The Good Soldier: A Tale of Passion / by Ford Madox Ford

English author Ford Madox Ford (1873-1939) was actually born as Ford Hermann Hueffer. And though his surname bore a characteristically German tinge owing to the shared nationality of his father, writer Francis Hueffer, Ford was actually descended from a long line of noted British aristocrats including his maternal grandfather, the renowned painter Ford Madox Brown, whose middle name the writer would formally adopt in 1919. A man who did as much to promote the literary careers of his contemporaries as his own--his journals The English Review and Transatlantic Review were vitally instrumental in the development of early 20th century literature--Ford was a writer who wrote a great deal but achieved success sparingly such as with his 1915 book The Good Soldier, repeatedly named as one of the best novels of all time. Dealing with the damning consequences of infidelity and falsehood which befall two Progressive Era couples, it has been characterized as an ironic commentary on the author's own philandering lifestyle during the period.

"This is the saddest story I have ever heard." So the reader is told by John Dowell who proceeds to tell of the tragedy which befell him and his friends in the space of nine years. In 1904, the John and his wife Florence are incredibly rich Americans who've arrived at the pleasant town of Nauheim in Germany to help heal Florence's "weak heart" through a series of prescribed spa treatments and thermal baths. By chance they form an acquaintance with the Ashburnhams, an Edwardian English couple who are also at the spa to the seek treatment for a heart ailment, that of Edward the husband. Also a decorated Army officer, a captain whose served in countries like India and South Africa, Edward seems the quintissential English gentleman and makes quite the impression on both John and Florence with his stoic bearing and seemingly implacable demeanor, always the courteous, courtly escort with Florence and an accommodating whiskey drinker and cardplayer with John. Over the preceding summers as John tells it--the couples parted ways in the intervening seasons, the Dowells touring the continent and the Ashburnhams back to their Surrey estate--the friendship between the two couples grew immensely, their fondness for one another remaining all the way up until one night when Florence's "weak heart" gave way and she died.

John Dowell's arrival at the Ashburnham's home in England, following a series of letters requesting that he visit, abruptly turns everything on its head as he's brought to the gripping truth which erases all of his his existing preconceptions on the past few years. Related to him by Leonora, and told in pieces interspersed throughout the narrative, is the infidelity of Florence and Capt. Ashburnham, the pair's torrid love affair being carried on right under his nose. Even more arresting is that Leonora knew (had always known) about Edward's string of illicit love affairs, his hopeless inability to remain faithful to his wife and Leonora's hellish lifestyle of basically having to be complicit in the ordeal--the couple's wealth was basically bankrupted by Edward's notably desperate liasons with a steady stream of needy lovers. Edward's affairs, his past and present have offset a plethora of miseries. Florence's death, not unlike that of Maisie Maiden, another spa attendant who'd been led on by Edward, was in fact a suicide. In truth, nothing was ever wrong with Florences' heart. She'd only fabricated the condition to get John to take her away from her own past which included her own series of scandalous affairs. The illuminated truth is not only something to which the past has suffered, it is now something that will have lasting reverberations and immediate repurcussions on a disillusioned John for the remainder of his life.

Ford actually based The Good Soldier on his own life; at the time he'd made a complete mess of his existing marriage through extramarital dalliances with more than a few "family acquaintances". What's so great about the story though is the way it reflects a culture at large just prior to the earth-shattering trauma of World War I. It is indeed a grim vision of things to come for a world at the brink. The posh, comfortable lives of the Dowells and the Ashburnhams have seemingly everything going for them. Neither want for anything and each couple embues the standard of aristocratic distinction, Capt. Ashburnham especially resplendant as the dashing officer, the "good soldier", and Florence the darling product of a blue-blooded New England family, a shining example of American capitalism, ingenuity and good breeding. And yet everything is crumbling before their eyes; the very core of the British Empire is corrupt and the backbone of the American Protestant system, its Calvinist work ethic and Puritan foundation, is a fraudulent hypocrisy. As Dowell, as unreliable a narrator (a device Ford uses to perfection) as their ever was, puts it, "It is a queer and fantastic world . . . Is there any terrestrial paradise where, amidst the whispering of the olive-leaves, people can be with whom they like and have what they like and take their ease in shadows and in coolness? Or are all men's lives like the lives of us good people — like the lives of the Ashburnhams, of the Dowells, of the Ruffords — broken, tumultuous, agonized, and unromantic lives, periods punctuated by screams, by imbecilities, by deaths, by agonies? Who the devil knows?" (FIC FORD)

Hummingbirds / by Joshua Gaylord

To the casual eye, the Carmine-Casey Academy might resemble something closer to a party with a dress-code rather than a prep school. Both students and teachers alike tend to treat education as a secondary discipline, employing far more time and energy toward the gossipy social side of things. One such teacher is Leo Binhammer who, when he's not entertaining thoughts about his pupils and how best to apply his own personal charms, is recuperating from an affair his wife had with a fellow teacher, Ted Hughes. Things are better now, after the awkwardness, with Ted and Leo actually forming an unusual camaraderie during the whole thing (matrimony isn't a big deal at Carmine-Casey where half the faculty is divorced and the other half is perpetually occupied in extramarital trysts, affairs, flirtations, etc.). And so, as the new term begins, things are relatively back to normal for Leo as he basks in the glamour of being the only male in the English department, and one of only a handful of male teachers at the school.

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Meanwhile, student queen-bee Dixie Doyle and her peers lounge outside the school, Lolita-like in their plaid skirts and suggestive accessories, shamelessly attempting to attract the attention of male teachers like Binhammer and Ted Hughes, who just can't help being that irresistably appealing. But Binhammer, at least, has his eye elsewhere. Liz Warren, one of the few consummate students, and a budding playwright, catches the eye of the literature teacher who subtly tries putting the moves on her before his chummy rival, Ted, can do the same. Before long, things get complicated as the love quadrangle involving the demure Liz, sultry Dixie, Mr. Binhammer and Ted Hughes produces inevitable confusion, competitition and dangerous relationships.

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On one hand this book is like a prime-time soap opera, it's scandalous content never without a dull moment. On the other, it's kind of sick. Gaylord is a bit blasé about everything, describing intimate details--most of which concern the seedy personal desires of teachers for their students and vice-versa--with phlegmatic nonchalance, his mood and atmosphere lacking any real seriousness or threatening elements. At times, there's a sense that the story takes place in some bizarre, inconsequential parallel universe where the worst that could happen would never really happen. Bad things, when they do happen, just aren't felt as sincerely, if they even register at all. The multi-perspective style entertains though, and the book's salaciousness will satisfy more than a few readers.

Election (1999) DVD / a film by Alexander Payne; based on the novel by Tom Perrotta; starring Matthew Broderick & Reese Witherspoon

"None of this would have happened if Mr. McAllister hadn't meddled the way he did."
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All Jim McCallister ever wanted to do was teach. A man of modest means and wants, he sincerely enjoys his days instructing the students in his US Government classes at Carver High, interacting with their young intellects and watching their growing minds confront the world. He likes it when they do well, when they achieve and, in most cases, when they excel. But one thing he does not like, in fact, something he's recently come to loathe vehemently (exceedingly more so since a pivotal indiscretion got his best friend fired) is students driven to succeed at all costs, ones like junior Tracy Flick who unswervingly pursue selfish aims at the expense of others and proceed to make a hollow mockery out of the democratic notion of an election--especially one as trivial as the race for student body president. For Mr. McAllister, the Tracy Flicks of the world do the most damage; they're far more harmful than any combination of troublemakers, burnouts or juvenile miscreants and more determined besides. Tracy might be able to conceal her covetous ill-tempered demeanor behind a facade of way-too-perky cheerfulness, but Jim knows, even if no one else does, that she's a ruthless, wanton firebrand who must be stopped.
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Everyone at Carver knows who Tracy Flick is, even if they're not really friends with her (or would want to be). Tracy is a compulsive overachiever, the kind of student who promptly shoots up her hand to answer every question, studies fastidiously and stays everyday after school participating in all manner of transcript-worthy activities and every possible extracurricular, particularly ones befitting the 'leadership' mold, hence her devotion to the student council. With her impeccable grades, tenured SGA track and abundant publicity material (posters, banners, pens, buttons, cupcakes, etc.), Tracy's confident of her impending nomination and forthcoming election as student body president, even more so as it looks like she'll be running unopposed. That is, until out of the blue, a second candidate enters the race, popular jock Paul Metzler, and then even more bizarrely, a third, his sister Tammy, who's nomination speech is wildly applauded for its decidedly anarchist platform. Convinced her destiny is being interfered with ("The weak are always trying to sabotage the strong") an insistent Tracy sets her sights firmly on her goal, taking the action she feels is necessary to ensure her success on election day.
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Election really isn't a high school movie, even with Matthew Broderick's ironic and deviliciously satirical portrayal of well-meaning educator brought to his knees by the headstrong actions of one of his students. It's a movie about people and personalities, how the confluence of individuals confined within institutions inevitably breeds far-reaching repurcussions which are usually harmless, but can, at times, be totally life altering. The film's use of voiceover narration is spot on; input by all four principle characters presiding 'above' the action in a monotone, even-keeled delivery provides a clever nuance to this admirably introspective film. There's a pervading sense of open-mindedness about things. The mood's never overly demonstrative or mean-spirited, just observant and mildly curious, offering a story which plays like a fable or parable as much as an anecdotal piece. Directory Alexander Payne's (Citizen Ruth, About Schmidt) use of satire is refreshingly omnidirectional and without malice, providing a non-partisan, even-handed take on the world and its wrongdoers who might ruin things for others and create a mess but are never all that bad--just, well, real.