Ford Madox Ford (né Joseph Leopold Ford Hermann Madox Hueffer ( ); 17 December 1873 – 26 June 1939) was an English novelist, poet, critic and editor whose journals '' The English Review'' and '' The Transatlantic Review'' were instrumental 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 A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected and can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, and video games, and are less common in other art forms. Three-part wo ...

(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".

Early life

Ford was born in Wimbledon in London to

Catherine Madox Brown Catherine Madox Brown Hueffer (11 November 1850 – 1927), also known as Cathy, the first child of Ford Madox Brown and Emma Hill, was an artist and model associated with the Pre-Raphaelites and married to the writer Francis Hueffer. Early l ...

and Francis Hueffer, the eldest of three; his brother was Oliver Madox Hueffer and his sister was Juliet Hueffer, the wife of David Soskice and mother of Frank Soskice. Ford's father, who became music critic for ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ...

'', was German and his mother English. His paternal grandfather Johann Hermann Hüffer was first to publish

Westphalia Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the regi ...

n poet and author Annette von Droste-Hülshoff. He was named after his maternal grandfather, the

Pre-Raphaelite The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (later known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, Jame ...

painter

Ford Madox Brown Ford Madox Brown (16 April 1821 – 6 October 1893) was a British painter of moral and historical subjects, notable for his distinctively graphic and often William Hogarth, Hogarthian version of the Pre-Raphaelite style. Arguably, his mos ...

, whose biography he would eventually write. His mother's older half-sister was Lucy Madox Brown, the wife of William Michael Rossetti and mother of Olivia Rossetti Agresti. In 1889, after the death of their father, Ford and Oliver went to live with their grandfather in London. Ford attended the University College School in London, but never studied at university. In November 1892, at 18, he became a Catholic, "very much at the encouragement of some Hueffer relatives, but partly (he confessed) galled by the 'militant atheism and anarchism' of his English cousins."

Personal life

In 1894, Ford eloped with his school girlfriend Elsie Martindale. The couple were married in

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east of t ...

and moved to

Bonnington Bonnington is a dispersed village and civil parish on the northern edge of the Romney Marsh in Ashford District of Kent, England. The village is located to the south of the town of Ashford on the B2067 (Hamstreet to Hythe road). Bonnington ...

. In 1901, they moved to Winchelsea. They had two daughters, Christina (born 1897) and Katharine (born 1900). Ford's neighbours in Winchelsea included the authors

Joseph Conrad Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, ; 3 December 1857 – 3 August 1924) was a Polish-British novelist and short story writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in the English language; though he did not sp ...

Stephen Crane Stephen Crane (November 1, 1871 – June 5, 1900) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer. Prolific throughout his short life, he wrote notable works in the Realist tradition as well as early examples of American Naturalism an ...

, W.H. Hudson,

Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was th ...

in nearby Rye, and H.G. Wells. In 1904, Ford suffered an agoraphobic breakdown due to financial and marital problems. He went to Germany to spend time with family there and undergo treatments. In 1909, Ford left his wife and set up home with English writer Isobel Violet Hunt, with whom he published the literary magazine '' The English Review''. Ford's wife refused to divorce him and he attempted to become a German citizen to obtain a divorce in Germany. This was unsuccessful. A reference in an illustrated paper to Violet Hunt as "Mrs. Ford Madox Hueffer" gave rise to a successful libel action being brought by Mrs. Ford in 1913. Ford's relationship with Hunt did not survive the First World War. Ford used the name of Ford Madox Hueffer, but changed it to Ford Madox Ford after World War I in 1919, partly to fulfil the terms of a small legacy, partly "because a Teutonic name is in these days disagreeable", and possibly to avoid further lawsuits from Elsie in the event of his new companion, Stella, being referred to as "Mrs Hueffer". Between 1918 and 1927, he lived with Stella Bowen, an Australian artist 20 years his junior. In 1920, Ford and Bowen had a daughter, Julia Madox Ford. In the summer of 1927, ''The New York Times'' reported that Ford had converted a mill building in Avignon, France into a home and workshop that he called "Le Vieux Moulin". The article implied that Ford was reunited with his wife at this point. In the early 1930s, Ford established a relationship with Janice Biala, a Polish-born artist from New York, who illustrated several of Ford's later books. This relationship lasted until the late 1930s. Ford spent the last years of his life teaching at Olivet College in Olivet, Michigan. He was taken ill in Honfleur, France, in June 1939 and died shortly afterward in

Deauville Deauville () is a commune in the Calvados department, Normandy, northwestern France. Major attractions include its harbour, race course, marinas, conference centre, villas, Grand Casino, and sumptuous hotels. The first Deauville Asian Film F ...

at the age of 65.

Literary life

Ford Madox Ford 80 Campden Hill Road blue plaque

One of Ford's most famous works is the novel '' The Good Soldier'' (1915). Set just before World War I, ''The Good Soldier'' chronicles the tragic expatriate lives of two "perfect couples", one British and one American, using intricate flashbacks. In the "Dedicatory Letter to Stella Ford” that prefaces the novel, Ford reports that a friend pronounced ''The Good Soldier'' “the finest

French novel French literature () generally speaking, is literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of France other than Fr ...

in the English language!” Ford pronounced himself a "

Tory A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. The ...

mad about historic continuity" and believed the novelist's function was to serve as the historian of his own time. However, he was dismissive of the Conservative Party, referring to it as "the Stupid Party." Ford was involved in British war propaganda after the beginning of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. He worked for the War Propaganda Bureau, managed by

C. F. G. Masterman Charles Frederick Gurney Masterman PC (24 October 1873 – 17 November 1927) was a British radical Liberal Party politician, intellectual and man of letters. He worked closely with such Liberal leaders as David Lloyd George and Winston Churc ...

, along with Arnold Bennett,

G. K. Chesterton Gilbert Keith Chesterton (29 May 1874 – 14 June 1936) was an English writer, philosopher, Christian apologist, and literary and art critic. He has been referred to as the "prince of paradox". Of his writing style, ''Time'' observed: "Wh ...

John Galsworthy John Galsworthy (; 14 August 1867 – 31 January 1933) was an English novelist and playwright. Notable works include '' The Forsyte Saga'' (1906–1921) and its sequels, ''A Modern Comedy'' and ''End of the Chapter''. He won the Nobel Prize ...

, Hilaire Belloc and

Gilbert Murray George Gilbert Aimé Murray (2 January 1866 – 20 May 1957) was an Australian-born British classical scholar and public intellectual, with connections in many spheres. He was an outstanding scholar of the language and culture of Ancient Greec ...

. Ford wrote two propaganda books for Masterman; ''When Blood is Their Argument: An Analysis of Prussian Culture'' (1915), with the help of

Richard Aldington Richard Aldington (8 July 1892 – 27 July 1962), born Edward Godfree Aldington, was an English writer and poet, and an early associate of the Imagist movement. He was married to the poet Hilda Doolittle (H. D.) from 1911 to 1938. His 50-year w ...

, and ''Between St Dennis and St George: A Sketch of Three Civilizations'' (1915). After writing the two propaganda books, Ford enlisted at 41 years of age into the Welch Regiment of the British Army on 30 July 1915. He was sent to France. Ford's combat experiences and his previous propaganda activities inspired his tetralogy '' Parade's End'' (1924–1928), set in England and on the

Western Front Western Front or West Front may refer to: Military frontiers *Western Front (World War I), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (World War II), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (Russian Empire), a majo ...

before, during and after World War I. FifthQueen-cvr archive-org (PD)

Ford wrote dozens of novels as well as essays, poetry, memoirs and literary criticism. He collaborated with

on three novels, '' The Inheritors'' (1901), '' Romance'' (1903) and '' The Nature of a Crime'' (1924, although written much earlier). During the three to five years after this direct collaboration, Ford's best known achievement was '' The Fifth Queen'' trilogy (1906–1908), historical novels based on the life of

Catherine Howard Catherine Howard ( – 13 February 1542), also spelled Katheryn Howard, was Queen of England from 1540 until 1542 as the fifth wife of Henry VIII. She was the daughter of Lord Edmund Howard and Joyce Culpeper, a cousin to Anne Boleyn (the ...

, which Conrad termed, at the time, "the swan song of historical romance." Ford's poem ''Antwerp'' (1915) was praised by T.S. Eliot as "the only good poem I have met with on the subject of the war". Ford's novel ''

Ladies Whose Bright Eyes ''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 ...

'' (1911, extensively revised in 1935) is 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 ...

novel, like Twain's classic '' A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court'', only dramatising the difficulties, not the rewards, of such idealised situations. When the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlism, Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebeli ...

broke out, Ford took the side of the left Republican faction, declaring: "I am unhesitatingly for the existing Spanish Government and against Franco’s attempt—on every ground of feeling and reason...Mr Franco wishes to establish a government resting on the arms of Moors, Germans, Italians. Its success must be contrary to world conscience." His opinion of Mussolini and Hitler was likewise negative, and he offered to sign a manifesto against Nazism.

Promotion of literature

In 1908, Ford founded '' The English Review''. Ford published works by

Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry of William Wo ...

, H. G. Wells,

, May Sinclair,

and

William Butler Yeats William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...

; and debuted works of

Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an expatriate American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a fascist collaborator in Italy during World War II. His works includ ...

Wyndham Lewis Percy Wyndham Lewis (18 November 1882 – 7 March 1957) was a British writer, painter and critic. He was a co-founder of the Vorticist movement in art and edited '' BLAST,'' the literary magazine of the Vorticists. His novels include '' Tarr'' ...

D. H. Lawrence David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English writer, novelist, poet and essayist. His works reflect on modernity, industrialization, sexuality, emotional health, vitality, spontaneity and instinct. His best-k ...

and Norman Douglas. Ezra Pound and other Modernist poets in London in the teens particularly valued Ford's poetry as exemplifying treatment of modern subjects in contemporary diction. In 1924, he founded ''The Transatlantic Review'', a journal with great influence on modern literature. Staying with the artistic community in the Latin Quarter of

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

, Ford befriended

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the Modernism, modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important ...

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century fic ...

Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein (February 3, 1874 – July 27, 1946) was an American novelist, poet, playwright, and art collector. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the Allegheny West (Pittsburgh), Allegheny West neighborhood and raised in Oakland, Calif ...

and

Jean Rhys Jean Rhys, ( ; born Ella Gwendolyn Rees Williams; 24 August 1890 – 14 May 1979) was a British novelist who was born and grew up in the Caribbean island of Dominica. From the age of 16, she mainly resided in England, where she was sent for he ...

, all of whom he would publish (Ford was the model for the character Braddocks in Hemingway's ''

The Sun Also Rises ''The Sun Also Rises'' is a 1926 novel by American writer Ernest Hemingway, his first, that portrays American and British expatriates who travel from Paris to the Festival of San Fermín in Pamplona to watch the running of the bulls and the ...

''). Basil Bunting worked as Ford's assistant on the magazine. As a critic, Ford is known for remarking "Open the book to page ninety-nine and read, and the quality of the whole will be revealed to you." George Seldes, in his book ''

Witness to a Century In law, a witness is someone who has knowledge about a matter, whether they have sensed it or are testifying on another witnesses' behalf. In law a witness is someone who, either voluntarily or under compulsion, provides testimonial evidence, e ...

'', describes Ford ("probably in 1932") recalling his writing collaboration with Joseph Conrad, and the lack of acknowledgment by publishers of his status as co-author. Seldes recounts Ford's disappointment with Hemingway: "'and he disowns me now that he has become better known than I am.' Tears now came to Ford's eyes." Ford says, "I helped Joseph Conrad, I helped Hemingway. I helped a dozen, a score of writers, and many of them have beaten me. I'm now an old man and I'll die without making a name like Hemingway." Seldes observes, "At this climax Ford began to sob. Then he began to cry." Hemingway devoted a chapter of his Parisian memoir ''

A Moveable Feast ''A Moveable Feast'' is a 1964 memoir '' belles-lettres'' by American author Ernest Hemingway about his years as a struggling expat journalist and writer in Paris during the 1920s. It was published posthumously. The book details Hemingway's fi ...

'' to an encounter with Ford at a café in Paris during the early 1920s. He describes Ford "as upright as an ambulatory, well clothed, up-ended hogshead." During a later sojourn in the United States, Ford was involved with Allen Tate, Caroline Gordon, Katherine Anne Porter and

Robert Lowell Robert Traill Spence Lowell IV (; March 1, 1917 – September 12, 1977) was an American poet. He was born into a Boston Brahmin family that could trace its origins back to the '' Mayflower''. His family, past and present, were important subjects ...

(who was then a student). Ford was always a champion of new literature and literary experimentation. In 1929, he published ''The English Novel: From the Earliest Days to the Death of Joseph Conrad'', a brisk and accessible overview of the history of English novels. He had an affair with

, which ended acrimoniously, which Rhys fictionalised in her novel '' Quartet''.

Reception

Ford is best remembered for his novels '' The Good Soldier'' (1915), the '' Parade's End'' tetralogy (1924–1928) and '' The Fifth Queen''

TV series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed b ...

in 2012, starring

Benedict Cumberbatch Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch (born 19 July 1976) is an English actor. Known for his work on screen and stage, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Benedict Cumberbatch, various accolades, including a British Aca ...

and scripted by

Tom Stoppard Sir Tom Stoppard (born , 3 July 1937) is a Czech born British playwright and screenwriter. He has written for film, radio, stage, and television, finding prominence with plays. His work covers the themes of human rights, censorship, and politi ...

Anthony Burgess John Anthony Burgess Wilson, (; 25 February 1917 – 22 November 1993), who published under the name Anthony Burgess, was an English writer and composer. Although Burgess was primarily a comic writer, his dystopian satire '' A Clockwork ...

described Ford as the "greatest British novelist" of the 20th century.

Graham Greene Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...

was also a great admirer, and more recently

Julian Barnes Julian Patrick Barnes (born 19 January 1946) is an English writer. He won the Man Booker Prize in 2011 with '' The Sense of an Ending'', having been shortlisted three times previously with ''Flaubert's Parrot'', '' England, England'', and ''Ar ...

who has written essays about Ford and his work. Professor Max Saunders is the author of an authoritative biography of Ford, published in two volumes by Oxford University Press in 1996, as well as the editor for some of Ford's oeuvre reissued by the Carcanet Press.

Selected works

* ''The Shifting of the Fire'', as H Ford Hueffer, Unwin, 1892. * The Questions at the Well as Fenil Haig,1893 * ''The Brown Owl'', as H Ford Hueffer, Unwin, 1892. * ''The Queen Who Flew: A Fairy Tale'', Bliss Sands & Foster, 1894. * ''Ford Madox Brown : a record of his life and work'', as H Ford Hueffer, Longmans, Green, 1896. * ''The Cinque Ports'', Blackwood, 1900. * '' The Inheritors: An Extravagant Story'',

and Ford M. Hueffer, Heinemann, 1901. * ''Rossetti'', Duckworth, 902 * '' Romance'',

and Ford M. Hueffer, Smith Elder, 1903. * ''The Benefactor'', Langham, 1905. * ''The Soul of London. A Survey of the Modern City'',

Alston Rivers Alston Rivers Ltd. was a London publishing firm. The firm originally consisted of the Hon L.J. Bathurst and R.B. Byles and had brought out the novels of Whyte Melville and the Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan was a Victorian era, Vi ...

, 1905. * ''The Heart of the Country. A Survey of a Modern Land'', Alston Rivers, 1906. * ''The Fifth Queen'' (Part One of '' The Fifth Queen'' trilogy), Alston Rivers, 1906. * ''Privy Seal'' (Part Two of '' The Fifth Queen'' trilogy), Alston Rivers, 1907. * ''The Spirit of the People. An Analysis of the English Mind'', Alston Rivers, 1907. * ''An English Girl'', Methuen, 1907. * ''The Fifth Queen Crowned'' (Part Three of '' The Fifth Queen'' trilogy), Nash, 1908. * ''Mr Apollo'', Methuen, 1908. * ''The Half Moon'', Nash, 1909. * ''A Call'', Chatto, 1910. * ''The Portrait'', Methuen, 1910. * ''The Critical Attitude'', as Ford Madox Hueffer, Duckworth 1911. * ''The Simple Life Limited'', as Daniel Chaucer, Lane, 1911. * ''

'', Constable, 1911 (extensively revised in 1935). * ''The Panel'', Constable, 1912. * ''The New Humpty Dumpty'', as Daniel Chaucer, Lane, 1912. * ''Henry James'', Secker, 1913. * ''Mr Fleight'', Latimer, 1913. * ''The Young Lovell'', Chatto, 1913. * ''Antwerp'' (eight-page poem), The Poetry Bookshop, 1915. * ''Henry James, A Critical Study'' (1915). * ''Between St Dennis and St George'', Hodder, 1915. * '' The Good Soldier'', Lane, 1915. * ''Zeppelin Nights'', with Violet Hunt, Lane, 1915. * ''The Marsden Case'', Duckworth, 1923. * ''Women and Men'', Paris, 1923. * ''Mr Bosphorous'', Duckworth, 1923. * '' The Nature of a Crime'', with

, Duckworth, 1924. * ''Joseph Conrad, A Personal Remembrance'', Little, Brown and Company, 1924. * ''

Some Do Not . . . ''Some Do Not …'', the first volume of Ford Madox Ford's highly regardedWilliam Carlos Williams wrote that the four Tietjens books 'constitute the English prose masterpiece of their time': ‘’Sewanee Review’’, 59 (Jan.-Mar. 1951), 154 ...

'', (First in ''Parade's End'' tetralogy) Duckworth, 1924. * '' No More Parades'', Duckworth, 1925. * ''

A Man Could Stand Up -- A, or a, is the first Letter (alphabet), letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name ...

'', Duckworth, 1926. * '' A Mirror To France. Duckworth. 1926 * ''New York is Not America'', Duckworth, 1927. * ''New York Essays'', Rudge, 1927. * ''New Poems'', Rudge, 1927. * '' Last Post'', (Fourth in ''Parade's End'' tetralogy) Duckworth, 1928. * ''A Little Less Than Gods'', Duckworth, 928 * ''No Enemy'', Macaulay, 1929. * ''The English Novel: From the Earliest Days to the Death of Joseph Conrad'' (One Hour Series), Lippincott, 1929; Constable, 1930. * ''Return to Yesterday'', Liveright, 1932. * ''When the Wicked Man'', Cape, 1932. * ''The Rash Act'', Cape, 1933. * ''It Was the Nightingale'', Lippincott, 1933. * ''Henry for Hugh'', Lippincott, 1934. * ''Provence'', Unwin, 1935. * ''Ladies Whose Bright Eyes'' (revised version), 1935 * ''Portraits from Life: Memories and Criticism of Henry James, Joseph Conrad, Thomas Hardy, H.G. Wells, Stephen Crane, D.H. Lawrence, John Galsworthy, Ivan Turgenev, W.H. Hudson, Theodore Dreiser, A.C. Swinburne'', Houghton Mifflin Company Boston, 1937. * ''Great Trade Route'', OUP, 1937. * ''Vive Le Roy'', Unwin, 1937. * ''The March of Literature'', Dial, 1938. * ''Selected Poems'', Randall, 1971. * ''Your Mirror to My Times'', Holt, 1971. * ''A History of Our Own Times'', Indiana University Press, 1988.

References

External links

* * * * *
Ford Madox Ford Society
*
Literary Encyclopedia entry on Ford

* ttps://archives-manuscripts.dartmouth.edu/repositories/2/resources/1541 The Papers of Ford Madox Fordat Dartmouth College Library {{DEFAULTSORT:Ford, Ford Madox 1873 births 1939 deaths English agnostics English male poets English literary critics Imagists Modernist writers People educated at University College School Victorian writers 19th-century British writers 20th-century English novelists Olivet College faculty People from Wimbledon, London Writers from London English people of German descent English male novelists English historical novelists Writers of historical fiction set in the early modern period People from Winchelsea Lost Generation writers