Gertrude Stein came up with the expression:The Lost Generation, after she encountered a young car attendant who failed to impress her with his mechanic skills. The garage owner confided  that young men were easy to train, compared with those in their mid-twenties to thirties who had served in WWI.  He called them the lost generation – une génération perdue.  Ernest Hemingway popularized the term in his novel “The Sun Also Rises” and gives credit to Gertrude Stein.  It came to refer to a cohort that came of age during WWI and included distinguished artists such as Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Steinbeck, T.S. Eliot, John Dos Passos, Waldo Pierce, Isadora Duncan, Alan Seeger, Erich Maria Remarque and Ford Madox Ford.

Born in 1873, Ford Madox Ford was a prominent English novelist and editor. At the start of WWI, he worked with the British War Propaganda Bureau, writing two propaganda books.  On July 30, 1915, at the age of 41, he joined the Welch Regiment and was sent to France.  This decision marked the end of his cooperation with the British propaganda machine and changed the direction of his literary endeavours.

As I look forward to a new year, I am inspired by Ford Madox Ford.  When confronted with the reality of conflict, he chose a different path – the truth.  May we remember his courage as we move forward… Continue reading →