Man Could Stand Up

'A Man Could Stand Up' is the third, and culminating, part of Ford Madox Ford's 'Parade's End' tetralogy of novels, which begins with 'Some Do Not', followed by 'No More Parades', and whose coda would be 'Last Post'. While 'A Man Could Stand Up' can be appreciated on its own, it will make far better sense to a listener or reader already familiar with its predecessors. It's at once a war story (the middle section is set in the trenches in France, in 1918), a story of immense upheaval in social mores, and a passionate, if extraordinarily restrained, love story. Just like, say, Virginia Woofe's 'Mrs Dalloway', published the previous year, Ford's novel is pitched at readers who are assumed to be highly literate and well-educated. (Summary by Peter Dann)