The Way of All Flesh

<p>Ernest Pontifex is born into a deeply religious Victorian family where obedience is demanded and individuality suppressed. As he grows he confronts the crushing expectations of his parents religious dogma and the rigid values of society-ultimately seeking his own path through a maze of personal failure and philosophical awakening. <em>The Way of All Flesh</em> is a powerful semi-autobiographical critique of Victorian morality tracing one man's painful journey toward self-realization in a world built to deny it.</p><p>Samuel Butler (1835-1902) was an iconoclastic Victorian author who published a variety of works. Two of his most famous pieces are the Utopian satire Erewhon and a semi-autobiographical novel published posthumously The Way of All Flesh which attacks Victorian-era hypocrisy.</p>