About this title: THE WAY OF ALL FLESH is a thinly disguised account of Butler's own Victorian childhood. Butler began the work in 1872; it was finally published in 1903, a year after his death. With irony and wit, he savaged contemporary values and beliefs, turning the conventional family-history novel inside-out.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Oxford University Press, Oxford, England
Date Published: 1993
ISBN-13:9780192829801ISBN:0192829807
Description: Very good. Library ink stamp on flyleaf page. 472 p. Introduction by Michael Mason. Also includes Explanatory Notes, Select Bibliography, and Chronology. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Harper & Row, New York
Date Published: 1965
Description: Fair. No dust jacket as issued. xiii, 400 p. 19 cm. "Reproduces the text of the definitive Shrewsbury edition of Butler (...1923-1926)" Bibliography: p. vi-vii. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Modern Library, New York
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Nice leather-like soft cover, lightly read, some shelf wear to cover, light aging, stk #2075qmo6. 410 p.; 17 cm. Modern library of the world's best books no. 13.. read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Washington Square Press
Date Published: 1959
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Signed by previous owner. Nice soft cover, lightly read, light shelf wear to cover, crease along spine, light aging. 417 p. read more
Edition: Art-Type Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Books, Inc.
Description: Fair. No dust jacket. Nice hard cover, lightly read, light shelf wear to cover, aging to pages, crack along spine inside covers, binding is tight, light wear on top corners of cover, stk #2046n9. 375 p. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Modern Library, New York
Date Published: 1950
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Nice soft cover, lightly read, some shelf wear & aging to cover, price sticker on front, aging to pages, stk #2359m7. xxix, 562 p. 19 cm. Modern Library college editions, T5.. Bibliography: p. xxvii-xxix. read more
"it's a real pleasure to read a book about someone who is always changing his mind. EP's parents aren't quite subtle enough to be really evil (too much thrashing, not enough coaxing), and the digressions (excepting, amonst others, the brilliant one about the sphex wasp, below) do sometimes plod. see also 'the history of mr polly'.
Why should the generations overlap one another at all? Why cannot we be buried as eggs in neat little cells with ten or twenty thousand pounds each wrapped around us in Bank of England notes, and wake up, as the sphex wasp does, to find that its papa and momma have not only left ample provision at its elbow, but have been eaten by sparrows some week before it began to live consciously on its own account?"
"The Way of All Flesh tells the story of the Pontifax family over four generations, focusing on the last two generations, the loathsome Theobald and his son George. I loved the book. It is a sarcastic, scathing indictment of nearly every aspect of society. It is one of the funniest books I have ever read."
"This poor guy. His parents were so over-bearing! Unbelieveably and obliviously selfish parents! They shouldve had dogs or mules or something. Do what you love;love what you do. Don't let anyone else steer your life. This book was too long though."
"At first I was really enjoying this book, for I like the prolixity of Victorian novels and their comments on society. However, as the story of Ernest Pontifex wore on, and on and on, I found too much philosophizing with only occasional bits of dialogue, action and humor to break it up. The book was not published until 1903, years after the author's death, and is a good argument for the editor's blue pencil, which might have improved it. It was a book that was supposed to blow the lid off the Victorian family, not to mention the Church and society in general. Anyone who's read Anne Perry's Victorian historical mysteries will have come across far worse things happening to children in perfectly respectable families than anything that happens to Ernest. The narrator's voice grates more and more as he allows himself to give way to his desire to philosophize. I'd much rather be reading Trollope."
We guarantee every item's condition, as described on Alibris. If you are not satisfied that an item is as described, return your purchase for a refund.
rating
