- This event has passed.
Explorations Read-Aloud: “The Good Soldier: A Tale of Passion” by Ford Maddox Ford
Friday, July 10 @ 11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Every Friday, at 11:00 am, on the library’s YouTube Channel and Facebook Page, the library will stream a brand new recording of local thespian, Joseph Coté reading aloud selections from a wide variety of fascinating and entertaining books of fiction and non-fiction.
For July 10, Coté will read aloud from Ford Maddox Ford’s The Good Soldier: A Tale of Passion.
The Good Soldier: A Tale of Passion is set just before World War I, and chronicles the tragedy of Edward Ashburnham and his seemingly perfect marriage, along with that of his two American friends.
The novel is told using a series of flashbacks in non-chronological order, a literary technique that formed part of Ford’s pioneering view of literary impressionism.
Ford employs the device of the unreliable narrator to great effect, as the main character gradually reveals a version of events that is quite different from what the introduction leads the reader to believe. The novel was loosely based on two incidents of adultery and on Ford’s messy personal life, specifically the agonies Ford went through with his wife and his mistress in the six preceding years.
In 1998, the Modern Library ranked The Good Soldier 30th on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. In 2015, the BBC ranked The Good Soldier 13th on its list of the 100 greatest British novels.
It has been called “the greatest French novel in English.”
Click the links to find the library’s YouTube Channel and Facebook Page.
Thoughts to share? Book ideas to suggest?
Contact Joseph at friday-explorations@usa.net