Bøker av Ford Madox Ford

The Good Soldier is set just before World War I and chronicles the tragedy of Edward Ashburnham, the soldier to whom the title refers, and his own seemingly perfect marriage and that of two American friends. The story is narrated by the character John Dowell, half of one of the couples whose dissolving relationships form the subject of the novel. Dowell tells the story of those dissolutions and the deaths of three characters and the madness of a fourth, in a rambling, non-chronological fashion.

"Some Do Not ..." chronicles the life of Christopher Tietjens, "the last Tory", a brilliant government statistician from a wealthy landowning family, who serves in the British Army during the First World War. The novel is the first part of the famous "Parade''s End" tetralogy by Ford Madox Ford. The setting is mainly England and the Western Front of the First World War, in which Ford had served as an officer in the Welch Regiment, a life he vividly depicts.

The Fifth Queen trilogy consists of three historical novels, The Fifth Queen, Privy Seal and The Fifth Queen Crowned. The trilogy presents a fictionalized account of Katharine Howard''s arrival at the Court of Henry VIII, her eventual marriage to the king, and her death. Katharine Howard is introduced as a devout Roman Catholic, impoverished, young noblewoman escorted by her fiery cousin Thomas Culpeper. By accident, she comes to the attention of the king, in a minor way at first, is helped to a position as a lady in waiting for the then bastard Lady Mary, Henry''s eldest daughter, by her old Latin tutor Nicholas Udal. Udal is a spy for Thomas Cromwell, the Lord Privy Seal. As Katharine becomes involved with the many calculating, competing, and spying members of Henry VIII''s Court, she gradually rises, almost against her will, in Court. She is brought more to the attention of the King, becomes involved with him, gets used by Cromwell, Bishop Gardiner and Thomas Cranmer as well as the less powerful though more personally attached Nicholas Throckmorton. Her connection to the latter puts her in some peril, as in January 1554 he is suspected of complicity in Wyatt''s Rebellion and arrested, during which time Katherine is also briefly implicated. Katharine''s forthrightness, devotion to the Old Faith and learning are what make her attractive to the King, along with her youth and physical beauty.

A masterpiece of early Modernism, The Good Soldier tells the story of the unfolding relationships between two couples in the words of an archetypal 'unreliable narrator'. Its portrayal of the destruction of a civilized elite is a work of unforgettable power and literary skill, here accompanied by Ford's important essay 'On Impressionism'.

Tracing the psychological damage inflicted by battle, the collapse of England's secure Edwardian values - embodied in Christopher's wife, the beautiful, cruel socialite Sylvia - and the beginning of a new age, epitomized by the suffragette Valentine Wannop, this title is an elegy for both the war dead and the passing of a way of life.

With an Introduction and Notes by Sara Haslam, Department of English, The Open University.The Good Soldier is a masterpiece of twentieth-century fiction, an inspiration for many later, distinguished writers, including Graham Greene. Set before the First World War, it tells the tale of two wealthy and sophisticated couples, one English, one American, as they travel, socialise, and take the waters in the spa towns of Europe.They are 'playing the game', in style. That game has begun to unravel, however, and with compelling attention to the comic, as well as the tragic, results the American narrator reveals his growing awareness of the sexual intrigues and emotional betrayals that lie behind its faade.

The Dowells, a wealthy American couple, have been close friends with the Ashburnhams for years. Edward Ashburnham, a first-rate soldier, seems to be the perfect English gentleman, and Leonora his perfect wife, but beneath the surface their marriage seethes with unhappiness and deception. Our only window on the strange tangle of events surrounding Edward is provided by John Dowell, the husband he deceives. Gradually Dowell unfolds a devastating story, in which everyone s honesty is in doubt. This extraordinary novel of passion and betrayal is a masterpiece of narrative skill and emotional depth.

The Great War changes everything. In this epic tale, spanning over a decade, war turns the world of privileged, English aristocrat Christopher Tietjens upside down. It forces him to question everything he holds dear social order, morality, marriage and loyalty. And it rocks the very foundations of English society. This is a powerful story about love, betrayal and disillusionment in a time of horror and confusion by one of Britain s finest novelists. Ford Madox Ford's monumental novel came to our screens in August 2012 as a major BBC adaptation, with a screenplay by the legendary playwright Tom Stoppard and a stellar cast that included Benedict Cumberbatch. This edition of the novel includes all four parts, originally published separately between 1924 and 1928.

Heralded by Graham Greene as "one of the finest novels of our century," Ford Madox Ford's 1915 modernist masterpiece of passion and deceit is now available in a revised and expanded Norton Critical Edition.

This tetralogy, widely regarded as one of the best novels in English, celebrates the end of an era, the irrevocable destruction of the comfortable, predictable society that vanished during World War I. "There are not many English novels which deserve to be called great: 'Parade's End' is one of them." -W. H. Auden.

First published in 1915, "The Good Soldier" is Ford Madox Ford's tragic tale of the relationship between two couples. The first couple is English, Captain Edward Ashburnham, the good soldier referenced in the title, and his wife Leonora. The two at first have a seemingly perfect marriage but over the course of the novel is revealed that a constant series of infidelities by Edward has driven Leonora to attempt to exert increasing control over Edward's affairs, placing great strain on their relationship. The second couple is American, John and Florence Dowell, who have been living abroad in Europe for quite some time. John, a wealthy American Quaker, is held romantically at a distance from his wife Florence, who feigns a heart condition so that she may carry on an affairs of her own. What ensues is a tragic series of events which is described by John as the "saddest story ever told". Often cited as one of the greatest novels ever written, "The Good Soldier" presents the epitome of the unreliable narrator in John Dowell, leaving the reader wondering whether or not he is an innocent victim or a master of manipulation seeking to evoke the sympathy of his audience. This edition is printed on premium acid-free paper.

A fascinating new stage adaptation from an award winning writer.