SOURCE: "The Political Sense of Ford Madox Ford," in The New Republic, Vol. 134, No. 13, March 26, 1956, pp. 17-19.

Walter is an American author and educator. In the following essay, he disputes the critical opinion that a well-crafted novel cannot be a political novel, citing Parade's End as an example of both.

Ultimately, when critics write about Ford Madox Ford, they write about his technique, and since he is, if anything, a virtuoso of the well-made novel, it is appropriate that they insist on this side of his work. Still, in Paade's End, the Tietjens tetralogy (Some Do Not … ;No More Parades; A Man Could Stand Up—; The Last Post), he is also a political novelist.

This aspect is obscured by some of his admirers who make a fastidious effort to preserve the concept of the well-made novel from political defilement.

Facile conclusions have been drawn from this position, leading...