book appeared under that title.” (Ford, 5). Following the widespread destruction of the Great War, there was a widespread crisis of belief or sense of disenfranchisement after many saw technology used for widespread destruction.
Disenfranchisement seems like an apt term: loss of control is something that can also be seen in The Good Soldier (1915). The narrator Dowell seems unable to admit, or see what has transpired: let alone do anything to stop it. Edward Ashburnham is described in terms according his social status initially, though behaviors suggest other character traits. The opening lines “This is the saddest story I have ever heard” (13) may seem clichéd at this stage, though certainly the events depicted are tragic. Dowell is an unreliable narrator, giving a non-chronological account of the events: creating an impression and then slowly revealing details that seem to contradict this impression and undermining himself; describing the events surrounding the breakdown of the relationships of both couples but often omitting detail or forgetting to mention important events e.g. Ashburnhams suicide which is left until the end; and doesn’t have great attention given to it “I wanted to say, “God bless you”, for I am a sentimentalist. But I thought that perhaps that would not be quite English good form, so I trotted off with the telegram to Leonora. She was quite pleased with it.” (Ford, 199). Limited knowledge, and representation of multiple viewpoints can be seen in The Good Soldier, as well as the absence of viewpoints such as of Dowells wife Florence: who interestingly never really communicates with him throughout the narrative. Their relationship doesn’t receive direct treatment, and seems to be loveless- and possibly something to do with her fortune: though Dowell denies this implicitly. All we have left from the tale is doubt at the veracity of the tale spun by Dowell; this is exactly the effect that inconsistencies in the detail have on the reader.
The text is loosely based on two separate affairs, and some of Fords own personal life. Writers like Ford used their own experiences to create, and experimented with form to reflect experience within an increasingly complex world. The world was becoming smaller, or rather increasingly interconnected. Along with this, there were changes in the way that people lived and consequently, how they saw and experienced the world. Modernism developed because of a combination of these factors as people began to make an effort to make their art new; there was a marked shift towards the abstraction of concepts and an inward turn towards the depiction of introspective and emotional aspects of reality. The texts are never at one point in time, instead flitting back and forth through memories and associations. Disintegration, the experience of modernism seems to be in line with this word. The break down of morality in particular seems to come up a lot as well as attention being drawn to contradictory aspects within society. The Ashburnhams lived in India for a period in order to avoid financial ruin and are now out of place returning to England for the duration of the narrative. As well as the breakdown of relationships, we can see a breakdown of individuals. Insanity is also addressed in the text, with the ending revealing one of the main characters Nancy rendered unable to speak save two statements: God is Omnipotent, and the word “Shuttlecocks”(Ford, 196).
T.S Eliot also struggled through the years of the war “..the war has blocked the best possible opportunities and openings” (Eliot, Quoted in Eliot, V. introduction, xi)- trying to join the army but ending up having to return to a previous job at a bank after spending two weeks out of work. This took a toll on his health and psyche, and this is reflected in some of his poetry, for years he searched for a tranquil place to work on a longer poem. This was to become an extensively researched written piece of work and heavily edited, entitled The Waste Land. Eliot himself considered this one of his best poems. Disillusionment seems to overshadow the piece of poetry, encapsulating the breakdown of literary tradition. Eliots poetry can also be understood a little better with some study of his prose and the footnotes included as an appendix.
jThe Waste Land is a series of vignettes and narratives with rapidly shifting Point of View. “The shattering of cultural beliefs and norms” (Friedman, 97) seems like an apt description of the disintegration that is characterized within the work, featuring rapidly shifting point of view though the shards of stories