Ford H. Madox Hueffer, as he is now known, was a prolific novelist, poet, critic, editor, and recollector. Among the greatest Modernist writers, he is one of the most fascinating, adaptable, and frequently misunderstood. The grandson of Ford Madox Brown, a painter closely linked to the Pre-Raphaelite movement, he was raised in London. He moved to Romney Marsh at the turn of the century, where he became friends with Henry James and Stephen Crane and started working with Joseph Conrad for ten years. Before the First World War, he relocated to London and started the English Review, which brought together many of the greatest. His work was rarely limited to specific categories; during his latter stage, he combined travel writing, history, nostalgia, and cultural critique to create the endearing books on Provence (1935) and the Great Trade Route (1937), which represented his own "impression" of the advancement of civilization. The March of Literature (1938), his last work to be published, is a massive comparative review titled "From Confucius to Modern Times." It is a vibrant, eccentric witness to his belief that literature is a universal "republic" of letters. In most of his days, Ford rose early and penned a thousand or two words. He wrote about eighty volumes, some of which influenced the development of contemporary writing.
