Session #1, January 28th, 2009.

We read two excerpts in today’s session:

1. the first few paragraphs from “Emma” (1816) (Japanese Wikipedia link here) by the English writer Jane Austen (Japanese link here), and
2. the opening paragraph from “The Good Soldier” (1915) by the English writer Ford Madox Ford

After reading the excerpts and clarifying any questions about vocabulary and meaning, we discussed how each writer introduces their characters and how the narrator makes the reader want to read more.

One participant was intrigued enough to read “The Good Soldier” for herself, and revealed to us in a later session that it is a complicated story about adultery.

After reading Ford Madox Ford’s biography on Wikipedia, I discovered a connection between Ford and myself.

Born Ford Hermann Hueffer, the son of Francis Hueffer, he was Ford Madox Hueffer before he finally–during WWI, at a time when German connotations proved unpopular–settled on the name Ford Madox Ford in honor of his grandfather, the Pre-Raphaelite painter Ford Madox Brown, whose biography he had written.

My ancestors came from Germany to England in the 19th century, and during WWI changed the family name slightly in order to lessen the negative Germanic impression.

The Good Soldier is one of Ford’s most famous novels, and introduces a literary device which we did not talk about in this first session, but which we will perhaps discuss in the future: that of the unreliable narrator (信頼できない語り手)