The Way of All Flesh (Modern Library 100 Best Novels)
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 a prison term because of a naive misunderstanding, and unwittingly entering into a bigamous marriage with the family's sluttish servant girl, Ernest providentially inherits enough money from a favorite aunt to change his life and become a writer.  --The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature--This text refers to an alternatePaperbackedition.