Ford Madox Ford

Max Saunders probably knows more about his subject than anyone . . . A model for what a short biography can be: well-paced, sure-footed at the task of navigating the writer’s vast corpus to concentrate on high points. -- William H. Pritchard * Wall Street Journal *
The good news here is that there is only good news. To his authoritative two-volume biography of Ford Madox Ford (1996) – Max Saunders has now added a brief and timely "critical life". This crisp book, both scholarly and accessible, is perfect for students and jaded ephebes alike . . . The book adds newly discovered archival material (notably the loving, happy letters between Ford and Janice Biala, his shrewd and cheerful final partner) and focuses with renewed emphasis on Ford as a critic . . . Saunders [is] a reliable guide to Ford’s diligent, conscious craft – and to his remarkable life. -- Min Wild * Times Literary Supplement *
An expert biography . . . Saunders captures both the boldness and anxiety that fueled the life and work of a literary giant. Biography is as much an art as poetry or fiction; of course one must use facts or particulars as a starting point. But the subtlety of description, analysis, and interpretation infuse the material with values – ethereal and metaphysical – that rise above the prosaic . . . The volume contains numerous photos, stretching from the 1890s to the year of Ford’s death, just months before the beginning of yet another world war. Saunders writes cogently and clearly, never losing the flavor of the man, his work, or the times in which he lived. -- Thomas Filbin * The Arts Fuse *
As Saunders deftly illustrates in this assured study, Ford was constantly evolving. * Booklist *
The analysis is sharp . . . [and] testifies to the talents of a literary master of the modernist era. * Publishers Weekly *
We need this subtle, astute, witty and insightful biography of one of the major writers of the twentieth century. Max Saunders is passionate about Ford’s writing and guides us through his novels with masterful panache. Ford emerges as a man deeply enmeshed in the artistic currents of his times but always divided against himself, living perilously across epochs as he turned impressions into truths. * Lara Feigel, Professor of Modern Literature and Culture, King’s College London *
Max Saunders firmly places the sometimes elusive Ford Madox Ford at the epicentre of British modernism. In so doing, he has not only written a scintillating and intimate life of a key literary figure and his work but given us a panorama of the greats that peopled his epoch. This is the best kind of biography: astute, erudite and eminently readable. * Lisa Appignanesi OBE, writer and novelist *
Max Saunders is the doyen of Ford scholars, and this new biography serves to enhance that reputation. It not only untangles the intellectual complexities behind the work of a major British Modernist, but adds a layer of cutting-edge research. The recent discovery of a cache of letters between Ford and his last partner, the painter Janice Biala, provides new evidence to analyse his “politics”. What emerges is an image of a thoroughly modern, apolitical feminist and 'Green', self-reflexive in his thinking, a postmodern writer long before postmodernism became fashionable. * Martin Stannard, Emeritus Professor of Modern English Literature, University of Leicester, and author of the two-volume Evelyn Waugh (1986, 1992) and Muriel Spark: The Biography (2009) *