Editing Joyce Cary (section)

==Final years==
Cary now undertook his great works examining historical and social change in England during his own lifetime. The First Trilogy (''Herself Surprised'', ''To Be a Pilgrim'', and ''[[The Horse's Mouth]]'') finally provided Cary with a reasonable income, and ''[[The Horse's Mouth]]'' remains his most popular novel.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kelly|first=Edward H.|date=1971|title=The Meaning of 'The Horse's Mouth.'|journal=Modern Language Studies|volume=1|issue=2|pages=9–11|doi=10.2307/3194254|jstor=3194254}}</ref> Cary's pamphlet ''The Case for African Freedom'' (1941), published by Orwell's [[Searchlight Books]] series, had attracted some interest, and the film director [[Thorold Dickinson]] asked for Cary's help in developing a wartime movie set partly in Africa. In 1943, while writing ''[[The Horse's Mouth]]'', Cary travelled to Africa with a film crew to work on ''Men of Two Worlds''.

Cary travelled to India in 1946 on a second film project with Dickinson, but the struggle against the British for national independence made movie-making impossible, and the project was abandoned. ''The Moonlight'' (1946), a novel about the difficulties of women, ended a long period of intense creativity for Cary. Gertrude was suffering from cancer and his output slowed for a while. Gertrude died as ''A Fearful Joy'' (1949) was being published. Cary was now at the height of his fame and fortune. He began preparing a series of prefatory notes for the re-publication of all his works in a standard edition published by Michael Joseph.

He visited the United States, collaborated on a stage adaptation of ''Mister Johnson'', and was offered an appointment as a [[Order of the British Empire|CBE]], which he refused. Meanwhile, he continued work on the three novels that make up the Second Trilogy (''Prisoner of Grace'', ''Except the Lord'', and ''Not Honour More'').<ref>{{cite book |last=De Breffny |first=Brian |author-link= |date=1983 |title=Ireland: A Cultural Encyclopedia |url= |location=London |publisher=Thames and Hudson |page=56 |isbn=}}</ref> In 1952, Cary had some muscle problems which were originally diagnosed as [[bursitis]], but as more symptoms were noted over the next two years, the diagnosis was changed to that of [[motor neuron disease]] (known as [[Lou Gehrig's disease]] (ALS) in North America), a wasting and gradual paralysis that was terminal.<ref>{{cite book|author=Barbara Fisher|title=Joyce Cary Remembered: In Letters and Interviews by His Family and Others|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w9s3Kbi4wJ0C&q=Joyce+Cary+motor+neuron+disease&pg=PA248|page=248|year=1988|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-0-389-20812-9}}</ref> As his physical powers failed, Cary had to have a pen tied to his hand and his arm supported by a rope to write. Finally, he resorted to dictation until unable to speak and then ceased writing for the first time since 1912. His last work, ''The Captive and the Free'' (1959), the first volume of a projected trilogy on religion, was unfinished at his death on 29 March 1957, aged 68.