tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26428110.post7012585962593742435..comments2023-07-08T09:00:54.916-07:00Comments on A Common Reader: The Last Post discussionDwighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13688525659034403580noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26428110.post-42632955014644278492010-05-19T08:08:38.158-07:002010-05-19T08:08:38.158-07:00My summary post will be my last word on Parade'...My summary post will be my last word on Parade's End for now. I would love to revisit the book when the annotated version is released.<br /><br />Ford is willing to scrutinize his beliefs and criticize them, both on the societal/cultural plane as well as political. I haven't really addressed the political part of this equation, even though I think it's necessary to fully understand the books. Unfortunately it's not an area I feel comfortable commenting on (which is why I'm looking forward to a refresher course on British politics in an annotated version).<br /><br />His conclusion is oddly ambivalent and partially unsatisfying. The pastoral vision cannot be sustained and I think he knows it. The cultural virtues he longs for will be nice, but I don't think he believes they are enough by themselves. There is hope, personified in Valentine and the baby, but is a nation full of George Herberts really what he wants to see? <br /><br />Despite all the ambivalence, it's a powerful novel I'm so glad I read.Dwighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13688525659034403580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26428110.post-54732439706366074222010-05-19T07:01:07.454-07:002010-05-19T07:01:07.454-07:00Dwight,
I'll be looking forward to your next ...Dwight,<br /><br />I'll be looking forward to your next post on _The Last Post_.<br /><br />I think Ford recognizes the basic problem with change--does the good brought about by change outweigh the bad that will also be brought about by change. Will the advantages outweigh what is being lost by the change?Fredhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10233846613173866140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26428110.post-72844175451820468202010-05-18T13:51:25.213-07:002010-05-18T13:51:25.213-07:00Fred, you've hit on the problem I'm trying...Fred, you've hit on the problem I'm trying to put into words for my last post on Parade's End. Ford is decidedly critical of the old values and he recognizes that history only moves in one direction. Yet there is a longing for some of the virtues that Tietjens embodies. <br /><br />His resolution at the end of this book seems both dark and at times contradictory, which I'll try to flesh out in the next post. Ford is a slippery writer, changing direction (adroitly) often.Dwighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13688525659034403580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26428110.post-48550509703954759502010-05-18T13:36:27.195-07:002010-05-18T13:36:27.195-07:00I also could never understand how some saw Tietjen...I also could never understand how some saw Tietjens as rejecting the old values and embracing the new. It seems to be quite the opposite to me. He recognizes the change but never embraces it. <br /><br />The death of the old ways is a common theme in many of Ford's novels, from _The Good Soldier_ when an American supplants the Englishman to _The Rash Act_ in which an American actually is mistaken for a wealthy Englishman and takes over his life, to _The Inheritors_, a collaboration with Joseph Conrad in which aliens from another dimension come to England and begin taking over various positions of power.Fredhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10233846613173866140noreply@blogger.com