Orlion reviewed A Man Could Stand Up by Ford Madox Ford
Review of 'A Man Could Stand Up' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
All right, one more to go! This series of four books, known collectively as Parade's End, is easily the comprehensive declaration of post-World War I modernism. Through its techniques and story we see the soul of a movement that had roots in previous literary movements but was forced to move on and change as the landscape of the world changed. Even then, the initial modernist writers would not give up their roots entirely, even though they knew these traditions would die with them.
Some critics, like Grahme Green iirc, believed that Parade's End was originally meant to end with A Man Could Stand Up. They make the claim that Mr. Ford was forced to write the fourth book, The Last Post, and that he always regretted it. As a result, to these critics, I've all ready finished Parade's End. And in a sense, I can see that. Christopher Tietjens has …
All right, one more to go! This series of four books, known collectively as Parade's End, is easily the comprehensive declaration of post-World War I modernism. Through its techniques and story we see the soul of a movement that had roots in previous literary movements but was forced to move on and change as the landscape of the world changed. Even then, the initial modernist writers would not give up their roots entirely, even though they knew these traditions would die with them.
Some critics, like Grahme Green iirc, believed that Parade's End was originally meant to end with A Man Could Stand Up. They make the claim that Mr. Ford was forced to write the fourth book, The Last Post, and that he always regretted it. As a result, to these critics, I've all ready finished Parade's End. And in a sense, I can see that. Christopher Tietjens has gone through a character change, from the pure eighteenth century Tory of parades to a Man who could stand up in the new post-war world. A way of being has passed away, and Tietjens will never be able to return completely to them, but he has found a new society, one that may lack the glory and nobility of his Victorian upbringing, but that nontheless contains what he desires most.
I'll try to come up with a more coherent review of the entire tetrology when I finish the Last Post.