bordering on genius as he struggles against the laziness, incompetence, and confusion of the army around him¿but his troubles only begin when his self-centered and scandalous wife Sylvia appears at his base in Rouen for a surprise visit.Unlike Some Do Not ¿, which was told in a highly modernist series of flash-backs and flash-forwards, Parade¿s End is a much more straightforward narrative. Despite this, the characters continue to be realized in an incredibly complex and nuanced way. Tietjens, almost a caricature of the stiff, honorable English gentleman, stoically absorbs the problems and suffering of those around him. Ford simultaneously paints him as an almost Christlike character and an immature, idealistic schoolboy, eager to keep up appearances despite the ruination it causes the people around him. Sylvia, his wife, has had her affairs and scandals, and is clearly a selfish and trying personality; but her powerful charm, and her frustration with both her almost comically stiff-lipped husband and the war¿s interruption of civilization, lends her a not-unsympathetic air. The supporting cast of conscripts and officers is equally well-realized, with each one protraying a separate aspect of war¿s effect on regular, scared people simply doing their best.The novel was extremely well-reviewed in its time, and it and the series it¿s a part of remain one of the most important novels written about World War I.

Esta es la historia más triste que jamás he oído. Habíamos tratado a los Ashburnham durante nueve temporadas en la ciudad de Nauheim con gran intimidad¿, O, más bien, habíamos mantenido con ellos unas relaciones tan flexibles y tan cómodas y sin embargo tan íntimas como las de un guante de buena calidad con la mano que protege. Mi mujer y yo conocíamos al capitán Ashburnham y a su señora todo lo bien que es posible conocer a alguien, pero, por otra parte, no sabíamos nada en absoluto acerca de ellos. Se trata, creo yo, de una situación que sólo es posible con ingleses sobre quienes, incluso en el día de hoy, cuando me paro a dilucidar lo que sé de esta triste historia, descubro que vivía en la más completa ignorancia. Hasta hace seis meses no había pisado nunca Inglaterra y, ciertamente, nunca había sondeado las profundidades de un corazón inglés. No había pasado de sus aspectos más superficiales. No quiero decir con eso que no conociéramos a muchos ingleses. Viviendo, como nos veíamos obligados a hacerlo, en Europa, y siendo, como nos veíamos obligados a serlo, americanos ociosos, lo cual equivale a decir que éramos muy poco americanos, no nos quedaba otro remedio que frecuentar la compañía de los ingleses de clase alta. Porque París era nuestro hogar, algún sitio comprendido entre los límites de Niza y Bordighera nos proporcionaba cuarteles de invierno todos los años, y Nauheim siempre nos recibía desde julio hasta septiembre. Deducirá usted de estas afirmaciones que uno de los dos estaba, como suele decirse, «delicado del corazón», y, cuando le diga que mi esposa ha muerto, comprenderá que era ella la enferma.

No More Parades: A novel, has been regarded as significant work throughout human history, and in order to ensure that this work is never lost, we have taken steps to ensure its preservation by republishing this book in a contemporary format for both current and future generations. This entire book has been retyped, redesigned, and reformatted. Since these books are not made from scanned copies, the text is readable and clear.

Set just before World War I, The Good Soldier chronicles the tragedy of Edward Ashburnham and his seemingly perfect marriage, as well as the marriage of Edward's American friend, John Dowell.