Volume 9, Number 3 · August 24, 1967
Butler's Way
By F.W. Dupee
The Way of All Flesh is one of those books that come down to us trailing a legend. In this case the legend has a real bearing on the nature of the book. One of the features of the legend has to do with the manner of the book's composition and belated appearance in print. The Way of All Flesh was written in spurts during the years 1873-84. It was not published until 1903, the year following its author's death at the age of sixty-seven. Once in print The Way of All Flesh was pronounced by Bernard Shaw 'a great book.' Alive, Samuel Butler had been known, insofar as he was known at all, as a sort of curiosity-about-town (the town of London). The deceased now became abruptly famous.
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