ABSTRACT
Ford Madox Ford was not a theorist of comedy: he never wrote about it at length, nor did he leave any indication of having read such studies of the genre as those by George Meredith, Henri Bergson, or Lewis. The most sustained examinations of Fordian comedy are those by Ann Barr Snitow and John Meixner, and recent criticism has paid increased attention to Ford’s voice or tone, the stated focus of Snitow’s study. Parade’s End certainly offers memorable scenes of high comedy or farce, such as the Duchemin breakfast, the rumpus on the golf course, and the climactic interview between Christopher Tietjens and General Campion. Ford’s 1923 Mister Bosphorus and the Muses signals its intent, or seems to, in its lengthy subtitle: Or a Short History of Poetry in Britain: Variety Entertainment in Four Acts; Words by Ford; Music by Several Composers.
