No Cover Image

Journal article 1202 views 255 downloads

Anglo-German Dilemmas in The Good Soldier, or: Europe on the Brink in 1913

Julian Preece Orcid Logo

International Ford Madox Ford Studies, Volume: 14, Issue: 1, Pages: 223 - 240

Swansea University Author: Julian Preece Orcid Logo

Abstract

The Good Soldier, which was written either side of the outbreak of World War One in August 1914, becomes a political novel through its portrayal of the diminishing understanding between individuals and their affiliated identities, especially those provided by nation and religion. The narrator John D...

Full description

Published in: International Ford Madox Ford Studies
Published: 2015
URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa23512
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
first_indexed 2017-05-25T19:18:37Z
last_indexed 2018-02-09T05:02:23Z
id cronfa23512
recordtype SURis
fullrecord <?xml version="1.0"?><rfc1807><datestamp>2017-09-12T09:06:00.0294308</datestamp><bib-version>v2</bib-version><id>23512</id><entry>2015-09-29</entry><title>Anglo-German Dilemmas in The Good Soldier, or: Europe on the Brink in 1913</title><swanseaauthors><author><sid>6cf10f340b4335c30856d022675b34b2</sid><ORCID>0000-0002-8887-740X</ORCID><firstname>Julian</firstname><surname>Preece</surname><name>Julian Preece</name><active>true</active><ethesisStudent>false</ethesisStudent></author></swanseaauthors><date>2015-09-29</date><deptcode>AMOD</deptcode><abstract>The Good Soldier, which was written either side of the outbreak of World War One in August 1914, becomes a political novel through its portrayal of the diminishing understanding between individuals and their affiliated identities, especially those provided by nation and religion. The narrator John Dowell sees the world in terms of binary oppositions, such as those between British and Irish, Catholic and Protestant, while collapsing a number of these in his own person through his self-advertised Anglo-American and, though he keeps it much quieter, German-American heritage. The novel contains too elements of Ford&#x2019;s critique of Wilhelmine Germany, expressed in contemporaneous literary journalism and books such as The Undesirable Alien (1913) and If Blood is their Argument (1915), in which he blamed Prussia for usurping the gentle spirit of the southern German Catholics. While Nancy Rufford is read as a new version of Goethe&#x2019;s Mignon, the degenerate colonial aristocrat Edward Ashburnham is the villain who can no longer assume society exists for his benefit and it soon crumbles on top of him. At the end of the novel the Irish Leonora has broken free, while Dowell and Rufford sit in the shell of Ashburnham&#x2019;s country seat, multiple ciphers for the end of British and German imperial culture.</abstract><type>Journal Article</type><journal>International Ford Madox Ford Studies</journal><volume>14</volume><journalNumber>1</journalNumber><paginationStart>223</paginationStart><paginationEnd>240</paginationEnd><publisher/><keywords/><publishedDay>1</publishedDay><publishedMonth>8</publishedMonth><publishedYear>2015</publishedYear><publishedDate>2015-08-01</publishedDate><doi/><url/><notes></notes><college>COLLEGE NANME</college><department>Modern Languages</department><CollegeCode>COLLEGE CODE</CollegeCode><DepartmentCode>AMOD</DepartmentCode><institution>Swansea University</institution><apcterm/><lastEdited>2017-09-12T09:06:00.0294308</lastEdited><Created>2015-09-29T17:34:38.7375233</Created><path><level id="1">Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences</level><level id="2">School of Culture and Communication - Modern Languages, Translation, and Interpreting</level></path><authors><author><firstname>Julian</firstname><surname>Preece</surname><orcid>0000-0002-8887-740X</orcid><order>1</order></author></authors><documents><document><filename>0023512-07082017130040.pdf</filename><originalFilename>goodsoldierpaper.pdf</originalFilename><uploaded>2017-08-07T13:00:40.8000000</uploaded><type>Output</type><contentLength>351837</contentLength><contentType>application/pdf</contentType><version>Accepted Manuscript</version><cronfaStatus>true</cronfaStatus><embargoDate>2017-08-07T00:00:00.0000000</embargoDate><copyrightCorrect>true</copyrightCorrect><language>eng</language></document></documents><OutputDurs/></rfc1807>
spelling 2017-09-12T09:06:00.0294308 v2 23512 2015-09-29 Anglo-German Dilemmas in The Good Soldier, or: Europe on the Brink in 1913 6cf10f340b4335c30856d022675b34b2 0000-0002-8887-740X Julian Preece Julian Preece true false 2015-09-29 AMOD The Good Soldier, which was written either side of the outbreak of World War One in August 1914, becomes a political novel through its portrayal of the diminishing understanding between individuals and their affiliated identities, especially those provided by nation and religion. The narrator John Dowell sees the world in terms of binary oppositions, such as those between British and Irish, Catholic and Protestant, while collapsing a number of these in his own person through his self-advertised Anglo-American and, though he keeps it much quieter, German-American heritage. The novel contains too elements of Ford’s critique of Wilhelmine Germany, expressed in contemporaneous literary journalism and books such as The Undesirable Alien (1913) and If Blood is their Argument (1915), in which he blamed Prussia for usurping the gentle spirit of the southern German Catholics. While Nancy Rufford is read as a new version of Goethe’s Mignon, the degenerate colonial aristocrat Edward Ashburnham is the villain who can no longer assume society exists for his benefit and it soon crumbles on top of him. At the end of the novel the Irish Leonora has broken free, while Dowell and Rufford sit in the shell of Ashburnham’s country seat, multiple ciphers for the end of British and German imperial culture. Journal Article International Ford Madox Ford Studies 14 1 223 240 1 8 2015 2015-08-01 COLLEGE NANME Modern Languages COLLEGE CODE AMOD Swansea University 2017-09-12T09:06:00.0294308 2015-09-29T17:34:38.7375233 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Culture and Communication - Modern Languages, Translation, and Interpreting Julian Preece 0000-0002-8887-740X 1 0023512-07082017130040.pdf goodsoldierpaper.pdf 2017-08-07T13:00:40.8000000 Output 351837 application/pdf Accepted Manuscript true 2017-08-07T00:00:00.0000000 true eng
title Anglo-German Dilemmas in The Good Soldier, or: Europe on the Brink in 1913
spellingShingle Anglo-German Dilemmas in The Good Soldier, or: Europe on the Brink in 1913
Julian Preece
title_short Anglo-German Dilemmas in The Good Soldier, or: Europe on the Brink in 1913
title_full Anglo-German Dilemmas in The Good Soldier, or: Europe on the Brink in 1913
title_fullStr Anglo-German Dilemmas in The Good Soldier, or: Europe on the Brink in 1913
title_full_unstemmed Anglo-German Dilemmas in The Good Soldier, or: Europe on the Brink in 1913
title_sort Anglo-German Dilemmas in The Good Soldier, or: Europe on the Brink in 1913
author_id_str_mv 6cf10f340b4335c30856d022675b34b2
author_id_fullname_str_mv 6cf10f340b4335c30856d022675b34b2_***_Julian Preece
author Julian Preece
author2 Julian Preece
format Journal article
container_title International Ford Madox Ford Studies
container_volume 14
container_issue 1
container_start_page 223
publishDate 2015
institution Swansea University
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Culture and Communication - Modern Languages, Translation, and Interpreting{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Culture and Communication - Modern Languages, Translation, and Interpreting
document_store_str 1
active_str 0
description The Good Soldier, which was written either side of the outbreak of World War One in August 1914, becomes a political novel through its portrayal of the diminishing understanding between individuals and their affiliated identities, especially those provided by nation and religion. The narrator John Dowell sees the world in terms of binary oppositions, such as those between British and Irish, Catholic and Protestant, while collapsing a number of these in his own person through his self-advertised Anglo-American and, though he keeps it much quieter, German-American heritage. The novel contains too elements of Ford’s critique of Wilhelmine Germany, expressed in contemporaneous literary journalism and books such as The Undesirable Alien (1913) and If Blood is their Argument (1915), in which he blamed Prussia for usurping the gentle spirit of the southern German Catholics. While Nancy Rufford is read as a new version of Goethe’s Mignon, the degenerate colonial aristocrat Edward Ashburnham is the villain who can no longer assume society exists for his benefit and it soon crumbles on top of him. At the end of the novel the Irish Leonora has broken free, while Dowell and Rufford sit in the shell of Ashburnham’s country seat, multiple ciphers for the end of British and German imperial culture.
published_date 2015-08-01T03:27:44Z
_version_ 1763751036549332992
score 11.037056