Dr Ashley Chantler

Research Interests

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I have two main research interests: Ford Madox Ford (1873–1939); and flash fiction. My writing on Ford has focused on his poetry, but I have also edited, with Rob Hawkes (Teesside), three volumes of essays: Ford Madox Ford’s Parade’s End: The First World War, Culture, and Modernity (Rodopi, 2014); War and the Mind: Ford Madox Ford’s Parade’s End, Modernism, and Psychology (Edinburgh University Press, 2015); and An Introduction to Ford Madox Ford (Ashgate, 2015).  In 2008, I founded, with Peter Blair (Chester), Flash: The International Short-Short Story Magazine, the first biannual print periodical devoted to flash fiction, reviews, and occasional essays (all of no more than 360 words). Flash has established itself as one of the world’s most influential and respected short-fiction magazines.

Latest / Proudest Achievement

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I am extremely proud of Flash and other publications connected to the International Flash Fiction Association, which I co-founded in 2015, but I’ll pick An Introduction to Ford Madox Ford. The volume provides a comprehensive introduction to one of the most complex, important, and fascinating authors. Bringing together leading Ford scholars, it places Ford’s work in the context of significant literary, artistic, and historical events and movements. Individual essays consider Ford’s theory of literary Impressionism and the impact of the First World War; illuminate The Good Soldier and Parade’s End; engage with topics such as the city, gender, national identity, and politics; discuss Ford as an autobiographer, poet, propagandist, sociologist, Edwardian, and modernist; and show his importance as founding editor of the ground-breaking periodicals English Review and transatlantic review

Further Information

For information about Flash and the International Flash Fiction Association. For information about Ford:  http://www.fordmadoxfordsociety.org/