What do you think?
Rate this book
The Way of All Flesh
This brilliant satirical novel traces the life and loves of Ernest Pontifex, a young man who survives the baleful influence of a hateful, hypocritical father, a doting mother, and a debauched wife to emerge as a decent, happy human being. A fascinating character study, it is also a stinging satire of the Victorian gentry's pomposity, sentimentality, pseudo-respectability, and refined cruelty-one still capable of delivering deathblows to the same traits in our present world. Since its original publication in 1903, The Way of All Flesh has enjoyed continuous popularity. Every new generation finds in this novel a reaffirmation of youth's admirable will for freedom of personal expression and its rightful struggle against the tyranny of harsh parents.
Audio CD
First published January 1, 1903
653 people are currently reading
16441 people want to read
About the author
Samuel Butler
686 books205 followersFor the author of Hudibras, see Samuel Butler.
Samuel Butler was an iconoclastic Victorian author who published a variety of works, including the Utopian satire Erewhon and the posthumous novel The Way of All Flesh, his two best-known works, but also extending to examinations of Christian orthodoxy, substantive studies of evolutionary thought, studies of Italian art, and works of literary history and criticism. Butler also made prose translations of The Iliad and The Odyssey which remain in use to this day.
See also: Samuel H. Butcher, Anglo-Irish classicist, who also undertook prose translations of Homer's works (in collaboration with Andrew Lang.
Samuel Butler was an iconoclastic Victorian author who published a variety of works, including the Utopian satire Erewhon and the posthumous novel The Way of All Flesh, his two best-known works, but also extending to examinations of Christian orthodoxy, substantive studies of evolutionary thought, studies of Italian art, and works of literary history and criticism. Butler also made prose translations of The Iliad and The Odyssey which remain in use to this day.
See also: Samuel H. Butcher, Anglo-Irish classicist, who also undertook prose translations of Homer's works (in collaboration with Andrew Lang.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 671 reviews
June 15, 2020
Why is this novel not a better known classic? Granted it is slow and not much happens in terms of an excitable story. And the characters are not exactly endearing. It is altogether very ordinary. But this is the genius in it. I am sure this is why he is not up there on the lists with Hardy, Dickens, Austen or Eliot.
Butler does not over embellish his plot, nor create exuberant colourful characters. He is interested in exposing and probing into every day Victorian society. He is unapologetic in his characterisation and his critique of some big ticket (and very touchy subjects for the time) – notably the elitism and hypocrisy of both the church and the higher education system.
Oh, and the institution of marriage. He shows that none of these ‘expected’ things secure the way to a happier or more prosperous life – indeed, they most often send our protagonist backward, or falling on his face, and cause more misery than success or happiness.
Much of Butler’s purpose is instinctive, rather than relying on or espousing empirical knowledge or theoretical concepts….“we must judge men not so much by what they do, as by what they make us feel that they have it in them to do.” Consequently, his parody of Oxford learning and clerical processes is both comical, accurate but also so incredibly ahead of its time – no wonder he was ‘knocked on the head’ as an author – he was dealing quite roughly with very very touchy, no-go subjects! ‘There are two classes of people in this world, those who sin, and those who are sinned against; if a man must belong to either, he had better belong to the first than to the second.’ Ha, I rest my case.
I really enjoyed the comic tone of Butler’s writing – his language is exquisite, and sometimes the comedy is quite latent, which makes it all the more enjoyable. ‘No boy can resist being fed well by a good-natured and still handsome woman. Boys are very like nice dogs in this respect — give them a bone and they will like you at once…’ and ‘Truth might be heroic, but it was not within the range of practical domestic politics.’
It is very much a book about resilience and the value of making mistakes, sometimes more than once, in order to learn and gain strength of character. ‘ Adversity, if a man is set down to it by degrees, is more supportable with equanimity by most people than any great prosperity arrived at in a single lifetime.’ And our often exasperating protagonist, Ernest, certainly has his fair share of hardships – many of which he brings on himself I may add! And he falls in his own traps more than once, mistakes are made again and again until eventually he ‘grows up’ and takes stock of his decision making and harnessing his own happiness.
It is also about the importance of optimism in the face of adversity – for ‘he who does not consider himself fortunate is unfortunate…’ I feel like this passage sums up Butler’s message perfectly, and how true he speaks – ‘Being in this world is it not our most obvious business to make the most of it — to observe what things do bona fide tend to long life and comfort, and to act accordingly? All animals, except man, know that the principal business of life is to enjoy it — and they do enjoy it as much as man and other circumstances will allow…’
Butler does not over embellish his plot, nor create exuberant colourful characters. He is interested in exposing and probing into every day Victorian society. He is unapologetic in his characterisation and his critique of some big ticket (and very touchy subjects for the time) – notably the elitism and hypocrisy of both the church and the higher education system.
Oh, and the institution of marriage. He shows that none of these ‘expected’ things secure the way to a happier or more prosperous life – indeed, they most often send our protagonist backward, or falling on his face, and cause more misery than success or happiness.
Much of Butler’s purpose is instinctive, rather than relying on or espousing empirical knowledge or theoretical concepts….“we must judge men not so much by what they do, as by what they make us feel that they have it in them to do.” Consequently, his parody of Oxford learning and clerical processes is both comical, accurate but also so incredibly ahead of its time – no wonder he was ‘knocked on the head’ as an author – he was dealing quite roughly with very very touchy, no-go subjects! ‘There are two classes of people in this world, those who sin, and those who are sinned against; if a man must belong to either, he had better belong to the first than to the second.’ Ha, I rest my case.
I really enjoyed the comic tone of Butler’s writing – his language is exquisite, and sometimes the comedy is quite latent, which makes it all the more enjoyable. ‘No boy can resist being fed well by a good-natured and still handsome woman. Boys are very like nice dogs in this respect — give them a bone and they will like you at once…’ and ‘Truth might be heroic, but it was not within the range of practical domestic politics.’
It is very much a book about resilience and the value of making mistakes, sometimes more than once, in order to learn and gain strength of character. ‘ Adversity, if a man is set down to it by degrees, is more supportable with equanimity by most people than any great prosperity arrived at in a single lifetime.’ And our often exasperating protagonist, Ernest, certainly has his fair share of hardships – many of which he brings on himself I may add! And he falls in his own traps more than once, mistakes are made again and again until eventually he ‘grows up’ and takes stock of his decision making and harnessing his own happiness.
It is also about the importance of optimism in the face of adversity – for ‘he who does not consider himself fortunate is unfortunate…’ I feel like this passage sums up Butler’s message perfectly, and how true he speaks – ‘Being in this world is it not our most obvious business to make the most of it — to observe what things do bona fide tend to long life and comfort, and to act accordingly? All animals, except man, know that the principal business of life is to enjoy it — and they do enjoy it as much as man and other circumstances will allow…’
February 17, 2009
This is a true story about me reading The Way of All Flesh. Remember how I once mentioned that I nerdily read in the elevator on the way home (for the whole two minute trip)? Well, I was reading this book on my way down one evening at my old job when an older man that I didn’t know turned to me and asked what I was reading (Modern Library version, so the cover is blank, you dig?). I smiled uncomfortably (I may be a book nerd, but I do recognize that it’s a little odd to read in the elevator when you only work on the thirteenth floor), and repeated the title. At which point the stranger asked, “Oh, is it erotic?” And I was totally speechless, turned bright red, and mumbled something like, “Oh no, no its about Victorian hypocrisy, furthest thing actually, etc.” until we reached the lobby. But seriously, that was an inappropriate question, right?* I don’t know if the guy was a client or a partner (he was definitely one or the other, since he was an older gentleman in a suit), so I couldn’t really say what I wanted to, which was something like “Excuse me?” or, you know, “Screw you, pal.” But either the guy was totally clueless, and tripped over his tongue, or he was totally boorish, and trying to make me uncomfortable. Which he succeeded at, at least for a bit. But you know, I quickly regained my composure, and, you know, women still get to be lawyers and work in law firms and have power, no matter what gross guys in the elevator say. So it’s more an interesting story than anything else.
Certainly that anecdote is more interesting than, say, The Way of All Flesh. The story is supposed to be a scathing indictment of Victorianism, so much so that the author (who was famous in his lifetime for his satires and treatises) didn’t publish it in his lifetime. I am certain that at the time it was published that it spoke truths that had not been heard before, particularly about Victorian morality and parenting. The thing is, nowdays, the Victorians haven’t only been indicted, they’ve been tried and found guilty. We all think of them as stern, repressed, phony, over authoritative, etc. Lytton Strachey did his job well – we no longer really believe in Eminent Victorians. So that part of The Way of All Flesh no longer really shocks.
Which leaves the story itself, a bildungsroman telling the story of Ernest Potifax. His tale includes bad overbearing parents, tough times at school, and a mistaken attempt to be a clergyman. There is an absolutely ridiculous passage where he is wrongfully arrested for sexual assault and spent six months in jail (I absolutely could not understand the charges – he seems to have been arrested for going into a woman’s room). Broke, he marries poorly, and then is saved when it turns out his wife was already married and he can jettison her (his children aren’t so lucky – he farms them out and doesn’t really give them a second thought). At twenty-eight he inherits a fortune (the reader knew this was coming, Ernest did not), and then retires into a life of quiet travel, research and writing. Perhaps the tale sounds interesting in the describing, but not so much in the reading. The reason is, I think, that Ernest is inherently uninteresting. He is the proverbial wet noodle. The narrator – Ernest’s godfather, and guardian of his fortune (and burlesque author!) is much more interesting – and, actually he is the one who does most of the scathing and indicting. I wish I’d read his story! As it is, Ernest flounders from one mistake to another, trying on different philosophies and experiences, and finally, decides to retire from public life entirely and write his books. Hardly a triumphant choice. The point is, without the scandal of the critique of the times, the plot was sort of dull. Well written, but dull.
*And seriously, who reads an erotic book at work??
Certainly that anecdote is more interesting than, say, The Way of All Flesh. The story is supposed to be a scathing indictment of Victorianism, so much so that the author (who was famous in his lifetime for his satires and treatises) didn’t publish it in his lifetime. I am certain that at the time it was published that it spoke truths that had not been heard before, particularly about Victorian morality and parenting. The thing is, nowdays, the Victorians haven’t only been indicted, they’ve been tried and found guilty. We all think of them as stern, repressed, phony, over authoritative, etc. Lytton Strachey did his job well – we no longer really believe in Eminent Victorians. So that part of The Way of All Flesh no longer really shocks.
Which leaves the story itself, a bildungsroman telling the story of Ernest Potifax. His tale includes bad overbearing parents, tough times at school, and a mistaken attempt to be a clergyman. There is an absolutely ridiculous passage where he is wrongfully arrested for sexual assault and spent six months in jail (I absolutely could not understand the charges – he seems to have been arrested for going into a woman’s room). Broke, he marries poorly, and then is saved when it turns out his wife was already married and he can jettison her (his children aren’t so lucky – he farms them out and doesn’t really give them a second thought). At twenty-eight he inherits a fortune (the reader knew this was coming, Ernest did not), and then retires into a life of quiet travel, research and writing. Perhaps the tale sounds interesting in the describing, but not so much in the reading. The reason is, I think, that Ernest is inherently uninteresting. He is the proverbial wet noodle. The narrator – Ernest’s godfather, and guardian of his fortune (and burlesque author!) is much more interesting – and, actually he is the one who does most of the scathing and indicting. I wish I’d read his story! As it is, Ernest flounders from one mistake to another, trying on different philosophies and experiences, and finally, decides to retire from public life entirely and write his books. Hardly a triumphant choice. The point is, without the scandal of the critique of the times, the plot was sort of dull. Well written, but dull.
*And seriously, who reads an erotic book at work??
October 11, 2023
I've read this book at least 5 times and I always come back to it. It has seemed to have something unique to say to me no matter what age I am when I read it. I first read it in my Freshman year of college and there were very few of us who really liked it. I couldn't understand why at the time, but I think I do now.
The book is very introspective and if you are looking for some kind of action or plot, this isn't the book for you. The main action takes place in the character's minds. Butler takes his main character and gives him an upbringing that is deplorable and then uses the rest of the book showing how Ernest works through the hand life has dealt him. I found some profound statements on the process of education and the effect on the young...things that are just as present today as in the 1700's.
This book is a wonderful book to take on a vacation when you have time to sit and ponder on Butler's ideas and relate them to your own life. I've read this at just about every major stage of life and learned something different each time.
The book is very introspective and if you are looking for some kind of action or plot, this isn't the book for you. The main action takes place in the character's minds. Butler takes his main character and gives him an upbringing that is deplorable and then uses the rest of the book showing how Ernest works through the hand life has dealt him. I found some profound statements on the process of education and the effect on the young...things that are just as present today as in the 1700's.
This book is a wonderful book to take on a vacation when you have time to sit and ponder on Butler's ideas and relate them to your own life. I've read this at just about every major stage of life and learned something different each time.
September 20, 2023
This is the story of a poor little rich boy. I don’t know about you, but I have practically zero sympathy for poor little rich boys. Call me flint-hearted.
His name is Ernest Pontifex. The goose was not born that Ernest could say boo to. He is a spineless, feeble kid to be sure, but even had he been at one time in possession of a spine, his horrible vicar father would have extracted it and ground it to powder and smoked it in his pipe. His father is a great vile character, the most sanctimonious, effortlessly offensive and permanently oppressive, belittling and stifling of all Victorian papas. Butler’s genius here is that he tells us that this father had to be dragged kicking and screaming to do his duty and get married, and hated the idea of children, and when the children arrived hated them even more; and so we understand where all this abuse and aggression towards Ernest is coming from; but of course never once does the father have an inkling that he is not being anything other than a wonderful (stern but beloved) parent.
Before Ernest could well crawl he was taught to kneel; before he could well speak he was taught to lisp the Lord’s prayer, and the general confession. How was it possible that these things could be taught too early? If his attention flagged or his memory failed him, here was an ill weed which would grow apace, unless it were plucked out immediately, and the only way to pluck it out was to whip him, or shut him up in a cupboard, or dock him of some of the small pleasures of childhood. Before he was three years old he could read and, after a fashion, write. Before he was four he was learning Latin, and could do rule of three sums.
Much later this awful father dies without a stain on his conscience. That was great, because these monsters of self-assurance never doubt themselves for a second.
THE GODFATHER
The narrator of the tale of Ernest is his bachelor godfather (not a good look these days). And this brings me to the peculiar nature of the story. Samuel Butler spends 480 dense pages on the life of Ernest as told by godfather Edward Overton. Ernest’s family is well-to-do and he goes to Cambridge University, naturally, and about half way along it is announced to us readers that his aunt is going to leave all her dough to Ernest, but he can’t have it until he’s 28. The amount he will inherit is £30,000. A quick visit to the very useful Historical Inflation Calculator on the internet tells us that £30.000 in 1850 = £4,500,000 ($5,400,000). Ernest is not informed about this, it’s to be a wonderful surprise. So the reader follows his ups and downs all the time knowing that it’s all gonna be all right in the end. No suspense, no mystery.
In fact, the usual Victorian solution to life’s problems : inherit a fortune. Not that subversive really. Oh also – there are ridiculous co-incidences every now and then. Wandering the thronged London streets, who should Ernest bump into but Ellen the housemaid he had a crush on all those years ago! Etc.
And more : when Ernest marries a low common wench who might have fulsome lips and a gay smile and a keen knowledge of how to set up a second hand clothes shop but secretly drinks and drags poor Ernest down down down we are thinking – hey, Godfather, can’t you see the poor lad is suffering and is about to go bankrupt, can’t you lend him a few quid to tide him over until he’s 28? But this never happens. I think the Godfather thought all these miseries piled on miseries were character building.
Speaking of Edward, he starts off as an affable, gentle, kindly ironist but gradually reveals himself to a garrulous know-it-all and an amateur philosopher. See if you can make sense of this :
There is no casting of swine’s meat before men worse than that which would flatter virtue as though her true origin were not good enough for her, but she must have a lineage, deduced as it were by spiritual heralds, from some stock with which she has nothing to do.
A RANT
This novel is always called “subversive”, a word which shares the top spot in the list of Most Overused Words in the English Language. (Joint top is “dysfunctional”, usually used to describe families.)
Every other novel is called subversive these days. Here’s the title of an article from the New York Times last April
Subversive Novels Dominate Shortlist for International Booker Prize
You have to wonder is there anything left to subvert?
LANGUAGE
You will have to go a-googling very frequently (because in the edition I read there were NO NOTES) unless you know what is meant by Geneva bands, omne ignatum pro magnifico, and such phrases as “sport the oak”.
“Goodness gracious,” I exclaimed, “why didn’t we sport the oak?”
DATED•BRITISH
(in certain universities) shut the wooden outer door of one's room as a sign that one does not want to be disturbed.
SOME ZINGERS
Young people have a marvellous faculty of either dying or adapting themselves to circumstances.
At a moment of tension his mother exclaims
God in his mercy spare us from being burnt alive. He may or may not do so. Please Lord, spare my Theobald, or grant that he may be beheaded.
The father is a vicar and has to minister to the sick, which he detests :
There haunted him an ill defined sense that life would be pleasanter if there were no sick sinners, or if they would at any rate face an eternity of torture with more indifference.
Ernest begins to analyse his Christian beliefs :
Tobacco had nowhere been forbidden in the Bible, but then it had not yet been discovered, and had probably only escaped proscription for this reason. We can conceive of St Paul or even our Lord Himself as drinking a cup of tea, but we cannot imagine either of them as smoking a cigarette
Ernest eventually comes to a conclusion about parents:
the only thing to do with them was to humour them and make the best of them till they died—and be thankful when they did so.
THE DYING WIFE IRRITATES HER HUSBAND
…being more sensible of the approach of death, she seemed also more alarmed at the thoughts of the Day of Judgment. She ventured more than once or twice to return to the subject of her sins, and implored Theobald to make quite sure that they were forgiven her. She hinted that she considered his professional reputation was at stake; it would never do for his own wife to fail in securing at any rate a pass. This was touching Theobald on a tender spot; he winced and rejoined with an impatient toss of the head, “But, Christina, they are forgiven you”
NOT RECOMMENDED
It seemed to me that the wholesale attack on the Christian faith and Victorian upper-middleclass morality in general which I was expecting was just not there – punches were pulled, evils were detailed then brushed over; and characters tended towards fairytale (the ogre, the fairy godmother, the poor scullery maid, the prince in disguise); and Butler tended towards the philosophical ramble way too much for me.
But I loved the first third and the portrait of the insufferable father.
A generous 3 stars.
His name is Ernest Pontifex. The goose was not born that Ernest could say boo to. He is a spineless, feeble kid to be sure, but even had he been at one time in possession of a spine, his horrible vicar father would have extracted it and ground it to powder and smoked it in his pipe. His father is a great vile character, the most sanctimonious, effortlessly offensive and permanently oppressive, belittling and stifling of all Victorian papas. Butler’s genius here is that he tells us that this father had to be dragged kicking and screaming to do his duty and get married, and hated the idea of children, and when the children arrived hated them even more; and so we understand where all this abuse and aggression towards Ernest is coming from; but of course never once does the father have an inkling that he is not being anything other than a wonderful (stern but beloved) parent.
Before Ernest could well crawl he was taught to kneel; before he could well speak he was taught to lisp the Lord’s prayer, and the general confession. How was it possible that these things could be taught too early? If his attention flagged or his memory failed him, here was an ill weed which would grow apace, unless it were plucked out immediately, and the only way to pluck it out was to whip him, or shut him up in a cupboard, or dock him of some of the small pleasures of childhood. Before he was three years old he could read and, after a fashion, write. Before he was four he was learning Latin, and could do rule of three sums.
Much later this awful father dies without a stain on his conscience. That was great, because these monsters of self-assurance never doubt themselves for a second.
THE GODFATHER
The narrator of the tale of Ernest is his bachelor godfather (not a good look these days). And this brings me to the peculiar nature of the story. Samuel Butler spends 480 dense pages on the life of Ernest as told by godfather Edward Overton. Ernest’s family is well-to-do and he goes to Cambridge University, naturally, and about half way along it is announced to us readers that his aunt is going to leave all her dough to Ernest, but he can’t have it until he’s 28. The amount he will inherit is £30,000. A quick visit to the very useful Historical Inflation Calculator on the internet tells us that £30.000 in 1850 = £4,500,000 ($5,400,000). Ernest is not informed about this, it’s to be a wonderful surprise. So the reader follows his ups and downs all the time knowing that it’s all gonna be all right in the end. No suspense, no mystery.
In fact, the usual Victorian solution to life’s problems : inherit a fortune. Not that subversive really. Oh also – there are ridiculous co-incidences every now and then. Wandering the thronged London streets, who should Ernest bump into but Ellen the housemaid he had a crush on all those years ago! Etc.
And more : when Ernest marries a low common wench who might have fulsome lips and a gay smile and a keen knowledge of how to set up a second hand clothes shop but secretly drinks and drags poor Ernest down down down we are thinking – hey, Godfather, can’t you see the poor lad is suffering and is about to go bankrupt, can’t you lend him a few quid to tide him over until he’s 28? But this never happens. I think the Godfather thought all these miseries piled on miseries were character building.
Speaking of Edward, he starts off as an affable, gentle, kindly ironist but gradually reveals himself to a garrulous know-it-all and an amateur philosopher. See if you can make sense of this :
There is no casting of swine’s meat before men worse than that which would flatter virtue as though her true origin were not good enough for her, but she must have a lineage, deduced as it were by spiritual heralds, from some stock with which she has nothing to do.
A RANT
This novel is always called “subversive”, a word which shares the top spot in the list of Most Overused Words in the English Language. (Joint top is “dysfunctional”, usually used to describe families.)
Every other novel is called subversive these days. Here’s the title of an article from the New York Times last April
Subversive Novels Dominate Shortlist for International Booker Prize
You have to wonder is there anything left to subvert?
LANGUAGE
You will have to go a-googling very frequently (because in the edition I read there were NO NOTES) unless you know what is meant by Geneva bands, omne ignatum pro magnifico, and such phrases as “sport the oak”.
“Goodness gracious,” I exclaimed, “why didn’t we sport the oak?”
DATED•BRITISH
(in certain universities) shut the wooden outer door of one's room as a sign that one does not want to be disturbed.
SOME ZINGERS
Young people have a marvellous faculty of either dying or adapting themselves to circumstances.
At a moment of tension his mother exclaims
God in his mercy spare us from being burnt alive. He may or may not do so. Please Lord, spare my Theobald, or grant that he may be beheaded.
The father is a vicar and has to minister to the sick, which he detests :
There haunted him an ill defined sense that life would be pleasanter if there were no sick sinners, or if they would at any rate face an eternity of torture with more indifference.
Ernest begins to analyse his Christian beliefs :
Tobacco had nowhere been forbidden in the Bible, but then it had not yet been discovered, and had probably only escaped proscription for this reason. We can conceive of St Paul or even our Lord Himself as drinking a cup of tea, but we cannot imagine either of them as smoking a cigarette
Ernest eventually comes to a conclusion about parents:
the only thing to do with them was to humour them and make the best of them till they died—and be thankful when they did so.
THE DYING WIFE IRRITATES HER HUSBAND
…being more sensible of the approach of death, she seemed also more alarmed at the thoughts of the Day of Judgment. She ventured more than once or twice to return to the subject of her sins, and implored Theobald to make quite sure that they were forgiven her. She hinted that she considered his professional reputation was at stake; it would never do for his own wife to fail in securing at any rate a pass. This was touching Theobald on a tender spot; he winced and rejoined with an impatient toss of the head, “But, Christina, they are forgiven you”
NOT RECOMMENDED
It seemed to me that the wholesale attack on the Christian faith and Victorian upper-middleclass morality in general which I was expecting was just not there – punches were pulled, evils were detailed then brushed over; and characters tended towards fairytale (the ogre, the fairy godmother, the poor scullery maid, the prince in disguise); and Butler tended towards the philosophical ramble way too much for me.
But I loved the first third and the portrait of the insufferable father.
A generous 3 stars.
February 18, 2022
A semi-biographical story of four generations of the Pontifex family by Samuel Butler, that he only allowed to be published after his death that takes apart Victorian society focusing on the unrelenting hypocrisy of, in this case the monied religious family focusing on the detrimental effects of patriarchy and how they fed down from generation to generation. Although technically a classic, this sits better as historical fiction as it reads well, but was a lot of hard work to get through.
This could be a really useful historical record and was lauded by George Orwell:
"A great book because it gives an honest picture of the relationship between father and son, and it could do that because Butler was a truly independent observer, and above all because he was courageous. He would say things that other people knew but didn't dare to say. And finally there was his clear, simple, straightforward way of writing, never using a long word where a short one will do."
And A.A. Milne:
"Once upon a time I discovered Samuel Butler; not the other two, but the one who wrote The Way of All Flesh, the second-best novel in the English language".
Alas for me it's a 5 out of 12 Two Star read, but one that should be on everyone's top 100 Victorian novels.
2022 read
This could be a really useful historical record and was lauded by George Orwell:
"A great book because it gives an honest picture of the relationship between father and son, and it could do that because Butler was a truly independent observer, and above all because he was courageous. He would say things that other people knew but didn't dare to say. And finally there was his clear, simple, straightforward way of writing, never using a long word where a short one will do."
And A.A. Milne:
"Once upon a time I discovered Samuel Butler; not the other two, but the one who wrote The Way of All Flesh, the second-best novel in the English language".
Alas for me it's a 5 out of 12 Two Star read, but one that should be on everyone's top 100 Victorian novels.
2022 read
May 8, 2020
Άλλο ένα αριστούργημα το οποίο σου δημιουργεί θλίψη για τα σημερινά ...αριστουργήματα που κυκλοφορούν κατά δεκάδες. Δεν περιγράφει αλλά διεισδύει στους χαρακτήρες, στη διάπλαση τους, στην εξέλιξη τους αναδεικνύοντας τις κρυφές αυτές λεπτομέρειες της ψυχοσύνθεσης των πρωταγωνιστούν που δύσκολα γραφίδες της εποχής μου έχουν την δυνατότητα. Ίσως έφτασε η εποχή που καλόν είναι να διαβάζουμε τέτοια βιβλία ανακαλύπτοντας και πάλι την αίσθηση του καλού βιβλίου.
Έχουν βέβαια ένα ελάττωμα. Δεν διαθέτουν καλό μάρκετινγκ...Τα ακολουθεί μόνο η φήμη τους!
ΤΟ ΞΑΝΑΔΙΑΒΑΣΑ και το ΞΑΝΑΕΥΧΑΡΙΣΤΗΘΗΚΑ!
Έχουν βέβαια ένα ελάττωμα. Δεν διαθέτουν καλό μάρκετινγκ...Τα ακολουθεί μόνο η φήμη τους!
ΤΟ ΞΑΝΑΔΙΑΒΑΣΑ και το ΞΑΝΑΕΥΧΑΡΙΣΤΗΘΗΚΑ!
March 14, 2014
There's a poem by Kahlil Gibran which goes like this:
"Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts, For they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far. Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness; For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable."
Had Samuel Butler's parents known this poem and took it to heart he would not have found the inspiration to write this semi-autobiographical novel where, in one passage, the principal protagonist Ernest Pontifex, as he was about to get out of prison, felt the dread of meeting his parents after a long time and then the narrator continuing--
"...There, sure enough, standing at the end of the table nearest the door were the two people whom he regarded as the most dangerous enemies he had in all the world--his father and mother."
It is a very common parental mistake even nowadays, almost always by parents who have had successes in their careers or had built great wealth: they think their children are like them and that they own them. So when these creatures of their loins, seemingly like wayward arrows hit piles of dung on the ground instead of the lofty trees they had targeted, they gnash their teeth in anger and despair and their children, seeing their reaction, either undertake a rebellion or carry their burden of self-pity, unworthiness and defeat all their lives.
A recommended reading for those who have, or have had, problems with their parents along this line or are parents like these themselves (according to their children).
"Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts, For they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far. Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness; For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable."
Had Samuel Butler's parents known this poem and took it to heart he would not have found the inspiration to write this semi-autobiographical novel where, in one passage, the principal protagonist Ernest Pontifex, as he was about to get out of prison, felt the dread of meeting his parents after a long time and then the narrator continuing--
"...There, sure enough, standing at the end of the table nearest the door were the two people whom he regarded as the most dangerous enemies he had in all the world--his father and mother."
It is a very common parental mistake even nowadays, almost always by parents who have had successes in their careers or had built great wealth: they think their children are like them and that they own them. So when these creatures of their loins, seemingly like wayward arrows hit piles of dung on the ground instead of the lofty trees they had targeted, they gnash their teeth in anger and despair and their children, seeing their reaction, either undertake a rebellion or carry their burden of self-pity, unworthiness and defeat all their lives.
A recommended reading for those who have, or have had, problems with their parents along this line or are parents like these themselves (according to their children).
Read
October 25, 2019The Way of All Flesh is the anti-Victorian novel. In the clergyman’s house the daughters play cards to determine which of them will get to marry the single suitor lured in through the front door , there is no weeping round the death bed , just a sincere wish for the end to hurry up now, and the hero does get to marry his childhood sweet heart but since she has become by that time an alcoholic, it is lucky the union turns out to have been bigamous .
Wealth ruins people , the family is a torture chamber ruled by a domestic tyrant in which one generation’s torments can be passed on to the next, the world of music has been inexorably going downhill since the death of Handel, and the Church is ably served by men such as Theodore Pontifex who succeeds in petrifying an elderly parishioner into hiding under her bed clothes with the fear of hellfire when she had been only a little frightened of dying and in need of some gentle handholding.
This along with Father and Son was recommended to me, by my history teacher if I remember correctly, when I was about sixteen. They are both great statements of opposition to Victorian ideals and how to survive the Victorian family. At the time I first read was a little after Mrs T had spoken out in favour of Victorian values - plainly as is often the case with very little idea about Victorian values actually were but assuming that they were as demonstrated here, uncontroversially a good thing.
For Butler those values were bullying, swindling, pride, boasting, flogging your children, and the reading of arbitrary Bible passages . Edmund Gosse’s experience, as far as I remember, was written with more sadness at the gulf between father and son but anger flavours Butler’s interpretation and understanding of his family relationships.
Not so much as Bildungsroman as a Verderbensroman, the spirit of Rousseau rather than of Darwin breathes across its pages. Everything starts off well with the Great-grandfather, but is horribly warped by the Grandfather’s worldly success. You are born innocent, in this view, with a natural desire for a penny loaf, which feelings are flogged out of you by the dual action of a tyrannous father and prolonged schooling in pomposity and priggishness. If the process is conducted correctly you will be suitable for no productive role in society and instead fit to minister in the Church of England . Rousseau is also apparent in the hero farming out his children at a pound a week to a bargeman’s family to bring up, ideally as illiterates, which makes the boy into an excellent steamboat captain and the girl into a good housewife . Well, it is a Bildungsroman, but one in which schooling is not an educational process. Instead prison, the zoo , and relations with the opposite sex perform that function, life is education.
Edmund Gosse’s memoir, Father and Son, works, I feel, better. The fictionalisation of Butler's own experience creates an awkwardness in this book, which the on and off process of writing for a long period during his life only emphasises, and in the end the book was published posthumously. It is successful, maybe too successful, in conjuring up a narrow, crushing, family atmosphere in which parent envy their children’s success and desire nothing more than to keep them smaller than themselves, and ideally in a position in which they can give them a good kicking periodically. but also Butler wants to have his penny loaf and eat it. The past represented by the craftsmanship of the Great-Grandfather is good , but railway shares make the modern world better. In a moment reminiscent of – and for all I know inspired by - a scene in Under the Greenwood Tree there’s a lament for the passing of the old church music and the bawling out of the old hymns, but equally the past isn’t completely idolised since the ploughmen of earlier times are vacant, made more animal than human by their daily grind unlike the next generation of farming folk who have the time and energy to gossip.
In my memory the book was more of a struggle against evangelicalism, but rereading, the precise nature of the faith is irrelevant, in fact we even see Theobald’s religious practice moves from being more low church to higher church under the influence of his daughter and wife . Instead the book is a brick through the shop window of the conventional and a raising of the Jolly Roger against all ships that sail the seas of social norms .
Wealth ruins people , the family is a torture chamber ruled by a domestic tyrant in which one generation’s torments can be passed on to the next, the world of music has been inexorably going downhill since the death of Handel, and the Church is ably served by men such as Theodore Pontifex who succeeds in petrifying an elderly parishioner into hiding under her bed clothes with the fear of hellfire when she had been only a little frightened of dying and in need of some gentle handholding.
This along with Father and Son was recommended to me, by my history teacher if I remember correctly, when I was about sixteen. They are both great statements of opposition to Victorian ideals and how to survive the Victorian family. At the time I first read was a little after Mrs T had spoken out in favour of Victorian values - plainly as is often the case with very little idea about Victorian values actually were but assuming that they were as demonstrated here, uncontroversially a good thing.
For Butler those values were bullying, swindling, pride, boasting, flogging your children, and the reading of arbitrary Bible passages . Edmund Gosse’s experience, as far as I remember, was written with more sadness at the gulf between father and son but anger flavours Butler’s interpretation and understanding of his family relationships.
Not so much as Bildungsroman as a Verderbensroman, the spirit of Rousseau rather than of Darwin breathes across its pages. Everything starts off well with the Great-grandfather, but is horribly warped by the Grandfather’s worldly success. You are born innocent, in this view, with a natural desire for a penny loaf, which feelings are flogged out of you by the dual action of a tyrannous father and prolonged schooling in pomposity and priggishness. If the process is conducted correctly you will be suitable for no productive role in society and instead fit to minister in the Church of England . Rousseau is also apparent in the hero farming out his children at a pound a week to a bargeman’s family to bring up, ideally as illiterates, which makes the boy into an excellent steamboat captain and the girl into a good housewife . Well, it is a Bildungsroman, but one in which schooling is not an educational process. Instead prison, the zoo , and relations with the opposite sex perform that function, life is education.
Edmund Gosse’s memoir, Father and Son, works, I feel, better. The fictionalisation of Butler's own experience creates an awkwardness in this book, which the on and off process of writing for a long period during his life only emphasises, and in the end the book was published posthumously. It is successful, maybe too successful, in conjuring up a narrow, crushing, family atmosphere in which parent envy their children’s success and desire nothing more than to keep them smaller than themselves, and ideally in a position in which they can give them a good kicking periodically. but also Butler wants to have his penny loaf and eat it. The past represented by the craftsmanship of the Great-Grandfather is good , but railway shares make the modern world better. In a moment reminiscent of – and for all I know inspired by - a scene in Under the Greenwood Tree there’s a lament for the passing of the old church music and the bawling out of the old hymns, but equally the past isn’t completely idolised since the ploughmen of earlier times are vacant, made more animal than human by their daily grind unlike the next generation of farming folk who have the time and energy to gossip.
In my memory the book was more of a struggle against evangelicalism, but rereading, the precise nature of the faith is irrelevant, in fact we even see Theobald’s religious practice moves from being more low church to higher church under the influence of his daughter and wife . Instead the book is a brick through the shop window of the conventional and a raising of the Jolly Roger against all ships that sail the seas of social norms .
December 13, 2018
... δεν είναι άλλη, παρά εκείνη της λογοτεχνίας.
Η ανθρώπινη κατάσταση, όπως ξεδιπλώνεται αβίαστα μέσα από την πένα ενός μεγάλου συγγραφέα.
Χρώμα πάνω στο χρώμα, ένας καμβάς ζωντανός, ολόφρεσκος, όπως την ημέρα εκείνη που ο δημιουργός του τον παρέδωσε στην αιωνιότητα.
Ο μεν βίος βραχύς, η δε τέχνη μακρά.
Η ανθρώπινη κατάσταση, όπως ξεδιπλώνεται αβίαστα μέσα από την πένα ενός μεγάλου συγγραφέα.
Χρώμα πάνω στο χρώμα, ένας καμβάς ζωντανός, ολόφρεσκος, όπως την ημέρα εκείνη που ο δημιουργός του τον παρέδωσε στην αιωνιότητα.
Ο μεν βίος βραχύς, η δε τέχνη μακρά.
August 21, 2019
"Η κοινή ανθρώπινη μοίρα"
Ένα βιβλίο που φτάνοντας στη μέση του με προβλημάτισε. Όντας αποστασιοποιημένη από θρησκευτικές ιδεολογίες οφείλω να ομολογήσω πως με κούρασε κ με εκνεύρισε. Όμως, προχωρώντας την ανάγνωσή του κ δίνοντάς του χώρο, διαπίστωσα πως πρόκειται για κάτι παραπάνω. Σαφέστατα υπάρχουν αναφορές στην τότε Αγγλική εκκλησιαστική κοινωνία κ νοοτροπία αλλά ο συγγραφέας δεν εστιάζει εκεί. Τουναντίον όλη η αφήγηση που γίνεται από το νονό του ήρωα αποτελεί μια ψυχοθεραπεία, μια αναζήτηση, μια διαδικασία εσωτερικής διάπλασης κ ενδυνάμωσης.
Ο ήρωας, γιος κληρικού, ζει περιορισμένος κ αναγκασμένος να ακολουθήσει την πορεία του πατέρα του, παρά τη θέλησή του. Ο στόχος είναι να αφιερωθεί στο θεό. Οι επιλογές των παιδιών ήταν άρρηκτα συνυφασμένες με τις επιθυμίες των γονέων. Δυστυχώς! Μέσα από μια συνεχόμενη προσπάθεια, περιπέτειες, γεγονότα, ο ήρωας "ξυπνάει" κ βρίσκει το δρόμο του. Απελευθερώνεται από τα οικογενειακά δεσμά! Δραπετεύει, από τον πατρικό κυρίως, εξαναγκασμό. Δε φοβάται να αντιταχθεί στα στερεότυπα της εποχής.
Κάθε επιλογή όμως, επιφέρει συνέπειες κ τη δεδομένη στιγμή ο ήρωας θα τις βιώσει...
Ένα βιβλίο που χρήζει υπομονής κ επιμονής αλλά κυρίως αναγνωστικής αναζήτησης. 😉📖
Ένα βιβλίο που φτάνοντας στη μέση του με προβλημάτισε. Όντας αποστασιοποιημένη από θρησκευτικές ιδεολογίες οφείλω να ομολογήσω πως με κούρασε κ με εκνεύρισε. Όμως, προχωρώντας την ανάγνωσή του κ δίνοντάς του χώρο, διαπίστωσα πως πρόκειται για κάτι παραπάνω. Σαφέστατα υπάρχουν αναφορές στην τότε Αγγλική εκκλησιαστική κοινωνία κ νοοτροπία αλλά ο συγγραφέας δεν εστιάζει εκεί. Τουναντίον όλη η αφήγηση που γίνεται από το νονό του ήρωα αποτελεί μια ψυχοθεραπεία, μια αναζήτηση, μια διαδικασία εσωτερικής διάπλασης κ ενδυνάμωσης.
Ο ήρωας, γιος κληρικού, ζει περιορισμένος κ αναγκασμένος να ακολουθήσει την πορεία του πατέρα του, παρά τη θέλησή του. Ο στόχος είναι να αφιερωθεί στο θεό. Οι επιλογές των παιδιών ήταν άρρηκτα συνυφασμένες με τις επιθυμίες των γονέων. Δυστυχώς! Μέσα από μια συνεχόμενη προσπάθεια, περιπέτειες, γεγονότα, ο ήρωας "ξυπνάει" κ βρίσκει το δρόμο του. Απελευθερώνεται από τα οικογενειακά δεσμά! Δραπετεύει, από τον πατρικό κυρίως, εξαναγκασμό. Δε φοβάται να αντιταχθεί στα στερεότυπα της εποχής.
Κάθε επιλογή όμως, επιφέρει συνέπειες κ τη δεδομένη στιγμή ο ήρωας θα τις βιώσει...
Ένα βιβλίο που χρήζει υπομονής κ επιμονής αλλά κυρίως αναγνωστικής αναζήτησης. 😉📖
August 22, 2017
Τί απολαυστικότερο για τον αναγνώστη να έρχεται σε επαφή με ένα κείμενο που γράφτηκε τον 19ο αιώνα αλλά να νιώθει σα να γράφτηκε χτες. Το απόλαυσα απ αρχής μέχρι τέλους. Το καυστικό χιούμορ και η διάχυτη ειρωνεία στιλιτεύουν με μαεστρία την κοινωνία της Αγγλίας τότε. Προτείνεται ανεπιφύλακτα!!!
June 6, 2018
Another entertaining Victorian novel where the solution to existential and familial misery lies in inheriting a fortune from your long-dead auntie.
December 10, 2011
After reading Theodore Dreiser's introduction to this book, I put it back to the library shelf and consciously staid away for well over two months. I had my reasons, but one of them was not that I didn't want to 'sink my mental teeth' into this, one of the finest and simple yet complex literary pieces. My main reason was Dreiser himself. It stands that one of the books that had a most profound effect on me was Sister Carrie, one among Dreiser's masterpieces. If he, - Mr. Dreiser, at whatever time he did his friends assignment of selecting a book that was 'simply life,' worth the reading of a well read gentleman, who was as well advanced in years too, could only pick The Way of all Flesh from a list of other masterpieces, well, I had to get my damn head ready for a lifetimes reading experience.
So I finally got down to it . . .,
Do I agree with Dreiser, - to a considerable extend yes, well, to a greater extend YES.
The story of Ernest Pontifex is as much comprehensive of the longing, the frustrations, the dreams, the desires, the failures and the triumphs of man as any story can be. And that makes Samuel Butler's work worthy of Dreiser's introduction of this. his enduring story.
This review will tell you nothing more, except ask you to read Dreiser's introduction to the book, and always, always, read, if you can find great books like this for you to 'sink your mental teeth into them.'
Happy reading, friend.
So I finally got down to it . . .,
Do I agree with Dreiser, - to a considerable extend yes, well, to a greater extend YES.
The story of Ernest Pontifex is as much comprehensive of the longing, the frustrations, the dreams, the desires, the failures and the triumphs of man as any story can be. And that makes Samuel Butler's work worthy of Dreiser's introduction of this. his enduring story.
This review will tell you nothing more, except ask you to read Dreiser's introduction to the book, and always, always, read, if you can find great books like this for you to 'sink your mental teeth into them.'
Happy reading, friend.
July 4, 2023
Finished! Very enjoyable! Although I was not successful in my younger years in reading or listening to The Way of All Flesh, after hearing Jacques Barzun rave about Samuel Butler in From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life, 1500 to the Present, I decided to give this another try. Barzun explained that The Way of All Flesh is heavy satire and emphasized what a genius Butler was/is. I think when I tried this before, being younger and undoubtedly more literal and/or naïve, the humor simply would not have been humorous to me. The older I get, the more I see how a year, two, five, or ten do make a difference in what one appreciates. I think back to the days when I thought I would just ‘grow up’ and that would be that… Ha! Hopefully, I will not stop … ‘growing up’, though I also define it far differently than I used to.
The Way of All Flesh is also semi-autobiographical. So much so that Butler could not publish this novel in his lifetime because some of the character portrayals were too realistic. So, whereas this seems to be along the lines of Dicken’s David Copperfield, the individuals are not so stereotypical, yet every bit as humorous for all their realism.
Butler’s religious views (mostly given through his narrator, Edward Overton and the main character, Ernest Pontifex) were entirely his own, thought-provoking and revealed a lively engaged mind. Would love to have a conversation with him! And read/listen to this again … or other books by him … Thank you Mr. Butler.
Oh, and Mr. Frederick Davidson did a marvelous rendition on the audio version. He is one of my all-time favorite readers. If he was the reader, I think I could listen to Webster’s Dictionary!
Highly recommended! However, remove rose-colored glasses before reading. Slightly aged and jaundiced view of this world is best for maximum appreciation. 😉
The Way of All Flesh is also semi-autobiographical. So much so that Butler could not publish this novel in his lifetime because some of the character portrayals were too realistic. So, whereas this seems to be along the lines of Dicken’s David Copperfield, the individuals are not so stereotypical, yet every bit as humorous for all their realism.
Butler’s religious views (mostly given through his narrator, Edward Overton and the main character, Ernest Pontifex) were entirely his own, thought-provoking and revealed a lively engaged mind. Would love to have a conversation with him! And read/listen to this again … or other books by him … Thank you Mr. Butler.
Oh, and Mr. Frederick Davidson did a marvelous rendition on the audio version. He is one of my all-time favorite readers. If he was the reader, I think I could listen to Webster’s Dictionary!
Highly recommended! However, remove rose-colored glasses before reading. Slightly aged and jaundiced view of this world is best for maximum appreciation. 😉
January 8, 2022
Introduction
--The Way of all Flesh
Notes
--The Way of all Flesh
Notes
September 4, 2008
I mean, yes it was a harsh upbringing, Butler, but did you have to take it out on us, the readers? I would have gladly taken a beating for you if you had just shortened the book by about 400 goddamned pages.
Were you supposed to be Ernest? So after all that, you abandoned your own kids to explore the world? Ugh. True, you married a prostitute, so you scored a few points there with me, and you forgave your batshit mother, but you abandoned your own kids after suffering through a shitty childhood.
i wonder if my dad read this book? hmm....
Were you supposed to be Ernest? So after all that, you abandoned your own kids to explore the world? Ugh. True, you married a prostitute, so you scored a few points there with me, and you forgave your batshit mother, but you abandoned your own kids after suffering through a shitty childhood.
i wonder if my dad read this book? hmm....
June 18, 2018
2.5*
Ημι-αυτοβιογραφικό και καυστικότατο κατά της ηθικής της εποχής του και κυρίως κατά της θρησκείας,τόσο που ο Μπάτλερ δεν θέλησε να εκδοθεί όσο ζούσε και το βιβλίο κυκλοφόρησε ένα χρόνο μετά το θάνατό του.
Δυσκολεύομαι να πω την άποψη μου γι'αυτό το βιβλίο.Συνήθως τα βιβλία βικτωριανών συγγραφέων τα απολαμβάνω αλλά αυτό για να πω την αλήθεια το βαρέθηκα λίγο(ή και πολύ ώρες ώρες).
Στα θετικά:το χιούμορ,η ειρωνεία,η επίθεση στη θρησκεία και την υποκρισία,κάποια κομμάτια ήταν πολύ μπροστά για την εποχή τους.
Στα αρνητικά το οτι πολλές φορές έμοιαζε με κήρυγμα που έχει τον ατελείωτο.Ο συγγραφέας ήθελε να πει κάποια πράγματα και με αφορμή τις περιπέτειες του Έρνεστ φιλοσοφεί ασταμάτητα και ,τις περισσότερες φορές,αρκετά βαρετά θα έλεγα.Ο ίδιος ο Έρνεστ είναι πολύ βαρετός τύπος και το γεγονός οτι η μοίρα του είναι στην ουσία προδιαγεγραμμένη και ποτέ δεν αφήνεται στην τύχη του απο τον αφηγητή φύλακα αγγελο του,όσα κακά κι αν του συμβούν,δεν βοηθάει και πολύ την κατάσταση.
Απο την αρχή μέχρι και το σημείο που ο Ερνεστ πάει στο κολλέγιο η ιστορία μου άρεσε αρκετά(και νομίζω οτι αυτό κυρίως είναι και το αυτοβιογραφικό κομμάτι), αλλά απο εκεί και πέρα μοιάζει κάπως ψεύτικη η ιστορία ,όλα περνάνε επιφανειακά και απλά δίνουν αφορμή για "κήρυγμα".
Nαι ,τελικά δεν δυσκολεύομαι και πολύ να πω την άποψη μου.Δεν μου άρεσε ιδιαίτερα το βιβλίο.
Ημι-αυτοβιογραφικό και καυστικότατο κατά της ηθικής της εποχής του και κυρίως κατά της θρησκείας,τόσο που ο Μπάτλερ δεν θέλησε να εκδοθεί όσο ζούσε και το βιβλίο κυκλοφόρησε ένα χρόνο μετά το θάνατό του.
Δυσκολεύομαι να πω την άποψη μου γι'αυτό το βιβλίο.Συνήθως τα βιβλία βικτωριανών συγγραφέων τα απολαμβάνω αλλά αυτό για να πω την αλήθεια το βαρέθηκα λίγο(ή και πολύ ώρες ώρες).
Στα θετικά:το χιούμορ,η ειρωνεία,η επίθεση στη θρησκεία και την υποκρισία,κάποια κομμάτια ήταν πολύ μπροστά για την εποχή τους.
Στα αρνητικά το οτι πολλές φορές έμοιαζε με κήρυγμα που έχει τον ατελείωτο.Ο συγγραφέας ήθελε να πει κάποια πράγματα και με αφορμή τις περιπέτειες του Έρνεστ φιλοσοφεί ασταμάτητα και ,τις περισσότερες φορές,αρκετά βαρετά θα έλεγα.Ο ίδιος ο Έρνεστ είναι πολύ βαρετός τύπος και το γεγονός οτι η μοίρα του είναι στην ουσία προδιαγεγραμμένη και ποτέ δεν αφήνεται στην τύχη του απο τον αφηγητή φύλακα αγγελο του,όσα κακά κι αν του συμβούν,δεν βοηθάει και πολύ την κατάσταση.
Απο την αρχή μέχρι και το σημείο που ο Ερνεστ πάει στο κολλέγιο η ιστορία μου άρεσε αρκετά(και νομίζω οτι αυτό κυρίως είναι και το αυτοβιογραφικό κομμάτι), αλλά απο εκεί και πέρα μοιάζει κάπως ψεύτικη η ιστορία ,όλα περνάνε επιφανειακά και απλά δίνουν αφορμή για "κήρυγμα".
Nαι ,τελικά δεν δυσκολεύομαι και πολύ να πω την άποψη μου.Δεν μου άρεσε ιδιαίτερα το βιβλίο.
February 18, 2013
Flesh is what governs the soul. Much of the book contains a scathing, satirical appraisal and condemnation of church, clergy, christianity, and the hypocrisy, dogma and deliberate self-delusion of religion. Pretty outrageous for 1884.
"the story that Christ died, came to life again and was carried from earth through clouds into the heavens could not be accepted ... He (Ernest) would probably have seen it years ago if he had not been hoodwinked by people who were paid for hoodwinking him." p.293
".. he had been humbugged and the greater part of the ills which afflicted him were due to ... the influence of Christian teaching.." p. 298
Of Ernest's clergy parents: "They had tried to keep their ignorance of the world from themselves by calling it the pursuit or heavenly things and then shutting their eyes to anything that might give them trouble." p.288
It matters little what a man professes "provided only that he follows it out with charitable inconsistency" ... p.314 I love this profound observation - that principle can be an ugly thing without charitable inconsistency.
The book is about a slow witted bumpkin who, because of his genteel birth, must be saved from poverty by a secret inheritance. Ernest, the hero, learns at a painfully slow pace that his beliefs are mere witless prejudices devoid of truth.
The author has Ernest find salvation later in the idea that expediency of belief trumps veracity - that accepting christianity is expedient, its truth is not relevant. I'm sure Butler, the author, would exempt his personal finances from that principle - that expediency trumps veracity.
Unfortunately, those not endowed with a class birthright - like Ellen, Ernest's false wife - are not worth saving.
Writes Butler: "We set good breeding as the corner-stone.. That a man should have been bred well and breed others well ... so that no one can look at him without seeing that he has come of good stock .. this is the desiderandum."
The class divide is as unbridgable to Butler as is the theological divide to his Theobald Pontifex character. Thus the book itself ends up being a monumental hypocrisy. Exactly the kind of unthinking narrow prejudices that his anti-hero Theobald Pontifex has about religion, the author, Samuel Butler, has about class. He has Ernest cured of his idiotic stupidity by having money thrust upon him. He has poor lower class Ellen condemned to be incurable from drink. To be in poverty is to be uncivilized. Ernest, upon getting money, gets back to civilization. (Butler's phrase)
"the story that Christ died, came to life again and was carried from earth through clouds into the heavens could not be accepted ... He (Ernest) would probably have seen it years ago if he had not been hoodwinked by people who were paid for hoodwinking him." p.293
".. he had been humbugged and the greater part of the ills which afflicted him were due to ... the influence of Christian teaching.." p. 298
Of Ernest's clergy parents: "They had tried to keep their ignorance of the world from themselves by calling it the pursuit or heavenly things and then shutting their eyes to anything that might give them trouble." p.288
It matters little what a man professes "provided only that he follows it out with charitable inconsistency" ... p.314 I love this profound observation - that principle can be an ugly thing without charitable inconsistency.
The book is about a slow witted bumpkin who, because of his genteel birth, must be saved from poverty by a secret inheritance. Ernest, the hero, learns at a painfully slow pace that his beliefs are mere witless prejudices devoid of truth.
The author has Ernest find salvation later in the idea that expediency of belief trumps veracity - that accepting christianity is expedient, its truth is not relevant. I'm sure Butler, the author, would exempt his personal finances from that principle - that expediency trumps veracity.
Unfortunately, those not endowed with a class birthright - like Ellen, Ernest's false wife - are not worth saving.
Writes Butler: "We set good breeding as the corner-stone.. That a man should have been bred well and breed others well ... so that no one can look at him without seeing that he has come of good stock .. this is the desiderandum."
The class divide is as unbridgable to Butler as is the theological divide to his Theobald Pontifex character. Thus the book itself ends up being a monumental hypocrisy. Exactly the kind of unthinking narrow prejudices that his anti-hero Theobald Pontifex has about religion, the author, Samuel Butler, has about class. He has Ernest cured of his idiotic stupidity by having money thrust upon him. He has poor lower class Ellen condemned to be incurable from drink. To be in poverty is to be uncivilized. Ernest, upon getting money, gets back to civilization. (Butler's phrase)
May 26, 2019
Αποφάσισα πως υπάρχουν βιβλία που τους αξίζει να μιλήσεις γι’ αυτά, αφού περάσει κάποιος καιρός. Όταν δε μπορείς να κάνεις πια αλλιώς. Όταν σε βασανίζει που στέκονται λυπημένα, μακριά απ’ τα διαβασμένα και ξέχωρα απ’ τα αδιάβαστα. Όταν τα κοιτάς και δεν επιτρέπεις στη σκέψη σου να τρέχει.
Είναι ένα βιβλίο ενηλικίωσης. Είναι ένα ταξίδι ενός ανθρώπου που αλλάζει καθώς μεγαλώνει. Άλλοτε όμορφο, άλλοτε άσκημο. Συμπάσχεις πάντα, καταλαβαίνεις, δε συμφωνείς όμως παντού. Κάπου διαχωρίζεσαι. Τον ακολούθησα σε ένα ταξίδι που έμοιαζε με την Κόψη του ξυραφιού και το Κόκκινο και το μαύρο, αλλά θύμιζε εξ’ ίσου τη δική μου διαδρομή. Και αυτό μου έδωσε την ελευθερία να δω έξω απ’ τον εαυτό μου και τον εαυτό μου. Είναι ένα βιβλίο που δεν υπάρχουν σούπερ ήρωες. Είναι η Κοινή ανθρώπινη μοίρα που είναι ένα πολύ ξεχωριστό γεγονός για καθέναν από μας, γιατί παλεύουμε όλη μας τη ζωή, να βρούμε πως και που θέλουμε να ανήκουμε και ποιο το βαθύτερο νόημα για εμάς, ποια η ηθική θέση που είναι συνακόλουθη με τον εαυτό μας. Είναι η λογική της Κοινής ανθρώπινης θέσης, ή είναι ένας κανόνας προσωπικός πάνω στο σωστό και το λάθος. Είναι ένα βιβλίο για το ποιος είσαι.
Στον απόηχο του όμως, στη σύγκριση –αναγκαστική- με ό,τι άλλο διάβασα, με ό,τι προσκρούει πάνω μου καθημερινά, πρόσφερε ένα απάγκιο για όσο το διάβαζα, αλλά δεν έμειναν και πολλά. Παράδοξος, καυστικός, ενδιαφέρων, κατά διαστήματα τολμηρός, συναισθηματικός, ανθρώπινος μου πρόσφερε ένα συνεχή διάλογο, ή με έκοβε απ’ αυτόν. Δεν έκανε όμως εκείνο το άλμα που αγγίζει την ψυχή του και ξεσκίζει τη δική σου. Ήταν διαπιστώσεις, ήταν απόρροιες, ήταν επισημάνσεις, ήταν ομοιότητες. Ήταν όμως και βολεμένο, εκλογικευμένο εκ του μακρόθεν, δεν ήταν το Έγκλημα και τιμωρία, γιατί δε με εξευτέλισε. Ήταν το ταξίδι ενός ανθρώπου που ήταν τόσο μεγάλες οι αδικίες απ’ την οικογενειακή μνήμη, αυτή που του ασκήθηκε και αυτή που του επιβλήθηκε –ώστε τελικά να επιβεβαιώνει σε πολλά σημεία, το Σαντ- και που δεν του επέτρεψε να δει τη σύνολη εικόνα, ενός κόσμου που πήγαινε στο διάολο. Ήταν ένα βιβλίο που δεν απελευθέρωσε την ψυχή του απ’ τα κεκτημένα, αγαπημένα ή μισερά.
Είναι ένα βιβλίο ενηλικίωσης. Είναι ένα ταξίδι ενός ανθρώπου που αλλάζει καθώς μεγαλώνει. Άλλοτε όμορφο, άλλοτε άσκημο. Συμπάσχεις πάντα, καταλαβαίνεις, δε συμφωνείς όμως παντού. Κάπου διαχωρίζεσαι. Τον ακολούθησα σε ένα ταξίδι που έμοιαζε με την Κόψη του ξυραφιού και το Κόκκινο και το μαύρο, αλλά θύμιζε εξ’ ίσου τη δική μου διαδρομή. Και αυτό μου έδωσε την ελευθερία να δω έξω απ’ τον εαυτό μου και τον εαυτό μου. Είναι ένα βιβλίο που δεν υπάρχουν σούπερ ήρωες. Είναι η Κοινή ανθρώπινη μοίρα που είναι ένα πολύ ξεχωριστό γεγονός για καθέναν από μας, γιατί παλεύουμε όλη μας τη ζωή, να βρούμε πως και που θέλουμε να ανήκουμε και ποιο το βαθύτερο νόημα για εμάς, ποια η ηθική θέση που είναι συνακόλουθη με τον εαυτό μας. Είναι η λογική της Κοινής ανθρώπινης θέσης, ή είναι ένας κανόνας προσωπικός πάνω στο σωστό και το λάθος. Είναι ένα βιβλίο για το ποιος είσαι.
Στον απόηχο του όμως, στη σύγκριση –αναγκαστική- με ό,τι άλλο διάβασα, με ό,τι προσκρούει πάνω μου καθημερινά, πρόσφερε ένα απάγκιο για όσο το διάβαζα, αλλά δεν έμειναν και πολλά. Παράδοξος, καυστικός, ενδιαφέρων, κατά διαστήματα τολμηρός, συναισθηματικός, ανθρώπινος μου πρόσφερε ένα συνεχή διάλογο, ή με έκοβε απ’ αυτόν. Δεν έκανε όμως εκείνο το άλμα που αγγίζει την ψυχή του και ξεσκίζει τη δική σου. Ήταν διαπιστώσεις, ήταν απόρροιες, ήταν επισημάνσεις, ήταν ομοιότητες. Ήταν όμως και βολεμένο, εκλογικευμένο εκ του μακρόθεν, δεν ήταν το Έγκλημα και τιμωρία, γιατί δε με εξευτέλισε. Ήταν το ταξίδι ενός ανθρώπου που ήταν τόσο μεγάλες οι αδικίες απ’ την οικογενειακή μνήμη, αυτή που του ασκήθηκε και αυτή που του επιβλήθηκε –ώστε τελικά να επιβεβαιώνει σε πολλά σημεία, το Σαντ- και που δεν του επέτρεψε να δει τη σύνολη εικόνα, ενός κόσμου που πήγαινε στο διάολο. Ήταν ένα βιβλίο που δεν απελευθέρωσε την ψυχή του απ’ τα κεκτημένα, αγαπημένα ή μισερά.
April 24, 2019
Samuel Butler's The Way of All Flesh was mentioned in a book I was reading some years ago and I marked it "to read" but my interest was again peaked last year while reading Christopher Morley's Parnassus on Wheels which is packed with novels and authors due to the main character there peddles used books. I have never read Butler and had no idea about this book except the title seemed risque but I found this story to be thought provoking look at family and religion which was published posthumously in 1903. This is a semi autobiography novel which centers around four generations of the Pontifex family and mostly the "coming of age" of Ernest Pontifex. He is expected to join the church but Ernest is different and he is out of sync with his fellow peers which makes him find trouble along the way. Family relationships are brought to the forefront during these Victorian times. This book has religious questioning throughout which is the driving force of this novel but not in an overly religious way but more of a young man wondering about God and religion in his life and what path to follow. About 1/3 into this story it was hard to put down, that is how much I loved it. I read the Delphi collection edition which I used my beta feature to highlight many quotes that interested me.
Old time radio - NBC University Theater- April 24, 1949
https://www.oldtimeradiodownloads.com...
Old time radio - NBC University Theater- April 24, 1949
https://www.oldtimeradiodownloads.com...
July 28, 2021
Very nice.
October 29, 2018
Honestly, this was pretty aggravating. It suffers the most criminal defect: it's plain boring. The characters aren't unique enough to make me care.
It's narrated by Mr. Overton, who's friends with the Pontifex family. The first third is a dry breakdown of the past three or four generations of the Pontifex family and how they fit into their local community (or don't), and how Mr. Overton has a thing for Alethea Pontifex.
Didn't care.
The next two-thirds are about Ernest Pontifex, who is Alethea's nephew. Alethea died and gave her fortune to Mr. Overton so that he could give it to Ernest when he comes of age. For some reason she took a liking to Ernest. Can't imagine why.
Ernest has some boring crises of faith and basically gets suckered in by some cultish Anglican priests. He tries to rape someone and gets convicted and sent to jail. Yeah, at this point, Ernest is both a creep AND he's boring. I literally could not care less what happened to him.
The writing is pretty unengaging and pedantic. "Unnecessarily cluttered" is a good way to describe it.
It's narrated by Mr. Overton, who's friends with the Pontifex family. The first third is a dry breakdown of the past three or four generations of the Pontifex family and how they fit into their local community (or don't), and how Mr. Overton has a thing for Alethea Pontifex.
Didn't care.
The next two-thirds are about Ernest Pontifex, who is Alethea's nephew. Alethea died and gave her fortune to Mr. Overton so that he could give it to Ernest when he comes of age. For some reason she took a liking to Ernest. Can't imagine why.
Ernest has some boring crises of faith and basically gets suckered in by some cultish Anglican priests. He tries to rape someone and gets convicted and sent to jail. Yeah, at this point, Ernest is both a creep AND he's boring. I literally could not care less what happened to him.
The writing is pretty unengaging and pedantic. "Unnecessarily cluttered" is a good way to describe it.
April 9, 2013
When this book came up as the October selection for the Classics Book Club (a "real life" book club here in Toronto rather than an online one, run by Chris of Eclectic Indulgence), I was pretty pleased because it meant getting around to reading a book I've had on my shelf for about fifteen years. The reason I had this - which, let's face it, isn't one of the more famous Classics you've heard of - is rather silly but I'll tell you all the same. I grew up watching
A Room With a View
- I've probably seen it fifty times if I've seen it once, it's a wonderful movie with countless quotable lines because the actors have such superb delivery (while I'm at it, I'll confess that as a teen I had a huge crush on George Emerson, played by Julian Sands) - and there's a scene in the movie, the famous nude bathing scene; I'm stunned that it's not up on YouTube.
So, the scene begins when Mr Bebe, the vicar (Simon Callow), and Lucy's brother Freddy (Rupert Graves) go to the Emerson's cottage, which they're still moving into, to ask George if he "wants to have a bathe". Mr Bebe starts going through the Emerson's books, sitting in a packing box, picking them up and reading the title - he picks up one, says in a curious voice, "The Way of All Flesh.... Never heard of it." And that's it. I'd never heard of it either, and then one day I came across this old Penguin edition in a second hand bookshop and I was so curious and fan-girly about it I bought it. Flipping through it, though, it looked dense and even had bars of music in it - not good fodder for a young teen who read mostly fantasy! I carted it around with all my books whenever I moved, over the years, but never honestly thought I'd get around to reading it. Until now. And I have to say, I loved it!
First, a word on the cover. The painting is called "Family Prayers" and it was painted by Butler himself. Once you know that, and know that the book is semi-autobiographical, you can see why such an ugly painting is perfect for the book. The stiff, wax-like figures enduring what is clearly a very dull Bible reading is very much a slice from Butler's life. The new Penguin edition has the larger version of the painting, and the colours are different, making it a more appealing portrait than the dowdy, drab version on my edition.
The book was first published in 1903, after Butler had died, but it was written in 1873, revised in 1880, put aside in 1884, a year before his dear friend and editor, Miss Savage, died. The last chapter is considered inferior because she never had a chance to read it. This edition is also the original, abridged edition: when Butler died, he charged his publisher, R.A. Streatfeild, to publish the manuscript; Streatfeild made some edits to the manuscript and it is that version that I read, though the cut paragraphs are in the notes at the back. The new Penguin edition reinserted those cuts, but I'm not entirely convinced Streatfeild's version isn't the better one after all.
The novel is semi-autobiographical, as I mentioned: the Samuel Butler character is the "hero" the story, but not the narrator. The story is narrated by a family friend and the "hero's" godfather, Edward Overton, who knew his hero's great-grandfather, old Mr Pontifex, when he was just a boy, and Mr Pontifex's successful and pompous son George. Mr Overton was of an age with George Pontifex's younger son Theobald, who took Orders, married an older woman, Christina, and had three children: Ernest, Joey and Charlotte. Ernest is Butler.
It is a harsh, honest - though certainly one-sded from Butler's perspective - portrait of a Victorian family, as well as a discursive essay on religion. Mr Overton gives a family chronicle of the Pontifex's, focusing on Theobald - a weak man who avoids committing to things, including marrying his fiance - and, once he's born, Ernest. Ernest is a deeply flawed boy who grows into an equally flawed man. Growing up in a repressive environment at home, frequently chastised, beaten and told he is inferior, Ernest develops into a boy who is always looking for love and acceptance, is naive and gullible to the point of being taken advantage of, and imitates what he hears from the mouths of others because of his understanding, drummed into him from birth, that everyone else is superior. His mother, Christina, he wants to love but she betrays his trust, time and again.
In fact, both of Ernest's parents are the epitome of "well-meaning" cruelty, and Butler comes down heavily upon them both. They, like many Victorian parents but perhaps more so, believe in the concept of "training up" their children. I came across this term, "train up", earlier this year thanks to the wonderful blog, Awful Library Books - one book featured there was the shocking contemporary piece, Train Up Your Child by Michael & Debi Pearl (1994), which advises parents to whip their children, even babies, for "every transgression" in order to make them dutiful and submissive. They also recommend mothers hit their children if they cry for her. I'll leave you to read more excerpts from this "manual" through the link above; suffice it to say that the descriptions of Theobald and Christina's misguided parenting technique brought it vividly to mind, including this insight about Christina:
Yet it's also apparent that if Theobald had been a different man - and he himself learnt parenting, such as it is, from his own bully of a father - Christina would have been a much different mother.
There are many gems in this book that stand out, and speak to people in different ways (as was clear at the book club meeting). Ernest's life journey to the point at which he comes into money left him by his aunt when he turns twenty-eight, and also comes into self-awareness, cleverness and a higher degree of astuteness, is one which has more lows than highs. Some seriously crappy things happen to him, most of which are his fault - or rather the fault of his repressive, forbidding childhood and parents, who, in their quest to make him dutiful and submissive to their will, created an individual who is ripe pickings for scams, swindles and other hood-winking at the hands of others.
Yet, I felt great sympathy for Ernest. He isn't a likeable character but his yearning for love and acceptance, and the influence of his parents on all his flaws, made me both sorry for him and angry on his behalf. Mr Overton dangles the words "my hero" (meaning, the focal point of his story and also a character who, if you bear with him, will make it all worthwhile), and made me extremely interested in finding out how Ernest could go from this weak-willed, easily taken advantage of idiot to someone who can laugh at his own foolishness and point out his own previous flaws articulately.
Ernest isn't the only fascinating character. We are very much in Butler's hands here, but it wasn't a bad place to be. His characters will put you in mind of Dickens, I should think: larger-than-life, extreme examples and even stereotypes; monstrous. And the ups and downs of Ernest's young life, likewise, could put you in mind of young Pip. (Dickens's fiction is dismissed as trash by Mr Overton, and Austen portrait of families is also referred to: "The parents in Miss Austen's novels are less like savage wild beasts than those of her predecessors, but she evidently looks upon them with suspicion..." [p.52])
There being so much going on in this book, I could write for ages and never cover it all. I don't have ages though, and neither I'm sure do you, so I'll get right to the religious side of the novel. I liked the way Richard Hoggart expressed it in his introduction:
In the novel, Ernest and Theobald give us perspective on the position of Christianity at the time, and Butler, through his characters, comes down just as hard on the hypocrisy and cruelty in the church as he does the hypocrisy and cruelty in the domestic family. While he does at times drift into long paragraphs of thought that can lose you a bit (some readers preferred to skim over these passages and stick to the more clear-cut story), I found it fascinating and intriguing - but I didn't take away any new ideas. In fact, I can't clearly remember any points from these ramblings, as I can about Ernest. Still, the novel wouldn't be the same without them.
If you have some time, patience and aren't easily daunted by lengthy books - and I hasten to add here that I found this novel to highly readable, with a deep sense of irony - I highly recommend The Way of All Flesh. It's very much a product of its time, and yet there are points in here that show just how far we haven't come; some astute observations on everything from academia to families, that are still highly relevant today and no doubt will be for a long time yet to come.
And I can totally see why Merchant Ivory placed this book so prominently in the Emerson's Edwardian home.
So, the scene begins when Mr Bebe, the vicar (Simon Callow), and Lucy's brother Freddy (Rupert Graves) go to the Emerson's cottage, which they're still moving into, to ask George if he "wants to have a bathe". Mr Bebe starts going through the Emerson's books, sitting in a packing box, picking them up and reading the title - he picks up one, says in a curious voice, "The Way of All Flesh.... Never heard of it." And that's it. I'd never heard of it either, and then one day I came across this old Penguin edition in a second hand bookshop and I was so curious and fan-girly about it I bought it. Flipping through it, though, it looked dense and even had bars of music in it - not good fodder for a young teen who read mostly fantasy! I carted it around with all my books whenever I moved, over the years, but never honestly thought I'd get around to reading it. Until now. And I have to say, I loved it!
First, a word on the cover. The painting is called "Family Prayers" and it was painted by Butler himself. Once you know that, and know that the book is semi-autobiographical, you can see why such an ugly painting is perfect for the book. The stiff, wax-like figures enduring what is clearly a very dull Bible reading is very much a slice from Butler's life. The new Penguin edition has the larger version of the painting, and the colours are different, making it a more appealing portrait than the dowdy, drab version on my edition.The book was first published in 1903, after Butler had died, but it was written in 1873, revised in 1880, put aside in 1884, a year before his dear friend and editor, Miss Savage, died. The last chapter is considered inferior because she never had a chance to read it. This edition is also the original, abridged edition: when Butler died, he charged his publisher, R.A. Streatfeild, to publish the manuscript; Streatfeild made some edits to the manuscript and it is that version that I read, though the cut paragraphs are in the notes at the back. The new Penguin edition reinserted those cuts, but I'm not entirely convinced Streatfeild's version isn't the better one after all.
The novel is semi-autobiographical, as I mentioned: the Samuel Butler character is the "hero" the story, but not the narrator. The story is narrated by a family friend and the "hero's" godfather, Edward Overton, who knew his hero's great-grandfather, old Mr Pontifex, when he was just a boy, and Mr Pontifex's successful and pompous son George. Mr Overton was of an age with George Pontifex's younger son Theobald, who took Orders, married an older woman, Christina, and had three children: Ernest, Joey and Charlotte. Ernest is Butler.
It is a harsh, honest - though certainly one-sded from Butler's perspective - portrait of a Victorian family, as well as a discursive essay on religion. Mr Overton gives a family chronicle of the Pontifex's, focusing on Theobald - a weak man who avoids committing to things, including marrying his fiance - and, once he's born, Ernest. Ernest is a deeply flawed boy who grows into an equally flawed man. Growing up in a repressive environment at home, frequently chastised, beaten and told he is inferior, Ernest develops into a boy who is always looking for love and acceptance, is naive and gullible to the point of being taken advantage of, and imitates what he hears from the mouths of others because of his understanding, drummed into him from birth, that everyone else is superior. His mother, Christina, he wants to love but she betrays his trust, time and again.
In fact, both of Ernest's parents are the epitome of "well-meaning" cruelty, and Butler comes down heavily upon them both. They, like many Victorian parents but perhaps more so, believe in the concept of "training up" their children. I came across this term, "train up", earlier this year thanks to the wonderful blog, Awful Library Books - one book featured there was the shocking contemporary piece, Train Up Your Child by Michael & Debi Pearl (1994), which advises parents to whip their children, even babies, for "every transgression" in order to make them dutiful and submissive. They also recommend mothers hit their children if they cry for her. I'll leave you to read more excerpts from this "manual" through the link above; suffice it to say that the descriptions of Theobald and Christina's misguided parenting technique brought it vividly to mind, including this insight about Christina:
...nevertheless she was fond of her boy, which Theobald never was, and it was long before she could destroy all affection for herself in the mind of her first-born. But she persevered. (p.118)
Yet it's also apparent that if Theobald had been a different man - and he himself learnt parenting, such as it is, from his own bully of a father - Christina would have been a much different mother.
There are many gems in this book that stand out, and speak to people in different ways (as was clear at the book club meeting). Ernest's life journey to the point at which he comes into money left him by his aunt when he turns twenty-eight, and also comes into self-awareness, cleverness and a higher degree of astuteness, is one which has more lows than highs. Some seriously crappy things happen to him, most of which are his fault - or rather the fault of his repressive, forbidding childhood and parents, who, in their quest to make him dutiful and submissive to their will, created an individual who is ripe pickings for scams, swindles and other hood-winking at the hands of others.
Yet, I felt great sympathy for Ernest. He isn't a likeable character but his yearning for love and acceptance, and the influence of his parents on all his flaws, made me both sorry for him and angry on his behalf. Mr Overton dangles the words "my hero" (meaning, the focal point of his story and also a character who, if you bear with him, will make it all worthwhile), and made me extremely interested in finding out how Ernest could go from this weak-willed, easily taken advantage of idiot to someone who can laugh at his own foolishness and point out his own previous flaws articulately.
Ernest isn't the only fascinating character. We are very much in Butler's hands here, but it wasn't a bad place to be. His characters will put you in mind of Dickens, I should think: larger-than-life, extreme examples and even stereotypes; monstrous. And the ups and downs of Ernest's young life, likewise, could put you in mind of young Pip. (Dickens's fiction is dismissed as trash by Mr Overton, and Austen portrait of families is also referred to: "The parents in Miss Austen's novels are less like savage wild beasts than those of her predecessors, but she evidently looks upon them with suspicion..." [p.52])
There being so much going on in this book, I could write for ages and never cover it all. I don't have ages though, and neither I'm sure do you, so I'll get right to the religious side of the novel. I liked the way Richard Hoggart expressed it in his introduction:
Most of [the book's] specific causes have been won; its battles tend to look old-fashioned - interesting, no doubt, but dated. Yet it still has a peculiarly lively appeal. It speaks to us, makes us listen, less for the particular errors it is castigating than for the way it castigates and exposes them: we respond to its temper of mind, its energy, charity and irony. (p.7)
In the novel, Ernest and Theobald give us perspective on the position of Christianity at the time, and Butler, through his characters, comes down just as hard on the hypocrisy and cruelty in the church as he does the hypocrisy and cruelty in the domestic family. While he does at times drift into long paragraphs of thought that can lose you a bit (some readers preferred to skim over these passages and stick to the more clear-cut story), I found it fascinating and intriguing - but I didn't take away any new ideas. In fact, I can't clearly remember any points from these ramblings, as I can about Ernest. Still, the novel wouldn't be the same without them.
If you have some time, patience and aren't easily daunted by lengthy books - and I hasten to add here that I found this novel to highly readable, with a deep sense of irony - I highly recommend The Way of All Flesh. It's very much a product of its time, and yet there are points in here that show just how far we haven't come; some astute observations on everything from academia to families, that are still highly relevant today and no doubt will be for a long time yet to come.
And I can totally see why Merchant Ivory placed this book so prominently in the Emerson's Edwardian home.
April 20, 2012
Originally published on my blog here in April 1999.
Samuel Butler's posthumously published novel has been described as the first twentieth century novel (it was in fact completed in the 1880s though not published until the early 1900s). In its iconoclasm, it certainly marks a break with the mainstream of the nineteenth century, and foreshadows the way that the twentieth century has seen criticism and questioning of just about every conventional value.
Butler's style and language are, to my mind, fairly resolutely nineteenth century; the novel more closely reminds me of Vanity Fair than anything else. It is much more savage than Thackeray's work, and it should be remembered that Vanity Fair caused something of a scandal when first published.
The Way of All Flesh is principally about the relationship between Ernest Pontifex and his father Theobald, and is strongly autobiographical. One of Butler's chief concerns, writing soon after Darwin's The Origin of Species (the book contains material composed over a twenty year span), was with the importance in the eventual character of heredity and environment, what we sometime today call the nature vs. nurture debate. Thus he puts the relationship that is his main concern in the context of Theobald's relationships with his own father and grandfather.
Theobald is a harsh parent and a hypocrite, and he brings up Ernest in the strictest of orthodox Protestant homes, the smallest lapse being punished with a severe beating. Taught to believe himself destined, like his father, to enter the church, Ernest does so, but hates his life, ending up in prison. Being cut off by his family because of this is described as being one of the best things that happened to him, and he finishes his term of hard labour, emerging into the world determined to make a fresh start as a layman.
Although few of her actions directly affect the plot, Ernest's mother Christina is even more unpleasant than his father. She (for example) wheedles confidences out of him as a child, which are then passed on to his father to be the occasion of further beatings; she writes Ernest letters full of pious hypocrisy.
Butler attacks the major institutions of nineteenth century England - the family, the church, the idea of class - because of their stifling effect on those people who do not - can not - fit into the accepted picture of how things are. It is in this that The Way of All Flesh is most powerful, and this is how it foreshadowed much of the writing which followed the effective destruction of these institutions in their nineteenth century form which followed the First World War.
Samuel Butler's posthumously published novel has been described as the first twentieth century novel (it was in fact completed in the 1880s though not published until the early 1900s). In its iconoclasm, it certainly marks a break with the mainstream of the nineteenth century, and foreshadows the way that the twentieth century has seen criticism and questioning of just about every conventional value.
Butler's style and language are, to my mind, fairly resolutely nineteenth century; the novel more closely reminds me of Vanity Fair than anything else. It is much more savage than Thackeray's work, and it should be remembered that Vanity Fair caused something of a scandal when first published.
The Way of All Flesh is principally about the relationship between Ernest Pontifex and his father Theobald, and is strongly autobiographical. One of Butler's chief concerns, writing soon after Darwin's The Origin of Species (the book contains material composed over a twenty year span), was with the importance in the eventual character of heredity and environment, what we sometime today call the nature vs. nurture debate. Thus he puts the relationship that is his main concern in the context of Theobald's relationships with his own father and grandfather.
Theobald is a harsh parent and a hypocrite, and he brings up Ernest in the strictest of orthodox Protestant homes, the smallest lapse being punished with a severe beating. Taught to believe himself destined, like his father, to enter the church, Ernest does so, but hates his life, ending up in prison. Being cut off by his family because of this is described as being one of the best things that happened to him, and he finishes his term of hard labour, emerging into the world determined to make a fresh start as a layman.
Although few of her actions directly affect the plot, Ernest's mother Christina is even more unpleasant than his father. She (for example) wheedles confidences out of him as a child, which are then passed on to his father to be the occasion of further beatings; she writes Ernest letters full of pious hypocrisy.
Butler attacks the major institutions of nineteenth century England - the family, the church, the idea of class - because of their stifling effect on those people who do not - can not - fit into the accepted picture of how things are. It is in this that The Way of All Flesh is most powerful, and this is how it foreshadowed much of the writing which followed the effective destruction of these institutions in their nineteenth century form which followed the First World War.
January 22, 2013
Slight spoiler
I first read this years ago and it affected me deeply- and the best parts still do, though I now find it a very uneven work. As I see it (after recently rereading his Erewhon books) is that Butler was a divided character: he was a good writer who could tell an entertaining story, but he was also a bitter man who wanted to be didactic - and he couldn't manage to do it without the narrative grinding to a halt at intervals. This is a very good book which could be edited into a great one. (a little research informs me that the generally available version IS an editing of Butler's more lengthy manuscript)
Worth reading at least for the ironic comedy: While pregnant Ernest's mother is afraid she might die in childbirth so she writes a letter to be only opened in the event of her death. (she lives). Ernest finds it many years later and is moved when he reads it...but he notices that the envelope has been opened and his Mother has edited and re-written it over the years.
I first read this years ago and it affected me deeply- and the best parts still do, though I now find it a very uneven work. As I see it (after recently rereading his Erewhon books) is that Butler was a divided character: he was a good writer who could tell an entertaining story, but he was also a bitter man who wanted to be didactic - and he couldn't manage to do it without the narrative grinding to a halt at intervals. This is a very good book which could be edited into a great one. (a little research informs me that the generally available version IS an editing of Butler's more lengthy manuscript)
Worth reading at least for the ironic comedy: While pregnant Ernest's mother is afraid she might die in childbirth so she writes a letter to be only opened in the event of her death. (she lives). Ernest finds it many years later and is moved when he reads it...but he notices that the envelope has been opened and his Mother has edited and re-written it over the years.
September 20, 2010
What a pleasant surprise this book turned out to be. I must admit I wasn’t looking forward to reading a book written in the 1800′s and published in 1903 about repression and family life in mid-1800′s England.
This is a book to be read with focus as much could be lost without careful reading. One can certainly not steamroll through this novel without missing out on great humor from its marvelous author, Samuel Butler. Each page requires longer than usual time for reading, however, the payback is well worth the effort.
Butler’s wit is found throughout The Way of All Flesh and helped the reader go along with him as the main character, Ernest Pontifex comes of age in a repressed English household in the mid-1800′s. Butler’s ability to capture the essence of all his characters is evident upon reading and was apparently based on his own parents along with other relatives, family friends and teachers.
Ernest’s parents are quite believable as Butler portrays the vanity of a mother who fancies her portrait on display when her son becomes bishop and a father who demands a financial accounting from all family members and claims monetary hardship to the point of unnecessary self sacrifice.
Ernest endures beatings from his father who then forces him into the clergy. The naive young man must learn to grow and finally rebels, only after unwittingly being imprisoned while living among the poor as a young cleric. I won’t say more for fear of revealing too much of this wonderful story.
Ironically, the repression Butler himself experienced wasn’t completely squashed as he ensured The Way of All Flesh was not published until after his death in 1902. I believe Butler did so as to not offend the many readers who could be recognized in his book. Butler claimed he was still revising the novel he had worked on from 1872 to 1884 and postponed its earlier publication and only at his deathbed did he request its being published as it were.
I think I could get into some trouble with Mr. Butler were I to meet him as I believe him to be a rebel such as myself. I believe he truly wrote from his heart and I would love to ask if he really kept little notebooks in his pockets as Ernest does in The Way of All Flesh.
Quotes:
…Papas and mamas sometimes ask young men whether their intentions are honourable towards their daughters. I think young men might occasionally ask papas and mamas whether their intentions are honourable before they accept invitations to houses where there are still unmarried daughters.
If a young man is in a small boat on a choppy sea, along with his affianced bride and both are seasick, and if the sick swain can forget his own anguish in the happiness of holding the fair one’s head when she is at her worst–then he is in love, and his heart will be in no danger of failing him as he passes his fir plantation.
Theorists may say what they like about a man’s children being a continuation of his own identity, but it will generally be found that those who talk in this way have no children of their own. Practical family men know better.
‘What can it matter to me,’ he says, ‘whether people read my books or not? It may matter to them–but I have too much money to want more, and if the books have any stuff in them it will work by and by. I do not know nor greatly care whether they are good or not. What opinion can any sane man form about his own work?’
My rating for The Way of All Flesh is a 9 out of 10.
This is a book to be read with focus as much could be lost without careful reading. One can certainly not steamroll through this novel without missing out on great humor from its marvelous author, Samuel Butler. Each page requires longer than usual time for reading, however, the payback is well worth the effort.
Butler’s wit is found throughout The Way of All Flesh and helped the reader go along with him as the main character, Ernest Pontifex comes of age in a repressed English household in the mid-1800′s. Butler’s ability to capture the essence of all his characters is evident upon reading and was apparently based on his own parents along with other relatives, family friends and teachers.
Ernest’s parents are quite believable as Butler portrays the vanity of a mother who fancies her portrait on display when her son becomes bishop and a father who demands a financial accounting from all family members and claims monetary hardship to the point of unnecessary self sacrifice.
Ernest endures beatings from his father who then forces him into the clergy. The naive young man must learn to grow and finally rebels, only after unwittingly being imprisoned while living among the poor as a young cleric. I won’t say more for fear of revealing too much of this wonderful story.
Ironically, the repression Butler himself experienced wasn’t completely squashed as he ensured The Way of All Flesh was not published until after his death in 1902. I believe Butler did so as to not offend the many readers who could be recognized in his book. Butler claimed he was still revising the novel he had worked on from 1872 to 1884 and postponed its earlier publication and only at his deathbed did he request its being published as it were.
I think I could get into some trouble with Mr. Butler were I to meet him as I believe him to be a rebel such as myself. I believe he truly wrote from his heart and I would love to ask if he really kept little notebooks in his pockets as Ernest does in The Way of All Flesh.
Quotes:
…Papas and mamas sometimes ask young men whether their intentions are honourable towards their daughters. I think young men might occasionally ask papas and mamas whether their intentions are honourable before they accept invitations to houses where there are still unmarried daughters.
If a young man is in a small boat on a choppy sea, along with his affianced bride and both are seasick, and if the sick swain can forget his own anguish in the happiness of holding the fair one’s head when she is at her worst–then he is in love, and his heart will be in no danger of failing him as he passes his fir plantation.
Theorists may say what they like about a man’s children being a continuation of his own identity, but it will generally be found that those who talk in this way have no children of their own. Practical family men know better.
‘What can it matter to me,’ he says, ‘whether people read my books or not? It may matter to them–but I have too much money to want more, and if the books have any stuff in them it will work by and by. I do not know nor greatly care whether they are good or not. What opinion can any sane man form about his own work?’
My rating for The Way of All Flesh is a 9 out of 10.
August 12, 2017
Το "Way of all Flesh" του Σάμιουελ Μπάτλερ είναι σίγουρα ένα βιβλίο που επιδέχεται πολλές ερμηνείες και είμαι σίγουρος πως δεν είμαι ικανός να το καταλάβω σε βάθος μα αυτό που με άγγιξε από αυτό το βιβλίο ήταν πρώτα από όλα το ανελέητο καυστικό "χιούμορ" ή μάλλον καλύτερα η ειρωνεία του για όλους και για όλα. Η ιστορία αυ΄τη έχει να κάνει με τρεις γενιές της οικογένειας Πόντιφεξ, τον Τζορτζ, τον γιο του Θίομπαλντ και το γιο του τελευταίου Έρνεστ που είναι και ο πρωταγνωνιστής αυτής της ιστορίας διηγούμενη από τον νονό του Όβερτον. Είναι οικογένεια κληρικών της Αγγλικής Εκκλησίας, όπως και του ίδιου του συγγραφέα, τους οποίους ο Μπάτλερ θεωρεί εντελώς ακατάλληλους να κάνουν οικογένεια λόγω των αξιών που μεταφέρουν στα παιδιά τους ότι "ο κληρικός βρίσκεται πολλές ώρες στο σπίτι" έτσι ώστε να ταλαιπωρεί ατ παιδιά του. Ο Έρνεστ από μικρός ανατράφηκε από τον κληρικό πατέρα του Θίομπαλντ να μην πιστεύει στον εαυτό του, να νιώθει όι είναι κακός, ανίκανος και άχρηστος. Όμως εκείνος, μετά από πολλές κακουχίες κατάφερε να αποδευσμευτεί και να κάνει αυτό που ήθελε. Το βιβλίο αυτό κατακεραυνώνει την υποκριτική Βικτωριανή εποχή και με την έκδοση του στις αρχές το 20ου αιώνα ανοίγει τον δρόμο στην Νέα Εποχή και δίνει ένα ελπιδοφόρο μήνυμα στους νέους κάθε εποχής.
April 11, 2016
Είναι περιττό να πω πολλά για αυτό το βιβλίο γιατί είμαι σίγουρος ότι θα μιλήσει διαφορετικά σε κάθε αναγνώστη… Θα πω μόνο ότι πρόκειται για μια αυτοβιογραφία με δομή μυθιστορήματος που είχε σκοπό να περιγράψει με καυστικό τρόπο την Αγγλία του 19ου αιώνα. Καταφέρνει όμως πολλά παραπάνω και αποκτάει διαχρονικό χαρακτήρα.
Προσωπικά με συγκλόνισε το οικογενειακό περιβάλλον του ήρωα. Πράγματα που φαντάζουν δεδομένα ο ήρωας τα στερείται και γίνεται το εξιλαστήριο θύμα της οικογενείας του. Εκτός από την πιεστική και αυστηρή μόρφωση εισπράττει μόνο αδιαφορία από τους γονείς του και χωρίς κανένα σωστό εφόδιο καλείται να αντιμετωπίσει τον κόσμο.
Εξαιρετικό βιβλίο το οποίο προτείνω σε όλους :)
4+ αστεράκια…
Προσωπικά με συγκλόνισε το οικογενειακό περιβάλλον του ήρωα. Πράγματα που φαντάζουν δεδομένα ο ήρωας τα στερείται και γίνεται το εξιλαστήριο θύμα της οικογενείας του. Εκτός από την πιεστική και αυστηρή μόρφωση εισπράττει μόνο αδιαφορία από τους γονείς του και χωρίς κανένα σωστό εφόδιο καλείται να αντιμετωπίσει τον κόσμο.
Εξαιρετικό βιβλίο το οποίο προτείνω σε όλους :)
4+ αστεράκια…
June 4, 2016
3,5 για την ακρίβεια.
Ένας άλλος τίτλος για το βιβλίο θα μπορούσε να είναι: Δίψα για ελευθερία και ανεξαρτησία.
Ένας άλλος τίτλος για το βιβλίο θα μπορούσε να είναι: Δίψα για ελευθερία και ανεξαρτησία.
February 26, 2016
The novel traces the development of the Pontifex family over four generations. Traits are handed down. Ernest the hero of the book, an outcast of conventional society, is the most self fulfilled and materially successful of all the Pontifexes. He ensures that his own children are not brought up by a Pontifex – there is too much at stake – he bears the scars of a Pontifex childhood!
I enjoyed reading this but the author does not have the easiest of writing styles.
I enjoyed reading this but the author does not have the easiest of writing styles.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 671 reviews