1915High Modernism
The Good Soldier
Ford Madox Ford · 1873–1939 · England
Why it matters
An American narrator circles and re-circles the wreckage of two marriages and a decade-long affair among genteel English and American expatriates, understanding less each time he explains. Ford's achronological 'impressionist' masterpiece taught the modern novel how an unreliable narrator actually works.
At a glance
psychological novelmodernist
Difficulty 7/10slow pace256 pagesDeliberately scrambled chronology and an unreliable, self-deceiving narrator require rereading to untangle.
Deep dive
Why a narrator who insists he understood almost nothing keeps circling back to retell the same four years of friendship — and what his professed cluelessness might be hiding, including from himself.
Where to go next
Joseph Conrad · 1899Heart of DarknessLvl 7Slow burn
Marcel Proust · 1913Swann's WayLvl 8Slow burn
Gustave Flaubert · 1857Madame BovaryLvl 5Slow burn
James Joyce · 1914DublinersLvl 3Slow burn
Italo Svevo · 1923Zeno's ConscienceLvl 6Medium pace
Joris-Karl Huysmans · 1884Against Nature (À rebours)Lvl 7Slow burn