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The Way of All Flesh, autobiographical novel by Samuel Butler, published posthumously in 1903 though written almost two decades earlier. Beginning with the life of John Pontifex, a carpenter, the novel traces four generations of the Pontifex family, each of which perpetuates the frustration and unhappiness of its predecessor largely as a result of parental repression. Only Ernest Pontifex, the great-grandson of John, is able to break the cycle. After being ordained a minister, serving...