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A review by aegagrus
The Way of All Flesh by Samuel Butler
3.0
Reading The Way of All Flesh, I passed through two distinct phases. At first, I relished Butler's clever writing and unstinting anger. Later on, I found my enjoyment marred by the choices Butler made in developing his plot.
My initial experience was very positive. Butler is primarily telling a semi-autobiographical story about the life of Ernest Pontifex, but narrates Ernest's story through his godfather, Overton. Overton's voice is a sophisticated one, cleverly observing and reflecting upon events. Overton advocates a pragmatic and commonsensical approach to life over the tortured doctrines of churchmen or academics. Separating his narrator from the character standing in for his younger self also lets Butler express his blistering anger in an articulate and knowing way without falling into the cool, detached sarcasm which can rob satire of its moral urgency. He is particularly conscious of the injustices done to children and youth, of which his bitter depictions are extremely compelling. We begin to meet some truly exquisite characters early on, such as the brazen and hypocritical headmaster Dr. Skinner or the painfully feckless young Theobald Pontifex (who is to become Ernest's father). Female characters like Christina, Alethea, or Ellen unfortunately seem to be more instrumental; they are present to serve a specific purpose in advancing the plot and their characterization is not nearly as rich.
Ernest's gradual journey from childhood trauma to independence as an adult eventually comes to hinge on a significant plot point with which I was very uncomfortable. Ernest is continually depicted as acting out of obliviousness or ignorance as a consequence of his upbringing. However, whenhe is sent to prison for assaulting a woman he wrongly believes is a prostitute this "explanation" rings hollow; however oblivious and impressionable he may be, his actions seem out of character and somewhat thoughtlessly written. Although it effectively serves the plot and Ernest's eventual arc, this episode puts a damper on the rest of the book, which also seemed to me to lose some of its edge, to flatten some of the interesting nuances in existing characters, and to end on a less biting and overly cathartic note.
The Way of All Flesh is remarkably ahead of its time in the way in which it handles intergenerational trauma, contrasting Theobald's development in response to his own overbearing father a generation earlier with Ernest's gradual journey towards assertiveness and a secure sense of self. Butler's observations and sarcastic tangents are often exceptional -- all in all this is an extremely quotable book. But I was unable to shake the feeling that the latter portion never recovered from a deeply ill-judged plot choice and an undeservedly sanguine denoument.
As an aside, there is a good bit of church politics in this book -- readers who are familiar with the historical context of high-church and low-church Anglicanism, as well as the evangelical movements of the time (e.g., early Methodism) will at times benefit from this familiarity.
My initial experience was very positive. Butler is primarily telling a semi-autobiographical story about the life of Ernest Pontifex, but narrates Ernest's story through his godfather, Overton. Overton's voice is a sophisticated one, cleverly observing and reflecting upon events. Overton advocates a pragmatic and commonsensical approach to life over the tortured doctrines of churchmen or academics. Separating his narrator from the character standing in for his younger self also lets Butler express his blistering anger in an articulate and knowing way without falling into the cool, detached sarcasm which can rob satire of its moral urgency. He is particularly conscious of the injustices done to children and youth, of which his bitter depictions are extremely compelling. We begin to meet some truly exquisite characters early on, such as the brazen and hypocritical headmaster Dr. Skinner or the painfully feckless young Theobald Pontifex (who is to become Ernest's father). Female characters like Christina, Alethea, or Ellen unfortunately seem to be more instrumental; they are present to serve a specific purpose in advancing the plot and their characterization is not nearly as rich.
Ernest's gradual journey from childhood trauma to independence as an adult eventually comes to hinge on a significant plot point with which I was very uncomfortable. Ernest is continually depicted as acting out of obliviousness or ignorance as a consequence of his upbringing. However, when
The Way of All Flesh is remarkably ahead of its time in the way in which it handles intergenerational trauma, contrasting Theobald's development in response to his own overbearing father a generation earlier with Ernest's gradual journey towards assertiveness and a secure sense of self. Butler's observations and sarcastic tangents are often exceptional -- all in all this is an extremely quotable book. But I was unable to shake the feeling that the latter portion never recovered from a deeply ill-judged plot choice and an undeservedly sanguine denoument.
As an aside, there is a good bit of church politics in this book -- readers who are familiar with the historical context of high-church and low-church Anglicanism, as well as the evangelical movements of the time (e.g., early Methodism) will at times benefit from this familiarity.