PERSONALITIES OF PAPER: CHARACTERISATION IN "A CALL" AND "THE GOOD SOLDIER"

This essay reconsiders Ford's approach to characterisation in the light of Alex Woloch's recent work on the nineteenth-century realist novel which envisions character as equally implicated in the analysis of novelistic form as of content. In doing so, it challenges the charge of 'extr...

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Published in:International Ford Madox Ford studies (Online) 2008-01, Vol.7, p.43-60
Main Author: Hawkes, Rob
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Language:English
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description This essay reconsiders Ford's approach to characterisation in the light of Alex Woloch's recent work on the nineteenth-century realist novel which envisions character as equally implicated in the analysis of novelistic form as of content. In doing so, it challenges the charge of 'extreme realism' - which Michael Levenson levels at Ford's handling of character - and argues that Ford is more radical in this aspect of his writing than has often been acknowledged. In particular, Ford's commitment to 'justification' in A Call and The Good Soldier turns out to be an anti-realist gesture in its rejection of the 'one vs. many' structure identified by Woloch. Furthermore, while the abandonment of the realist 'character-system' destabilises Ford's texts, it also foregrounds his characters' literariness - their very construction as 'personalities of paper' - people made of words printed on the page.
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title PERSONALITIES OF PAPER: CHARACTERISATION IN "A CALL" AND "THE GOOD SOLDIER"
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