''Ladies Whose Bright Eyes'' is a novel by Ford Madox Ford. It was written in 1911 and extensively revised in 1935. The first edition was published as by "Ford Madox Hueffer", the form of his name he used at that time. The revised edition was published as by "Ford Madox Ford", the name he adopted after World War I. Although it has a

time travel Time travel is the concept of movement between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space by an object or a person, typically with the use of a hypothetical device known as a time machine. Time travel is a w ...

theme of a sort, is usually classed as mainstream literature rather than science fiction. As its author explicitly stated, " (...)The idea of this book was suggested to me by

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...

's '' A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court''. It occurred to me to wonder what would really happen to a modern man thrown back to the Middle Ages...".

Plot summary

Unlike Twain's Hank Morgan and some successors, Ford's Mr. Sorrell makes only a very half-hearted attempt to build modern weaponry and machinery in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

. His initial dream of constructing "guns and gas bombs" and making himself "mightier than kings" soon comes to naught. Though he had been a mining engineer in the twentieth century, he has no idea how to go about constructing such devices under fourteenth-century conditions, or even where there are

tin Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn (from la, stannum) and atomic number 50. Tin is a silvery-coloured metal. Tin is soft enough to be cut with little force and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, t ...

deposits. Having later in his career become a publisher does not give him any idea of how to invent

printing Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The ea ...

from scratch and anticipate Gutenberg. He does not know how to make a gun, or in fact anything that would make him useful in the

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

castle community into which he has fallen. Instead, Mr. Sorrell finds that a golden

cross A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two intersecting lines or bars, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of the Latin letter X, is termed a sa ...

which he carries causes him to be mistaken for a Greek miracle-worker – which has many advantages in medieval society, including enjoying the unlimited hospitality of a castle and having beautiful ladies vying with each other for his love. He also inspires the ladies to take up arms and hold a

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

in competition with their knightly husbands – and being a fair horseman, makes a credible effort at becoming a

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

himself. It is the reverse of '' A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court'', but the details of daily life are rendered more feelingly, including the quite earthy and mercenary motivations of many of the medieval characters (for example, the small-minded power struggles taking place in a

nunnery A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican C ...

, under a very thin veneer of piety). Cathedrals, so stately and calm to us, turn out to have been crowded, garish, noisy, and commercial. Just as he begins to really enjoy himself as a thoroughly medieval man, Mr. Sorrell is rather frustratingly thrust back to the 20th Century – a modern man wiser for having been instructed by the people (especially the women) of the past, and having "learned the wisdom of history".

References

* *Richard A. Cassell, "The Two Sorrells of Ford Madox Ford", in "Modern Philology", Vol. 59, No. 2 (Nov., 1961), pp. 114–12

{{Ford Madox Ford 1911 British novels 1911 science fiction novels British science fiction novels Novels about time travel Novels set in the Middle Ages Novels by Ford Madox Ford Constable & Co. books

Plot summary

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References