What do you think?
Rate this book
War Prose
As one of the major writers about World War I, Ford Madox Ford produced a number of widely read stories, novels, and essays about the war. His four-volume Parade's End has been called "the greatest modern war novel from a British writer" (Malcolm Bradbury). This collection of his other published and unpublished writings illuminates the tetralogy. It includes reminiscences, an unfinished novel, stories, and prefaces.
276 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1999
1 person is currently reading
17 people want to read
About the author
Ford Madox Ford
512 books385 followersFord Madox Ford was an English novelist, poet, critic and editor whose journals The English Review and The Transatlantic Review were important in the development of early 20th-century English and American literature.
Ford is now remembered for his novels The Good Soldier (1915), the Parade's End tetralogy (1924–1928) and The Fifth Queen trilogy (1906–1908). The Good Soldier is frequently included among the great literature of the 20th century, including the Modern Library 100 Best Novels, The Observer′s "100 Greatest Novels of All Time", and The Guardian′s "1000 novels everyone must read".
Ford is now remembered for his novels The Good Soldier (1915), the Parade's End tetralogy (1924–1928) and The Fifth Queen trilogy (1906–1908). The Good Soldier is frequently included among the great literature of the 20th century, including the Modern Library 100 Best Novels, The Observer′s "100 Greatest Novels of All Time", and The Guardian′s "1000 novels everyone must read".
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 30, 2020
Editor Max Saunders has assembled a varied collection of items from the World War I writings of British author Ford Maddox Ford. Ford's four novels collectively titled Parade's End forms a highly acclaimed contribution to WWI literature. Here, Saunders offers examples of Ford's journalism, short stories, prefaces, and other writings. The focus is on the experience of the men who served in that conflict and the resultant burden they would bear long after the guns fell silent.
Ford lied about his age, enlisting in the British Army at age 42, but claiming to be 33. He was commissioned and served as a staff officer at the front. His experiences included the battles of the Somme and the Ypres Salient. Saunders' introduction provides a detailed picture of Ford's service and his literary career.
Ford suffered both physical and mental injury, the later from the condition then known as shell shock. Many of his characters display the lingering difficulties of this condition. In the short story "True Love & a GCM," the description of the character's introspection and struggle for recall makes mesmerizing reading.
Ford's commentaries on war literature are rich. He hold's Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage in high esteem. After reading the book, again, in the middle of the night at the front lines, Ford goes out of his tent to check on a work detail in his charge. He writes, "The stillness was absolute. But what worried me was the men bending over the red brands of some small wood fires. They were dressed in greenish dust color; it seemed to me they should have been in blue. And it gave my mind an extraordinary wrench to come back to the realisation that I was where and when I was, instead of being up0n the Potomac half a century ago, so great was the illusion set up by this marvelous book." He references this experience in several other writings. Later he writes, "if the public service of literature be to provide vicarious experience, The Red Badge of Courage does this to the fullest."
In an excerpt from an unpublished novel he touches again upon the craft of writing. "One day you will write a War novel...Every writer now living will one day write a war novel...In that day little fragments of these prolix details will remain in your mind and, out of them, you will mould your whole effect--of immense columns moving off in the rain, with little figures crouching over candles doing their accounts...That is what writing is!" For me, such focus on detail brought to mind Karl Marlantes' outstanding Vietnam novel, Matterhorn, which I read recently and reviewed here.
War Prose is highly recommended to readers--and writers--across a wide scope of literary interests. The insights Ford provides to the reality of WWI combat and the role of writing is a
rare and pleasant combination.
Ford lied about his age, enlisting in the British Army at age 42, but claiming to be 33. He was commissioned and served as a staff officer at the front. His experiences included the battles of the Somme and the Ypres Salient. Saunders' introduction provides a detailed picture of Ford's service and his literary career.
Ford suffered both physical and mental injury, the later from the condition then known as shell shock. Many of his characters display the lingering difficulties of this condition. In the short story "True Love & a GCM," the description of the character's introspection and struggle for recall makes mesmerizing reading.
Ford's commentaries on war literature are rich. He hold's Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage in high esteem. After reading the book, again, in the middle of the night at the front lines, Ford goes out of his tent to check on a work detail in his charge. He writes, "The stillness was absolute. But what worried me was the men bending over the red brands of some small wood fires. They were dressed in greenish dust color; it seemed to me they should have been in blue. And it gave my mind an extraordinary wrench to come back to the realisation that I was where and when I was, instead of being up0n the Potomac half a century ago, so great was the illusion set up by this marvelous book." He references this experience in several other writings. Later he writes, "if the public service of literature be to provide vicarious experience, The Red Badge of Courage does this to the fullest."
In an excerpt from an unpublished novel he touches again upon the craft of writing. "One day you will write a War novel...Every writer now living will one day write a war novel...In that day little fragments of these prolix details will remain in your mind and, out of them, you will mould your whole effect--of immense columns moving off in the rain, with little figures crouching over candles doing their accounts...That is what writing is!" For me, such focus on detail brought to mind Karl Marlantes' outstanding Vietnam novel, Matterhorn, which I read recently and reviewed here.
War Prose is highly recommended to readers--and writers--across a wide scope of literary interests. The insights Ford provides to the reality of WWI combat and the role of writing is a
rare and pleasant combination.
December 3, 2024
really thought provoking anthology of ford madox ford's war prose. i can definitely (hopefully) find lots here to write about in my essay - going to see alex in half an hour to go over my ideas. the way that ford reimagines his war experiences time and time again, attempting to reconcile the loss of memory with the vivid fragments of colourful existence that he does remember, is thrilling. finding a reoccuring story across different novels or short stories is so exciting (eg faith, faith / another bloomin' casualty / the view from the hill). need to actually consolidate all these disparate ideas an somehow make them into an argument that sits in an essay with atonement but ... this is a lot of good stuff.
also, still not over the fact that max saunders, pretty much the world expert on ford madox ford, was briefly my personal tutor.
also, still not over the fact that max saunders, pretty much the world expert on ford madox ford, was briefly my personal tutor.
June 18, 2020
This was a curious collection of odds and sods: an unfinished novel some of whose material would be reworked into "Parade's End", some distinctly ropey short stories, a few propaganda articles, letters, and prefaces to his own and others' novels.
The unfinished novel was very promising and I wish he'd finished it. The rest struck me as a publisher's desperate attempt to make a few quid out of a suddenly "rediscovered" old author. I loved "Parade's End" and "The Good Soldier", but I'm not sure Ford was such a great writer that every dot and comma he ever wrote needs to see the light of day. This collection was a disappointment.
The unfinished novel was very promising and I wish he'd finished it. The rest struck me as a publisher's desperate attempt to make a few quid out of a suddenly "rediscovered" old author. I loved "Parade's End" and "The Good Soldier", but I'm not sure Ford was such a great writer that every dot and comma he ever wrote needs to see the light of day. This collection was a disappointment.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews