Edward Ford currently teaches writing at Massachusetts Bay Community College. He received his M.A. in French from Tufts University and his M.A. in English from the University of Massachusetts.
1999 0-7734-8189-3 This groundbreaking volume revolutionizes the field of Fournier studies. His life is discussed and his interest in Primitivism is shown for the first time. Le grand Meaulnes is show to be a Primitivist novel, and its structure is explained. It discusses literary influences on the novel as well as the literary influence that the novel has had on the works of other writers. Most significantly the novel is viewed within its proper historical context for the first time.
2007 0-7734-5461-6 This work offers the first translation of the neglected nineteenth-century French poet, Leconte de Lisle, revealing him to be one of the first and most talented of the multi-culturalists. A creole sage born on the Isle of Reunion in the Indian Ocean, de Lisle spent much of his life in Paris working as the national librarian. His work was respected by the major poets of his day, but his Buddhist sense of detachment caused him to be underappreciated. These poems are his most heartfelt evocations of the Orient and the island of his birth.
2005 0-7734-6150-7 This book seeks to revive the career of an all but forgotten poet through close readings of all his major works. Its tone is deliberately enthusiastic because it seeks to serve as an antidote to the harsh criticism that the work has been subjected to over the years. The examination of Delmore’s later poetry is particularly important because it disproves the myth that he lost his talent when he became mentally ill. Delmore’s writing evolved from highly praised T.S. Eliot-style poems to wonderfully musical symphonies of sound so that by the end of his life he had truly created a unique style which he liked to term “Delmorean”. Delmore’s seminal short story “In Dreams Begin Responsibilities” as well as the lon poems “Seurat’s Sunday Afternoon Along the Seine”. “All Night, All Night”, and “Twilight Like Intuition Pierced the Twelve” are walked through paragraph by paragraph to reveal the poet’s subtle meanings and deft artistry. It is hoped that this book will spark new interest in this major voice of the twentieth century.
2007 0-7734-5459-4 It has long been assumed that F. Scott Fitzgerald was inspired by American and British sources, however, this study takes the first look at continental literature as a possible source of Fitzgerald’s writing and finds that there was massive borrowing. Most saliently, the vast the influence of Alain-Fornier’s Le grand Meaulnes on Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is demonstrated in detail for the first time, while other chapters consider the influence of Tolstoy, Ibsen and Strindberg on Fitzgerald’s fiction. Though largely focused on The Great Gatsby, this study does cover the full life and work of this important American author who continues to draw in new readers every year with his Roaring Twenties version of the American Dream.