Narrative technique in The Good Soldier

Abstract

In the dedicatory letter to Stella (Bowen) Ford, Ford Madox Ford wrote that, at a certain point in his life, he decided to put in a novel all he knew about writing to produce the Auk's egg of a career ordaíned to end at the age of forty. He was mistaken as far as his literary career was concerned, for many more books would be written in times to come. However, in the critics' appraisal The Good Soldier remains his swam song, his Auk's egg. In this work we can see the results of Ford's endless studies of the form of the novel, done alone or with Conrad during the years of their partnership, and it is generally agreed that, through its unity of form and substance, technique and theme, Ford reveals himself at his best.