The Way Of All Flesh

Aug 18, 2025 10:05 PM

Author:Samuel Butler,P N Furbank

Samuel Butler (1835–1902) made one reputation during his lifetime with his Utopian satire Erewhon, and a second reputation after his death with The Way of All Flesh, published posthumously. This novel, the story of Ernest Pontifex, is a thinly disguised autobiography in which Butler brutally but hilariously savages the financial, sexual, familial and spiritual hypocrisies of late Victorian England.

Reviews

[Rankin] does for England what Spike Milligan does for Ireland. There can be no higher praise

—— Mail on Sunday

'Everybody should read at least one Robert Rankin in their life'

—— Daily Express

Strikingly effective

—— The Times

A brutal, harrowing, desperately sincere piece of writing

—— Sunday Times

Impressive . . . Rutherfurd has indeed embraced all of Russia

—— The Washington Post

Russka succeeds where [other books] of trendy Soviet-watching have failed ... Rutherfurd can take his place among an elite cadre of chroniclers such as Harold Lamb, Maurice Hindus and Henri Troyat

—— San Francisco Chronicle

Fast moving ... Rutherfurd believes in adding color and adventure to facts that are exhaustively researched, making history palatable if not delicious

—— Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Sprawling ... Rutherfurd's close observation of Russia's religious and ethnic diversity gives this epic a distinctive flavor

—— Publishers Weekly

Rutherfurd literally personifies history

—— New York Daily News

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