Synopses & Reviews
The second volume of Ford Madox Fords Parades End series, this fully annotated edition follows Christopher Tietjens, an officer and gentlemen, from the secure, orderly world of Edwardian England into the chaotic madness of World War I. Recounting a complex sexual intrigue involving Tietjens and his faithless wife Sylvia, this account is not only a panorama of WWI, but an exploration of time, history, and sexuality. The text also provides key contextssuch as Fords biography, the historical moment, the novels reception at the time of its original publication, and its relation to the authors other novelsgiving readers a close-up view of this major literary technician at work. Transcripts of significant deletions and revisions to the work as well as a glossary of pertinent terms are also included.
Synopsis
'No more Hope, no more Glory, no more parades for you and me any more. Nor for the country . . . Nor for the world, I dare say . . .', says Christopher Tietjens to a war-damaged fellow officer, under fire on the Western Front. No More Parades continues Parade's End from Tietjens' return to the Front in 1917. Ford's searing account of the war is unforgettable: supplies are inadequate, orders confused; men die among the 'endless muddles; endless follies'. Death replaces love; Tietjens' betrayal by his wife Sylvia mirrors the violence and dishonour of the war.
No More Parades includes:
-- the first reliable text, based on the hand-corrected typescript and first editions
-- a major critical introduction by Joseph Wiesenfarth, Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and author of Ford Madox Ford andthe Regiment of Women
-- an account of the novel's composition and reception
-- annotations and a glossary explaining historical references, military terms, literary and topical allusions
-- a full textual apparatus including transcriptions of significant deletions and revisions
-- a bibliography of further reading
Cover painting: John Nash, Oppy Wood, 1917. Evening. 1918. By permission of the Imperial War Museum. Cover design by StephenRaw.com.
About the Author
Ford Madox Ford was an influential editor, essayist, critic, poet, and novelist. The author of more than 80 books, including The Fifth Queen, The Good Soldier, It Was the Nightingale, and Provence, he not only collaborated with Joseph Conrad, but also befriended many of the best writers of his time: Henry James, H. G. Wells, Stephen Crane, and Thomas Hardy. Ford also founded the English Reviewdiscovering D. H. Lawrence, Wyndham Lewis, and Ezra Poundand the transatlantic review in Paristaking on Ernest Hemingway as a subeditor and publishing the works of James Joyce and Gertrude Stein. Joseph Wiesenfarth is professor emeritus of English at the University of WisconsinMadison. He is the author of Ford Madox Ford and the Regiment of Women: Violet Hunt, Jean Rhys, Stella Bowen, and Janice Biala and Gothic Manners and the Classic English Novel and the editor of History and Representation in Ford Madox Fords Writings. He lives in Madison, Wisconsin.