Ford Madox Ford

Rating:
Summary: a literary giant
Review: Ford Madox Ford (born Ford Hermann Hueffer) had the good fortune to have as his biographer the English novelist Alan Judd. The tetralogy "Parades End" which marks the end of the gentleman officer class and Edwardian England had its origins in Ford's experiences after his arrival at the Battle of the Somme (1916) with the 9th Welch regiment. Ford's commanding officer,Colonel Cooke, disliked Ford's age (too old), his special reserve officer status, and his literary reputation. Colonel Cooke wrote to brigade headquarters that Ford was "quite unsuitable to perform the duties required of an officer in this campaign" Ford was soon hospitalized with lung problems and sent home to England for medical treatment. He failed in his attempt to return to duty in France and was assigned light duties as a captain in the 23rd King's Liverpool Regiment. He was discharged in 1919 under category 19-"authors,gipsies, travelling showmen, unemployables">(page 308).Judd's sympathetic biography brings to life a writer described by Richard Locke in the Wall Street Journal as a "perennially neglected and rediscovered literary" giant.Locke said that Ford "ended up out of fashion and out of cash". He was the writer in residence at Olivet College, Michigan.Ford will be remembered as a major novelist who generously helped many British and American writers.In 1939 Ford and his long time American companion Janice Biala traveled to France where he died.

Rating:
Summary: a literary giant
Review: Ford Madox Ford (born Ford Hermann Hueffer) had the good fortune to have as his biographer the English novelist Alan Judd. The tetralogy "Parades End" which marks the end of the gentleman officer class and Edwardian England had its origins in Ford's experiences after his arrival at the Battle of the Somme (1916) with the 9th Welch regiment. Ford's commanding officer,Colonel Cooke, disliked Ford's age (too old), his special reserve officer status, and his literary reputation. Colonel Cooke wrote to brigade headquarters that Ford was "quite unsuitable to perform the duties required of an officer in this campaign" Ford was soon hospitalized with lung problems and sent home to England for medical treatment. He failed in his attempt to return to duty in France and was assigned light duties as a captain in the 23rd King's Liverpool Regiment. He was discharged in 1919 under category 19-"authors,gipsies, travelling showmen, unemployables">(page 308).Judd's sympathetic biography brings to life a writer described by Richard Locke in the Wall Street Journal as a "perennially neglected and rediscovered literary" giant.Locke said that Ford "ended up out of fashion and out of cash". He was the writer in residence at Olivet College, Michigan.Ford will be remembered as a major novelist who generously helped many British and American writers.In 1939 Ford and his long time American companion Janice Biala traveled to France where he died.