Who wrote the novel 'The Way of All Flesh'?

The author of 'The Way of All Flesh' was Samuel Butler.

Butler wrote the novel between 1873 and 1884, but it was not published until 1903, a year after his death. Its delayed publication reflected Butler's concern that the book's attack on Victorian family life, religious convention and moral hypocrisy was too controversial. The story follows four generations of the Pontifex family and focuses especially on Ernest Pontifex, whose struggle for independence brings him into conflict with his domineering parents.

The novel is semi-autobiographical, and its narrator, Edward Overton, acts as Ernest's godfather and an observing voice throughout the story. Butler's original title was 'Ernest Pontifex, or The Way of All Flesh'. The posthumous edition was substantially altered by his literary executor, R. A. Streatfeild; the manuscript in a form closer to Butler's original was published in 1964.

The title alludes to a biblical expression meaning to die. Butler is also known for 'Erewhon', his satirical utopian novel published in 1872. Thomas Hardy, George Eliot and Anthony Trollope were fellow Victorian-era novelists, but none wrote this particular work.