Ford Madox Ford

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This book explores key phases of Ford’s literary work, including his art criticism and major modernist novels: The Good Soldier, Parade’s End, The Rash Act, and Henry for Hugh. It investigates Ford’s engagement with the scopic field, asserting that his exploration of the optical unconscious is a significant contribution to modernist stream-of-consciousness literature. As the first comprehensive study of Ford’s interest in the gaze, it connects his writing to various visual arts, including painting, music, sculpture, and emerging technologies of entertainment. The analysis challenges the conventional view of Ford as merely a Pre-Raphaelite or proto-Futurist, highlighting his intrigue with the visual avant-garde and his reaction to the photography and early cinema revolutions through the lens of the scopic drive. This work combines historical context with theoretical insights, featuring close readings of his texts while showcasing Ford as a masterful stylist aiming to create vivid imagery in the reader’s mind. Drawing on psychoanalysis and art criticism, the author utilizes the theories of notable thinkers like Jacques Lacan and Rosalind Krauss to unravel the complex universe of Ford’s gaze. This is a revised and extended English translation of the original work, Ford Madox Ford: Visione/visualità e scrittura.