A Man Could Stand Up— by Ford Madox Ford (books for 5 year olds to read themselves txt) 📕
Description
A Man Could Stand Up— opens on Armistice Day, with Valentine Wannop learning that her love, Christopher Tietjens, has returned to London from the front. As she prepares to meet him, the narrative suddenly shifts time and place to earlier in the year, with Tietjens commanding a group of soldiers in a trench somewhere in the war zone. Tietjens leads his company bravely as they shelter from the constant German strafes, before the narrative again jumps to conclude with an actual Armistice Day celebration.
In this simple narrative Ford creates dense, complex character studies of Valentine and Tietjens. Tietjens, often called “the last Tory” for his staunch and unwavering approach to honor, duty, and fidelity, has changed greatly from the man he was in the previous installments in the series. Ford explores the psychological horror that the Great War inflicted on its combatants through the lens of Valentine’s gentle curiosity about Tietjen’s time on the front: men returned from battle injured not just in body, but in soul, too. The constant, unrelenting shelling, the endless strafes, the clouds of poison gas, the instant death of friends and comrades for no reason at all, the muddy and grim entrenchments where men lived and died—all of these permanently changed soldiers in ways that previous wars didn’t. Now the “last Tory” wants nothing more than to retreat from society and live a quiet life with the woman he loves—who is not his wife.
As we follow Valentine and Tietjens through the last day of the war, we see how the Great War was not just the destruction of men, but of an entire era.
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- Author: Ford Madox Ford
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He said:
“They say you’re receiving for Tietjens! Who’d have thought it? you a pro-German and he such a sound Tory. Squire of Groby and all, eh what?”
He said:
“Know Groby?” He squinted through his glasses round the room. “Looks like a mess this … Only needs the Vie Parisienne and the Pink Un. … Suppose he has moved his stuff to Groby. He’ll be going to live at Groby, now. The war’s over!”
He said:
“But you and old Tory Tietjens in the same room … By Jove the war’s over. … The lion lying down with the lamb’s nothing. …” He exclaimed “Oh damn! Oh, damn, damn, damn. … I say … I didn’t mean it. … Don’t cry. My dear little girl. My dear Miss Wannop. One of the best I always thought you. You don’t suppose. …”
She said:
“I’m crying because of Groby. … It’s a day to cry on anyhow. … You’re quite a good sort, really!”
He said:
“Thank you! Thank you! Drink some more port! He’s a good fat old beggar, old Tietjens. A good officer!” He added: “Drink a lot more port!”
He had been the most asinine, creaking, “what about your king and country,” shocked, outraged and speechless creature of all the many who for years had objected to her objecting to men being unable to stand up. … Now he was a rather kind brother!
They were all yelling.
“Good old Tietjens! Good old Fat Man! Prewar Hooch! He’d be the one to get it.” No one like Fat Man Tietjens! He lounged at the door; easy; benevolent. In uniform now. That was better. An officer, yelling like an enraged Redskin dealt him an immense blow behind the shoulder blades. He staggered, smiling into the centre of the room. An officer gently pushed her into the centre of the room. She was against him. Khaki encircled them. They began to yell and to prance, joining hands. Others waved the bottles and smashed underfoot the glasses. Gipsies break glasses at their weddings. The bed was against the wall. She did not like the bed to be against the wall. It had been brushed by. …
They were going round them: yelling in unison:
“Over here! Pom Pom Over here! Pom Pom!
That’s the word that’s the word; Over here. …”
At least they weren’t over there! They were prancing. The whole world round them was yelling and prancing round. They were the centre of unending roaring circles. The man with the eyeglass had stuck a half-crown in his other eye. He was well-meaning. A brother. She had a brother with the V.C. All in the family.
Tietjens was stretching out his two hands from the waist. It was incomprehensible. His right hand was behind her back, his left in her right hand. She was frightened. She was amazed. Did you ever! He was swaying slowly. The elephant! They were dancing! Aranjuez was hanging on to the tall woman like a kid on a telegraph pole. The officer who had said he had picked up a little bit of fluff … well, he had! He had run out and fetched it. It wore white cotton gloves and a flowered hat. It said: “Ow! Now!” … There was a fellow with a most beautiful voice. He led: better than a gramophone. Better. …
Les petites marionettes, font! font! font …
On an elephant. A dear, meal-sack elephant. She was setting out on. …
Toulon, 9th January, 1926
Paris, 21st, July 1926
ColophonA Man Could Stand Up—
was published in 1926 by
Ford Madox Ford.
This ebook was produced for
Standard Ebooks
by
Alex Cabal,
and is based on a transcription produced in 2014 by
Delphine Lettau, Alex White, and The Online Distributed Proofreaders Canada Team
for
Faded Page Canada
and on digital scans available at
Google Books.
The cover page is adapted from
The Power of Music,
a painting completed in 1919 by
Gilbert Gaul.
The cover and title pages feature the
League Spartan and Sorts Mill Goudy
typefaces created in 2014 and 2009 by
The League of Moveable Type.
The first edition of this ebook was released on
January 1, 2022, 10:42 p.m.
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