The Way of All Flesh: Library Edition

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Summary: The Victorian Novel Grows Up
Review: "The Way of All Flesh" seems to be best known as the Victorian novel that thumbed its nose at Victorian novels. For this reason, it's frequently mentioned in talks of literary history, but I don't ever hear of anyone praising Samuel Butler's novel from an artistic perspective. Actually, I find the book more interesting for its story than for its place in the development of 19th and 20th century literature.

I tried to read this novel once and only got through the first 100 pages or so. I found it remarkably dull and dry, and the tone of the first-person narrator (Mr. Overton), who stops the action every 10 pages or so to offer personal asides that reveal more about him than about the characters he's writing about, I thought to be snide and irritating.

But I hate not finishing a book, so I picked it up again, this time understanding that it would be a dry read and prepared to appreciate it for its historical context. To my surprise, I found myself caught up in the story and thought the whole thing very funny. I can't believe I missed all the humour the first time through.

I hesitate to give this novel too much credit for deflating the pompous bubble of Victorian morality, because other authors writing at the same time as Butler were doing the same thing (Dickens for one can be incredibly caustic). But there is a maturity to Butler's writing that is not present in other Victorian writers. This novel feels much more modern than anything else written pre-1900, and even feels more modern than some books written after. Unlike Dickens, whose characters are either all good or all bad and have about as much depth as the characters you'd find in a comic book (this isn't a criticism--I like Dickens), Butler's characters (at least Ernest, his protagonist) seem very much alive and flawed. Ernest is easily influenced by everyone around him and makes decisions based on how he thinks he should act rather than how he wants to act. He doesn't know what he wants out of life, he's a screw up, he's got lousy luck. All of these things make him quite endearing because they make him so human. The scathing criticism of religious hypocrisy and moral bombast exhibited by the majority of people in Ernest's life can be funny, especially if you agree with it (as I do), but the story itself is much more interesting than the social commentary.

I would definitely recommend this book. It's not necessarily a page turner, but it consistently held my interest. Just remember that it's supposed to be funny. Think of Butler as a 19th century Evelyn Waugh, and you should do just fine.

Rating:
Summary: The Way of All Flesh
Review: A very important novel of the 19th Century. How it is included in the best novels of the 20th Century by the New York Times is beyond me. The book was begun more than 30 years before 1900. Although completed in 1872, it lay unpublished for nearly 30 years; presumably until such time as some of its anti-Victorian ideals would be more palatable to the British public.

The story principally centers around the life of Ernest Pontifex, an impreesionable and naive young man who is reared by devout Anglican parents. Their well meaning cruelty shelter Ernest and cause him to make bad decisions and derail his ambitions. As a result of the consequences of these bad decisions, Ernest learns to manage his own life and becomes a success despite his early failures.

Although important in its time, the novel is brutally slow.

Rating:
Summary: A questionable "classic," but worth a read...
Review: Butler's stodgily paced and, at times, slow moving novel is perhaps less compelling now that it once was; yet still presents an interesting picture of the paradoxes and hypocrises of Victorian society. Butler does not, as once reviewer claims, employ the "straw man" to defame Christianity. What the author does (and sadly that reviewer seems to have missed it) is demonstrate Christianity's place in justifying elite conceptions of their own purity and morality. Ernest Pontifex's quasi-puritan parents believe themselves to be the very picture of piety - when in actuality they are emotionally cruel and questionably Christian-like towards their own kin. Really, these characters, who are so imbued by their own sense of righteousness to ably examine their own lives, are a metaphor for all of Victorian society. Perhaps this metaphoric critique, no doubt very biting in its time, has lost its edge in a time of less subtle criticism. Still, worth the time to read if you're interested in the changes in both English society (and self-image) and modern literature at the turn of the century. Usually classified as a "modern" novel, it more aptly lies somewhere in between.

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Summary: Makes Dickens look like fluff
Review: I read this book after reading all the reviews on Amazon not knowing what to expect: Incredibly boring or amazing insightful? I have read many books written in that same time period. I believe this to be the most mature work to come out of England in the late 19th Century(although it was published later). I enjoy Dickens, Hardy, and Eliot very much, but Butler makes their works look like grocery store fiction. I can see how many people might be bored if they were expecting a great story. While the story is excellent, it is more a book about ideas. Butler uses his hero to voice his commentary on Victorian ideals. Most of it is still very relevant today, though. I think it will be most relevant for people that have been exposed to the religious right wing who still hold many Victorian values. I enjoyed the characters and the story was compelling. There are many beautiful passages. It was very funny at times and somewhat sarcastic. The narrator reminded me of Hemmingway born 50 years earlier in England. What impressed me the most was Butler's modern style of writing. Much less wordy than Dickens. Dickens would have taken 800 pages to express the same thoughts. I also felt a real kindred to the main character Ernest. This is ultimately a coming of age book which most people will be able to relate to in one way or another (unless you haven't grown up yet). I would recommend it to all serious readers.

Rating:
Summary: A superb book!
Review: Somehow, "The Way of All Flesh" doesn't make it on to many lists of "the world's greatest novels." It certainly was not written with the superb artistry of Flaubert, true! But it soars high, high above the turgid inanities of Fyodor Dostoevsky.

There is a specific edition of this book which I love, and which can be found easily among used-book dealers. This edition was issued by The Heritage Press, and contains a remarkable introduction by Theodore Dreiser. The introduction is something which I have re-read many times. As a beginning, Dreiser recounts his interaction with an intelligent American engineer, aged about 40, who was looking for a book "with some meat to it." After long hesitation, and after compiling a list of some dozen books, Dreiser finally decided to recommend "The Way of All Flesh."

Six months later, he met the engineer by chance while strolling along a street in San Francisco, and the engineer immediately started praising the novel. "Now there is a book which is honest! I can't think of another book from its time which contains more honesty, and more direct dealing!"

And indeed, this may be the main thing working in favor of "The Way of All Flesh." Samuel Butler read Darwin, and became a believer in the theory of evolution. He was a penetrating observer of the cruelties of Victorian society, and of its hypocrisies. Few people will read this book without being able to remember this startlingly honest portrayal of a man who has just lost his wife, whom he did not love in the slightest:

"Theobald buried his face in his hands to conceal his want of emotion."

Oh, touche!

But other themes are extremely interesting: the idea of taking up a Christian vocation and going into the slums to dedicate your life to serving the poor -- it might work, but it might be a dreadful idea if you don't know what you're doing.

And how about the narrator's bald statement:

"I know of no better thing for a young man than an independent income." (!!) That sentiment is not going to sit well with the people who believe that only a lifetime of wage-slavery is worth living! But Samuel Butler spoke from experience: when he was in his twenties, he escaped to New Zealand and took up sheep-farming, of all things. But... he did WELL as a sheep-farmer, sold out five years later at a very nice profit, and cleared eight thousand pounds. He invested it at ten percent and therefore had an independent income of eight hundred pounds per year. He returned to London, rented an apartment, and devoted the rest of his life to his intellectual life: writing, painting, and music. He is well-known as the author of "Erewhon," as well as "The Way of All Flesh."

You should really take a look at this book. In some ways, it has shaped my life, in ways that sometimes surprise me. There's a lot of good, honest meat in this book -- and that's probably why it has been continuously in print for over a century, despite the fact that the academics pass over it in silence.

Extremely high recommendation!

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Summary: An indictment of Victorian society and Christianity
Review: This is a book written ostensibly by a godfather, chronicling the family history and the unusual life of Earnest Pontifex, the only son of a very upright and religiously correct Christian minister. It is reportedly an almost autobiographical account of the author's own life and reflects his own lifetime revelations with regard to society, religion and morality. It goes extensively into the lives of his parents and their parents, allowing the reader to fully appreciate the inevitable life into which Ernest is born. The Way Of All Flesh explores the difficult struggles of a naiive young man coming to terms with his parents' and society's expectations of him while he endeavors to find his place in the world. His life begins as an avalanche of yesteryear--Victorian and Christian values are laid out, explored, tried, tested, examined and rejected as Earnest muddles his way to true happiness and a life worth living. If it were published during Samuel Butler's life, it would surely have resulted in some kind of social or legal censure as a shocking indictment of the establishment of the day. In many respects, it is still as revealing, shocking and valid as it was when it was written.