<b><i>The Way of All Flesh by Samuel Butler</i></b>&nbsp;&nbsp;is a semi-autobiographical novel by&nbsp;Samuel Butler&nbsp;that attacks&nbsp;Victorian-era&nbsp;hypocrisy. Written between 1873 and 1884, it traces four generations of the Pontifex family.<br /><br />Butler dared not publish it during his lifetime, but when it was published (in 1903) it was accepted as part of the general reaction against&nbsp;Victorianism. In its posthumous publication in 1903, Butler&#39;s first literary executor,&nbsp;R A Streatfeild, made substantial changes to Butler&#39;s manuscript. The original manuscript was first published in 1964 by Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, edited by Daniel F. Howard.<br /><br />The title is a quotation from the&nbsp;<i>Douay&ndash;Rheims Bible</i>&#39;s translation of the&nbsp;Biblical Hebrew&nbsp;expression, to &quot;go the way of all the earth&quot;, meaning &quot;to die&quot;, in the&nbsp;<i>Books of Kings</i>: &quot;I am going the way of all flesh: take thou courage and shew thyself a man.&quot; (1 Kings 2:2).<br />In 1998, the&nbsp;Modern Library&nbsp;ranked&nbsp;<i>The Way of All Flesh</i>&nbsp;twelfth on its list of the&nbsp;100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.