The greatest English writer, playwright and poet John Galsworthy during his lifetime was awarded every conceivable literary award of the 20th century, including the Nobel Prize, as well as honorary degrees from the top ten universities in England and Scotland. The writer himself believed that the best way to the reader’s heart is to “imagine life as you see it, with all the sincerity and perfection of which you are capable.” Galsworthy had to go through a long path of self-improvement and knowledge of life in order to arrive at this seemingly simple formula and become on a par with the best English novelists.
John Galsworthy was born in the town of Coome (Surrey) into a wealthy bourgeois family. The only son of John Galsworthy, a successful lawyer, he was educated at the aristocratic Harrow College and Oxford University.
In both college and university, John was an exemplary student. According to the recollections of one of his classmates, at Harrow Galsworthy was not particularly free-thinking. He strictly followed the code of honor of a pupil of an English boarding school. At Oxford, according to those who knew him, Galsworthy was “a sportsman and a gentleman” who attached great importance to impeccability of dress.
Having become a lawyer in 1890, John Galsworthy never began practicing law. “A sportsman and a gentleman” preferred to travel (he traveled around the world to deepen his knowledge of maritime law) and read, and not only specialized literature. The decision to become a writer came to him relatively late - at the age of 28. It arose under the influence of Ada Galsworthy, the wife of his cousin Arthur, with whom John began to develop a romantic relationship. In 1897, Galsworthy, under the pseudonym John Sinjon, published a book - a collection of stories "The Four Winds".
The debut was successful, and a year later the writer’s first novel, “Joslyn,” appeared, the second, “Villa Rubain,” was published in 1900. And a year later, a collection of stories was published, where for the first time there was a mention of the Forsyte family, which he would immortalize in the books of his later period. The first novel that Galsworthy published under his real name in 1904 was called The Island of the Pharisees. The writer worked on it for three years, carefully polishing each chapter.
After the death of his father in 1904, Galsworthy received a good fortune, which provided him with financial independence. Ada moved in with him, a year later her divorce proceedings ended, and the young people got married. The opportunity to live together, without hiding, without hiding, after nine years of sharp reproach and condemnation from family and friends, inspired Galsworthy to write the novel “The Owner,” which was completed in 1906. It describes the unsuccessful marriage of Ada using the example of Soames and Irene Forsyth . This novel is the pinnacle of Galsworthy's work. It became the first volume of the Forsyte Saga trilogy.
The writer found prototypes of the heroes in his own family. In the family photo of the Galsworthy clan, you can easily recognize many of the characters in the saga. The stern expression on their faces and tightly compressed lips indicate that they feel like guardians of the age-old foundations of not only the family, but also the state. Galsworthy, breaking himself, overcoming his “bourgeoisism,” managed to look at the Forsytes, so similar to his family, as if from the outside, unbiased. In one of his letters he admits: “I am driven by hatred of Forsythism.” It was probably also hatred of certain features of Forsyteism in himself, which was one of the main sources of the writer’s artistic strength.
The writer did not return to the Forsytes until the end of the First World War. But during this time from 1907 to 1911. he wrote three more novels: "The Manor", "Brotherhood" and "Patricia".
As a playwright, Galsworthy seriously announced himself with the play “The Silver Box,” staged on stage in 1906. And his next two plays, “Struggle” and “Justice,” which exposed social abuses, made him a famous playwright. By the way, William Churchill became interested in the play “Justice,” which condemns the practice of solitary confinement, and even stated that it had a serious influence on his prison reform program.
Actively engaged in social activities, Galsworthy spent half of his income on charity, advocating social reforms, campaigning for the revision of laws on censorship, divorce, minimum wage, and women's suffrage. Already terminally ill, the writer ordered that his Nobel Prize be transferred to the PEN Club, an international writers' organization that Galsworthy organized in October 1921. And at the same time, Galsworthy refused a knighthood in 1917, believing that writers and reformers should not accept titles.
In 1919, the writer returned to the Forsyte family again, the second part of the trilogy of the saga “In the Loop” was published, and next year the third, “For Rent.” The one-volume Forsyte Saga, published in 1922, was a huge success. Galsworthy becomes a leading figure in Anglo-American literature.
The writer completed the second trilogy about the Forsytes, entitled “Modern Comedy,” in 1928. At the same time. began work on his latest trilogy. Sharing his plans, he wrote to his friend the French writer André Chevrillon: “I have begun to write about another family, the Charwells, who represent an older type of family, with a greater sense of tradition and duty than the Forsytes. I have already finished one novel and hope, with luck, write a trilogy about them. This is a 'stratum' of service people that has not received enough attention and which still exists in England."
The End of a Chapter trilogy, which included the novels A Girl is Waiting, The Desert in Bloom, and To the Other Shore, was published by Ada Galsworthy in 1933 after the writer’s death.
In 1929, Galsworthy was awarded the British Order of Merit, and in 1932 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature “for the high art of storytelling, the pinnacle of which is The Forsyte Saga.” As Anders Oesterling, a representative of the Swedish Academy, noted: “ The author has traced the history of his time over three generations, and the fact that the writer has so successfully mastered extremely complex material, both in volume and in depth, does him credit.”
Galsworthy was seriously ill (brain tumor) and was not present at the award ceremony. On January 31, 1933, less than two months after he was awarded the Nobel Prize, the writer died.
After Galsworthy's death, the Society of English Writers requested that his ashes be interred in Westminster Abbey's Poets' Corner, where literary celebrities are buried. The abbot of the abbey did not consider it possible to support this petition - this is how the church finally settled its scores with the irreconcilable opponent of religion. And then John Galsworthy’s wish, expressed in his poem “Scatter My Ashes!” was fulfilled. - on the top of the hill, far from the road, the ashes of one of the most worthy people of his time were scattered.
Chapter XVII.
JOHN GALSWORTHY: THE "ENGLISHNESS" OF THE MASTER
John Galsworthy V: the making of a writer, - “The Island of the Pharisees”: the insight of Richard Shelton. - “Owner”; birth of a dynasty. — Horizons of the epic: the fate of the dynasty. —“The Spirit of Service to People”: Galsworthy the Artist
If we learn to help others, to be courageous and to give ourselves wholeheartedly, to care for ourselves, to do our work well, if we learn to bring a little beauty into life, even if only by enjoying it, if we learn to face the mystery and at the same time, to feel the eternal movement of the spirit in the sublunary world, then our life will not be lived in vain. Yes, then, truly, our life will not be lived in vain.
J. Galsworthy
In the works of specialists in British literature, the term “Englishness” has recently been increasingly used. It is intended to determine the national identity, ideological aesthetic originality that distinguishes English literature and its creators. The concept of “Englishness” is particularly applicable to John Galsworthy: to the problems of his works, the typology of heroes, to the richest style and language, and finally, to the very human, creative appearance of the writer. His Englishness is deeply rooted in national life, tradition and mythology. All this allowed him to make an outstanding artistic discovery - to describe such a phenomenon as Forsythism.
John Galsworthy V: the making of a writer
To imagine a portrait of an English gentleman in his best, most attractive qualities, it is worth remembering the appearance of John Galsworthy. This was a man who was born, as the British say, with a “silver spoon in his mouth,” that is, under a lucky star. The future author of the Forsyte epic was a hereditary aristocrat, John Galsworthy V (John Galsworthy, 1867 -1933). His distant ancestor, John Galsworthy I (“Big Galsworthy”), was a land owner and a successful businessman. Galsworthy later captured significant aspects of the structure of his family dynasty in The Forsyte Saga. The writer's father was a lawyer, director of a number of industrial companies. He married at the age of 45, already a wealthy man. By nature, he was harmonious, conscientious, valued, in the words of his son, “an orderly, measured life, full of warmth,” and loved good literature, in particular Thackeray and Turgenev. The future writer had deep respect for his father. The son did not have a good relationship with his mother, a woman of strict character who had clear ideas about propriety and therefore did not favor creative people. Galsworthy later wrote that he inherited a literary gift from his father, and “a love of form” from his mother.
Galsworthy's childhood was a happy one. He studied with tutors, then entered a privileged school in Harrow, where he was distinguished by his diligence and “excellent manners.” However, the stay in Harrow was not completely cloudless. Galsworthy later admitted that the school provided good knowledge, but independent thinking was not encouraged; they tried to protect young men from the influence of advanced social and political trends. “Almost all of us were reactionaries,” Galsworthy wrote in his memoirs.
In 1886 Galsworthy became a student at Oxford. At first, in this pleasant, sharply dressed student, “who had not done anything remarkable,” who followed all the social norms of secular life, it was difficult to guess the future famous writer, a subtle psychologist, endowed with a responsive heart,
Meanwhile, intense inner work was going on in Galsworthy’s soul, hidden from outsiders. Being a reserved person, he never advertised his emotions. In my last year, answering questions in the “Album of Confessions.” Galsworthy wrote: “The virtue that I value most is the absence of egoism, the quality is stoicism; favorite writers - Dickens and Thackeray; composers - Beethoven; The motto is “don’t do badly today what you can do well tomorrow.”
After completing his studies, Galsworthy goes on a long journey, but not to Europe, as was customary in aristocratic families, but on a sea cruise - to the Pacific Islands, Australia, New Zealand. During the trip, Galsworthy received unique impressions, and most importantly, he met the captain's mate, Kozhenevsky, the future writer Joseph Conrad, who later supported Galsworthy in his first literary experiments.
Then a fateful event occurred that played an important role in Galsworthy’s life and work. At the wedding of his cousin, Major Arthur Galsworthy, he meets his bride Aloy Cooper, a charming girl, musical, endowed with a subtle artistic taste. Ada was unhappy in her marriage. Galsworthy and Ada fell in love with each other, but for a long time they could not unite, since divorce was considered reprehensible and their father resolutely opposed it. Meetings in fits and starts, endless suffering of loving people continued for about ten years. Only in 1905, after the death of his father, John, who had already received a name in literature, and Ada, who had gone through the most difficult vicissitudes of the divorce process, were able to legitimize their relationship.
Already at the university, Galsworthy felt an ineradicable need to write, but his father wanted his son to follow a more respectable path - to become a lawyer. And John diligently studied legal codes. However, doing something he didn’t like seemed dead boring to Galsworthy. At a time when he was tormented by questions of what to do and who to be, Ada insisted that he devote himself to literature, for this is what he was created for.
First books. The writer's path to success was not easy. In 1897, the first collection of his stories, “Under the Four Winds,” was published, which reflected the impressions and observations made during the sea voyage. Galsworthy wrote under the pseudonym John Sinjon.
In his first romance, Joneslin (1898), not without melodrama, Galsworthy addresses the theme of unhappy love.
Frenchman Jules Legard is torn between his love for the beautiful Englishwoman Jocelyn and a sense of duty towards his seriously ill wife Irma. After a series of melodramatic twists and turns, the death of Irma, the heroes finally unite so that, having settled in Egypt, they will no longer be separated.
In the collection of short stories "The Man from Devon" (1901), the action takes place in the Devon area, where Galsworthy's relatives lived. In the best story of the collection, “The Rescue of Forsyte,” Swithin Forsyte, a representative of the Forsyte dynasty, which would later be immortalized in Galsworthy’s famous epic, made his first appearance.
Swithin, a slave to conventions, a cautious owner, refuses the love of the young daughter of the revolutionary Boleshske because he sees in him a threat to the existing order of things.
Already in his early works, perhaps the main theme of Galsworthy’s work is identified - the conflict between beauty, art and possessiveness. It is closely related to the theme of family and marital relationships. This is evidenced by the writer’s second novel, “Villa Rubein” (1900).
The main character, the young artist Alois Hartz, a man of anti-conformist views, who hates petty-bourgeois and possessive morality, is in love with Christiane, the daughter of the bourgeois Trefry. Trefry, to whom everything beautiful is alien, and only flat-pragmatic things are accessible, acts as the spiritual antagonist of Harz; “If I were the most wonderful artist in the world, I’m afraid that he (Trefri. - B.G.) wouldn’t give a penny for me; but if I could show him a stack of checks for large sums received for my paintings, even the worst ones, he would be imbued with respect for me,” says the artist.
These words, written more than 100 years ago, still ring with unconditional relevance today.
"Island of the Pharisees": Richard Shelton's epiphany
Galsworthy aesthetics. Since the early 1900s, Galsworthy has been following a broad literary path. Recognition came to him with the novel “The Island of the Pharisees” (1904) and was consolidated with the novel “The Owner” (1906). This was already on the threshold of the writer’s fortieth birthday. In these novels, Galsworthy acted as a realist artist, developing on a new historical turn the traditions of the classic novel, represented primarily by Dickens and Thackeray. Flaubert and Maupassant were also close to him, but especially Russian writers - Turgenev, Tolstoy, Chekhov, whom he called his teachers.
Galsworthy saw his task as creating truthful pictures of life, capturing the character of people, seeing in them not only the purely individual, but also the typical. Great works, as Galsworthy believed, should “generalize, give symbolic meaning to whole layers of human nature.” The writer should be concerned about the moral state of society, but at the same time not fall into the role of a preacher.
Valuing objectivity and analyticity in literature, he by no means denies the writer’s right to be biased, but his personal attitude must be veiled. The following judgment became significant for Galsworthy’s aesthetics: three possible paths open to the writer. The first is to defend generally accepted views; the second is, on the contrary, to argue with the prevailing opinion. Galsworthy chose a third path for himself (it was not for nothing that Flaubert and Turgenev were among his favorites): he did not want to proclaim certain concepts, but only to capture genuine phenomena of life, characters, situations, patterns of behavior, selected and combined in such a way that the reader, without any hints I learned a moral lesson from what I read. All this, however, did not prevent Galsworthy from writing a preface and afterword to The Forsyte Saga, where he explained his plan to the reader in detail.
Above all else, Galsworthy valued the independence of the artist. He did not get involved in politics, although he did not approve of radical extremes and did not believe in reformist panaceas. But Galsworthy considered it a civic duty to criticize society. Following the tradition of national literature (Shakespeare, enlighteners, realists), he opposed the deeply rooted, truly national vice of hypocrisy.
The novel “The Island of the Pharisees” is evidence of the writer’s entry into a period of creative maturity. The basis of the novel (by the way, the first Galsworthy published under his own name) is a serious social generalization. The writer himself noted the difference between the novel in terms of the depth of understanding of life from his earlier works.
The image of the main character Richard Shelton is autobiographical. This is one of Galsworthy's most free-thinking characters.
The novel begins with the fact that, like the writer himself once, Shelton returns to his homeland from a trip. In a rosy mood, he hurries to London, where he is expected to be engaged to the noble beauty Antonia Dennant. On the train, Shelton meets the Belgian Ferrand, who has broken with bourgeois society, an outcast, the embodiment of the “rebellious side of life.” Not without sympathy and understanding, Shelton listens to Ferran, who talks about the unjust structure of society, about the complacency of the rich who despise poverty. A vague anxiety awakens in the hero. The ineradicable egoism of the environment to which his bride belongs is revealed to him. Shelton visits the slums, where he sees the hard life of the poor (these are the same “people of the Abyss” whom Jack London described a little earlier in his book of the same name). A conscientious man, he listens to the desperate monologue of an old actor who finds himself in a shelter; he calls England a “Pharisee”, “merchant” country, a big shop in which the well-being of some is based on the poverty and loss of human dignity of others. And Shelton admits with all sincerity: “I am a Pharisee, like all those who are not at the bottom.”
Critical pathos in the novel is often expressed in an open, journalistic form, because the hero’s point of view largely coincides with the position of the novelist.
Talking about his work on the novel, Galsworthy wrote that it was for him “a period of ferment and change”, that he was “slowly awakening to the true situation socially! life of the country...” And further: “Indignation rebelled too violently to be calmly bottled, and ultimately this book became the introduction to all subsequent ones, which depicted, to some extent, satirically various aspects of the life of English society.”
Shelton comes to an epiphany, discovers the conventionality of such concepts as “the good of society,” “religion,” “colonies,” “sacred bonds of marriage,” which often enslave people and paralyze their thought. The hero recognizes the pointlessness of dividing people into “gentlemen” and “non-gentlemen.” For him, a true gentleman is one who does not accept the prevailing morality of the Pharisees. The enlightened Shelton cannot live as before, because he now sees that disguised pharisaism permeates almost all spheres of social life, as well as human relationships. The management of India, which brings huge profits to the mother country, is called a “great and noble mission.” Oxford, this citadel of science, is in fact a “town wrapped in cotton wool”, in which venerable scientists accumulate information about long-extinct tribes and nationalities, but avoid the problems of our time. Pharisaism is everywhere: in theaters where playwrights offer the audience “sweet gruel” and become a breeding ground for “false feelings and morality”; in a secular society, where there are “forbidden” topics for discussion and discussions about poverty or the imperfection of laws are considered unacceptable; in families where relationships are based on veiled selfish interests. The quintessence of falsehood is the image of Miss Dennant, the mother of Richard's bride. At the end of the novel, the hero, disappointed in Antonia and her parents, refuses his engagement to his bride.
The theme of spiritual growth, the “insight” of the hero is widespread in the literature of the turn of the century: this is France’s Professor Bergeret, and Ibsen’s Nora and Doctor Stockman. Shelton breaks out of his class. This character is represented in Russian literature by Gorky, but especially by Tolstoy (Nekhlyudov, Levin), whom Galsworthy loved very much.
The writer’s life was also streamlined. A year after the novel's release; 38-year-old Galsworthy entered into a legal marriage with Ada. This was a happy marital union. Ada, with her artistic taste, an excellent musician, was an indispensable assistant in her work, a friend, and a source of inspiration. Galsworthy was financially independent and led the social life of a respectable “club” gentleman. But at the same time, he never forgot about the negative side of life. One of the famous novelists of that time said that not a single writer gave so much money, so much time and care to all the unfortunate, as Galsworthy did.” Humanism was an integral component of his literary talent.
The novel “The Owner”: the birth of a dynasty
The creation of “The Island of the Pharisees” is a kind of running start, after which Galsworthy makes an energetic creative breakthrough. The writer’s new novel “The Owner” (1906) is almost unanimously assessed by critics as his best, pinnacle, “signature” work. It incorporated the main themes and artistic discoveries of Galsworthy, and the author’s artistic talent was fully realized in it. The novel describes the history of the bourgeois Forsyte family. When Galsworthy began writing this story, he intended it to be contained within the framework of one volume. However, twelve years after the release of “The Owner,” he returned to the Forsyte theme, continuing it in a series of novels, in a vast epic work that has now entered the history of world literature.
Already the first novel in the series showed how succinctly the writer captured the late Victorian era, England in the 1880s and 1890s, bourgeois society and its typical representatives. Galsworthy managed to so accurately capture what was typical in the life of people of that era that many of his contemporaries recognized themselves in the heroes of the novel. Can you imagine anything more flattering for a writer!
Family portrait in the interior. The exposition of the novel is the scene of a reception at old Jolyon’s in honor of the engagement of his granddaughter June to the architect Bosinney: “Those who received an invitation to the Forsyte family celebrations were presented with a charming and instructive spectacle: a family belonging to the top of the English bourgeoisie presented in all its splendor.” The writer captures “the best time of the Forsytes’ life—the time of their flowering.” The Forsytes are the personification of an entire and powerful class, the “core of the nation.” They are the descendants of those who created the Empire, its wealth, who made England the “workshop of the world”, the mistress of colonies in different parts of the globe. These were business people, wealthy people, the “backbone” of society. Here are the representatives of the Forsyte family: old Jolyon - the emblem of his class, a merchant, the personification of moderation, goodness; James is the head of a large law firm; Swithin - agent for the sale of plots; Roger is the owner of a tenement house in the slums; Nicholas is a shareholder in railroad and mining companies; Timothy is a former publisher, now on vacation.
"The Seal of the Forsytes." Before us is a family clan, whose members are connected not only by family ties, but also by common psychological traits. Forsytes are a product of Forsythism as a social and national phenomenon. Each of the Forsytes, possessing a unique individuality (and the heroes are by no means impersonal stereotypes), is committed to one philosophy, one feeling - the feeling of ownership. It is this that determines the actions, decisions, life goals, and moral priorities of the Forsytes. “The sense of ownership is the touchstone of Forsythism,” the writer formulates. A member of the Forsyte clan is accustomed to looking at the world solely from the point of view of money: “If he cannot count on a completely definite value of things, then his compass begins to play tricks.” The concept of property includes not only things in their specific monetary equivalent. It is said about the Forsytes that they conducted affairs “relating to one or another type of property (from wives to the right to use important sources)”; family relations are also colored by a proprietary ideology, because here the question of inheritance arises. Of father and son, James and Soames, we read: they "looked upon each other as capital invested in a substantial acquisition."
An indispensable value for Forsytes is health. Almost all of them are strong in body and spirit, among them there are many long-livers: old Jolyon lived 92 years. Timothy - 101. Health comes from a healthy lifestyle and high-quality nutrition. The novel contains many scenes describing feasts and consumed dishes. The Forsytes, owners of respectable mansions, implement the well-known principle: my home is my fortress. True, in this close-knit family the first signs of “stratification” are revealed (this theme will be developed in subsequent novels of the epic). For example, young Jolyon is a “black sheep”, he is a painter (this is not a “Forsyte” profession). No less a deviation from the Forsyte “norm” is his divorce and marriage to a governess. He offers the following general description to his relatives: “We are all, of course, slaves of property, it’s only a matter of degree, but the one I call “Forsyte” is in unconditional slavery. He knows what he needs, knows how to approach it, and the way he clings to any kind of property - be it wives, houses, money, reputation - this is the Forsyte stamp.” And further: “... The pillars of society, the cornerstone of our life with its conventions... According to the most conservative estimate, three-quarters of our academicians, seven-eighths of our writers and a significant percentage of journalists are Forsytes.”
So, “sense of ownership.” Is it not inherent in human nature itself? Isn't property a "sacred right"? Of course, this is obvious to the author of the novel. But Galsworthy would not have been a humanist writer if he had not believed that the feeling of property is “an unchristian, ignoble feeling.” “I want people to see it,” the novelist added.
Soames Forsythe: property versus beauty. The protagonist of the novel, Soames Forsyth, son of James, is a worthy representative of the clan. The plot collisions of the novel show how the seemingly unshakable philosophy of possessiveness is cracking.
Soames marries twenty-year-old Irene Eron, the daughter of a professor, a poor man (from the point of view of the Forsytes); marriage saves the dowry-free woman Irzn from an unbearable life with her stepmother. Irene is not marrying for love, and this is clear to Soames. But he, with selfish innocence, is confident that by providing Irene financially, buying her clothes, he will make her happy and receive love and devotion in return.
How many times in the history of world literature has this “eternal” theme been played out - marriage of convenience, in particular, with two of Galsworthy’s favorite artists: Dickens (Dombey and Son) and Tolstoy (Anna Karenina, to which Galsworthy wrote the preface). Galsworthy brought fresh colors to the interpretation of the “eternal” theme.
Committed to a sense of ownership, Soames wants to preserve such a valuable acquisition. He builds a country villa in order to settle Irene there, chain her to the family hearth, and isolate her from unwanted external contacts. Soames entrusts the construction work to his relative, the architect Bosinney. Meanwhile, Irene, a proud and independent nature, is increasingly burdened by communication with her unloved husband. Bosinney's frequent appearances in Soames's house contribute to their rapprochement with Irene, which develops into love. Irene and Bosinney are close souls in many ways. Infatuated with Irene, the architect breaks off his engagement to June. Bosinry's love pushes Irene even further away from Soames, who experiences both the jealousy of a wounded husband and the embitterment of an owner who is losing his “property.”
Finally, the villa was built - a masterpiece of architecture. However, in the process of its construction, Bosinney exceeds the estimate. This allows Soames to settle accounts with his rival, whom he is suing. Soames threatens Bosinney with ruin and disgrace. These troubles bring Irene and Bosinney even closer together. Seized by passion, Soames, asserting his rights, commits violence against Irene, after which she leaves her husband, telling Bosinney about what happened. In a state of stress, Bosinney rushes around the city and dies, falling under the wheels of a carriage. For some time, Irene takes refuge in old Jolyon's house. But then, like a “dying bird” in need of its native nest, it returns to the house of its unloved husband in order to leave him again in the future.
The meaning of the novel, of course, is incomparably more serious than the depiction of intra-family drama and conflicts associated with adultery. The conflict in the novel is a clash between Property and Beauty. Property is a soulless submission to the passion for hoarding, enrichment as a vital priority. Beauty is associated with freedom, independence from hypocrisy and possessive morality; this is the happiness of love. Beauty is personified in the image of Irene, Art - in the image of Bosinney. Owner - Soames. Due to the narrowness of his ideas, he evaluates the paintings he bought only as expensive things, as an investment of capital. In Irene, he sees beauty in her “material” essence, but does not understand her soul.
The novel is imbued with critical pathos towards Forsyte society, which, in the end, is to blame for both the death of the hunted Bosinney and the fact that Irene’s life is distorted. The novelist does not hide his dislike for Soames, as the embodiment of Forsyteism, for his arrogance, “stupid stubbornness” and “dog anger.” At the same time, Galsworthy does not act as a straightforward accuser. He understands his hero, and his attitude towards him is complex. Soames is a hostage to that value system, that morality, which he, as a member of the clan, is obliged to share.
In this novel, Galsworthy is already a mature artist, writer of everyday life, psychologist and analyst. Every detail is significant; portraits of heroes, dialogues, insightful author's comments, sometimes tinged with irony - all this serves to create expressive characters that remain in the memory of readers. This clear and expressive methodology of Galsworthy will manifest itself in the work on subsequent novels of the Forsyte series.
Epic Horizons: The Fate of a Dynasty
The idea for the writer’s main book, “The Forsyte Saga,” did not formulate right away. After “The Owner,” Galsworthy continued to write smoothly, confidently, without “downtime.” His novels were published, marked by high professional skill: (“The Estate”, 1907; “Brotherhood”, 1909; “Dark Flower”, 1913; “Freelands”, 1915; etc.), plays of various genres: satirical comedies, lyrical plays, tragedies and melodramas (“Silver Box”, 1909; “The Fight”, 1909; “The Crowd”, 1914; etc.). He also publishes several collections of short stories.
The First World War, which affected the fate of almost every Englishman, was ending, and a new, post-war era began, marked by socio-psychological changes in the life of the country and society. Galsworthy's decision to continue the Forsyte story dates back to around 1918. Galsworthy said that this decision was the happiest day of his creative life. The upheavals experienced by England, new horizons, not yet entirely clear, but already outlined, convinced him that the fate of the Forsyte family had to be considered in a historical context.
Gradually, the contours of an epic novel, a cycle of novels internally interconnected, began to emerge. Before Galsworthy there was an impressive example of an epic novel - “War and Peace” by L. Tolstoy. The most interesting experience in creating a modern cycle of novels covering the history of one family was the epic “Rugon-Macquart” by Zola. The family-type epic was presented broadly and succinctly in Thomas Mann's Buldenbrooks. Such works as “Jean Christophe” by Rolland and the epic “In Search of Lost Time” by M. Proust (it was created in parallel with “The Forsyte Saga” by Galsworthy) caused a huge resonance.
Galsworthy interpreted "epic" as a "collective method." The main thing for him was the depiction of human passions, historical and social events, and everyday life. Similar principles were implemented in his Forsyte novels.
Galsworthy's epic consisted initially of two trilogies - "The Forsyte Saga" and "Modern Comedy". Then the third trilogy was added to them - “End of the Chapter”.
Explaining the meaning of the name of the first trilogy, “The Forsyte Saga,” Galsworthy wrote that he used the word “saga” not without a degree of irony. Naturally, the name is associated with the era of the Scandinavian sagas, associated with heroic characters and deeds. Galsworthy's work depicts the heroes of the Victorian "prosperity" era. However, the existence of people in frock coats and bustles is not without “passionate struggle between forces hostile to each other.”
Individual novels were held together with the help of short stories called “interludes.” A kind of epilogue to the first novel of the epic “The Owner” was the interlude “Forsyte’s Last Summer” (1918), in which old Jolyon, the patriarch of the clan, gives shelter to Irene, who has left her husband. The interlude is colored in a sad, minor key. On the threshold of oblivion, Jolyon renounces the burden of conventions and prejudices, these signs of Forsythism. It shows humanity and kindness. Galsworthy demonstrates a broad view of Forsytes, which is not limited to criticism of Forsyteism.
After "The Owner": the completion of the trilogy. The next novel, “In the Loop” (1920), depicts a new stage in the life of the main characters, Irene and Soames.
The money left to Irene by old Jolyon gave her relative financial independence. After 12 years of single life, she marries the artist Jolyon Jr., who was widowed by that time. Soames also arranges his personal life, having married a Frenchwoman, Annette. But these are two fundamentally different marital unions. If the marriage of Irene and Jolyon is built on spiritual kinship, then the family life of Soames, who has become even richer, “who has made a name for himself as a prominent collector of paintings,” is marked by a spirit of practicality and devoid of genuine feeling. Soames yearns above all to have an heir who will continue his work. Annette is young, but poor, she wants to get a successful life in life. Soames, whose feelings for Irene have not faded, gives birth to a daughter, Fleur; Jolyon and Irene have a son, John.
In one of the last chapters of the novel, a picture of the funeral of Queen Victoria, who had been on the throne for 64 years, is given, full of deep symbolic meaning. These years were marked by the growth of the country's power and the prosperity of the Forsytes. “Sixty-four years of patronage of property created the largest bourgeoisie, smoothed it out, polished it; They supported her until her manners, morals, language, appearance, habits, and soul almost ceased to differ from the aristocracy. An era that so gilded personal freedom that if a person had money, he was free in law and in reality, and if he did not have money, he was free only in law, but not in reality; an era that so canonized Pharisaism that in order to be respectable it was enough to appear to be one. A great age, the all-changing influence of which affected everything except the nature of man and the nature of the Universe.” Watching the grand funeral procession, Soames reflects: “The support of life is disappearing! What seemed eternal is gone!” This motif will continue to sound with increasing insistence in the epic.
The second novel in the trilogy is followed by the interlude The Awakening (1920). Its theme is the happy childhood of Irene and Jolyon’s son, John, the birth in the teenager’s soul of a sense of beauty and love for others.
In the final novel of the trilogy, For Rent (1921), the action takes place after the war, in 1920.
The focus is on the fate of new generations: Soames' daughter Fleur and Irene's son John meet by chance in an art gallery. Mutual love awakens in them, but their parents hide their past from them and do not approve of their meetings. Young people still hope to achieve consent for marriage. Soames, madly in love with his daughter, is ready to ask Irene for forgiveness. But Irene, and especially Jolyon, irreconcilable with Soames, are fundamentally against this union. John, who loves his mother, sacrifices his feelings for Fleur, who in despair connects her life with Baronet Michael Mont, a young aristocrat, without loving him.
Fleur largely inherits the traits of her father: she is also a property owner, but strives not only for material well-being. She longs to dominate people and achieve her goals.
One of the important events in the novel, full of symbolic meaning, is the sale by Soames of the very house Robin Hill, which was built by the architect Bosinney. This “fatal house” ruined his married life with Irene, as Soames gloomily thinks. There is a sign on the house: “For rent.” “For rent” is the Forsyte age, the Forsyte way of life, when a person was the undisputed and uncontrollable owner of his soul, his income,” Saumé sneers.
"Modern Comedy": new times. The second trilogy is also named, not without a bit of irony: “Modern Comedy” (which evokes associations with Balzac’s “Human Comedy”). The trilogy consists of novels: “The White Monkey” (1924), “The Silver Spoon” (1926), “Swan Song” (1928). They cover an important period in English history - 1922-1926, ending with the famous General Strike of 1926, which threatened the country's capitalist order. But the fundamental foundations of England - and this is important for the concept of the epic - remained unshakable.
The historical focus is spelled out very specifically.
In “The White Monkey” the focus is on Fleur and her husband Michael Mont, living in their “emancipated” house in one of the prestigious quarters of the capital, where the “golden youth” gather - their peers leading an empty existence. Michael Mont, not without irony, looks at the participants in this social life, which he sees as some kind of puppet theater.
The quintessence of the mood of timelessness, “spiritual emptiness” is represented by the decadent poet Wilfrid Desert (from the English letters desert), one of the visitors to Fleur’s salon.
Desert, who has fallen in love with Fleur, who flirts with him, confesses his feelings to her husband. Michael gives Fleur the opportunity to make her own choice, and she remains with her husband while Desert leaves England. And yet, no social success can compensate for the love for John that the heroine lost.
The novel clearly shows the conflict between fathers and children, two generations. Old men Mont and Forsyth resign after the City expresses distrust in them, shifting the blame for the losses onto them. Soames is convinced that honest people are no longer needed - those who have no principles are on the crest of the wave. He is frightened by the unknown, the uncontrollability and uncontrollability of life, while for Michael Mont and his generation, who went to war, the main thing is endurance. But Michael is an optimist. Young people live for today, take advantage of the moment, and hope for something. England, according to Galsworthy, “hastens in search of the Future, having no idea when, where and how this Future will come.” One of the main symbols of the novel is the painting given by Soames to his daughter. The painting shows a white monkey clutching an orange with scattered peel. The monkey's eyes are full of melancholy.
One of the artists sees this as an allegory: “Eating the fruits of life, scattering the peel and getting caught doing it.<...>It seems to her that there is something hidden in this orange, and she is sad and angry because she cannot find anything.” He suggests calling the picture “Civilization as It Is.” Some considers it an allegory of modernity, capable only of insane consumerism and not knowing the value of money.
In the first interlude of the trilogy (Idyll, 1927), John is again before the reader.
After deep emotions caused by the break with Fleur, he settles in the USA, engages in farming, and falls in love with a young American woman, Anne Wilmot.
The novel “The Silver Spoon” is dedicated mainly to Fleur.
Fleur, languishing from a meaningless existence, gets involved in a conflict with society lady Marjorie Ferrar, which results in a high-profile lawsuit. At the same time, both sides, which find themselves the object of gossip and controversy, appear in an unfavorable light. Michael Mont finds an outlet in politics. He becomes a supporter of a certain Foggart, the founder of “Foggartism,” a utopian reformist theory designed to solve the problems of poverty and unemployment. However, in fact, no one believes in this theory, they even laugh at it, and Michael’s experiments, trying to eradicate unemployment, tragically end in the suicide of the German he hired.
The second interlude is “Meetings” (1927).
Traveling across the United States with Fleur and Michael, Soames unexpectedly encounters his past. In Washington, he learns that Irene is in the city with John and his wife. He makes considerable efforts to prevent John from meeting Fleur. John is inexorably drawn to his homeland, to England.
The final part of the Swan Song trilogy opens with a description of a fateful event in the life of the country - the General Strike of 1926, which was a serious threat to the entire system of life in England.
Soames finds himself among those who, fleeing Bolshevism, defend the principles of property. Fleur organizes a canteen for seamstresses and brokers. Here she unexpectedly sees John, who has arrived home with his wife, among those dining. The old feeling flares up in Fleur with renewed vigor. It is not for nothing that it is said about her: “The desire to have something that she did not already have has always been her characteristic feature.” She dates John and eventually becomes intimate with him. But this turns out to be her “Pyrrhic victory.” Having learned that Anne will have a child, John experiences remorse and decides to break up with Fleur. She is so acutely worried about what happened that she thinks about committing suicide. Without realizing her actions, Fleur falls asleep, leaving an unextinguished cigarette, which causes a fire in her father's house. Soames, despite the danger, saves the paintings and at the last moment prevents the death of his daughter. Having taken upon himself the weight of the painting, ready to fall on Fleur, he receives a fatal injury. He dies with the thought of his daughter.
"Final chapter". Having completed "Modern Comedy", Galsworthy creates the third part of the trilogy, called "The End of the Chapter" (1930-1933). It is formed by the novels “The Girl is Waiting” (1931), “The Blooming Desert” (1932), “Across the River” (1933). The content of the trilogy is a chronicle of the old noble family of the Cherrells, related to the Forsytes through the marriage of Michael Mont and Fleur. The trilogy is based on the idea of family as a stronghold of society. The most significant image is Dinny Cherrell, an ideal young Englishwoman, symbolizing the traditions of “good old England”. Galsworthy's sympathies lie with conservative circles and the aristocracy.
In general, the “trilogy of trilogies” is an outstanding artistic phenomenon in scale and epic scope of reality. Its creation is a creative feat of Galsworthy.
“The Spirit of Service to People”: Galsworthy the Artist
In 1932, Galsworthy was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature “for the high art of storytelling, the pinnacle of which is The Forsyte Saga.” As A. Österling, a member of the Swedish Academy, noted in his comments, Galsworthy was able to “see behind the destinies of individual characters the historical background, transformation and collapse of the Victorian era right up to the present day.” Esterling compared Galsworthy's skill as a novelist with Turgenev's skill, especially emphasizing his irony as "a synonym for love of life and humanity."
Unfortunately, a fatal illness prevented Galsworthy from arriving in Stockholm to give a speech.
Galsworthy and classical realism. The Nobel Prize secured Galsworthy's status as a true master. Readers loved him, his compatriots were proud of him, he enjoyed undeniable authority and respect from his colleagues, and not only in England. He was equally excellent as a novelist, short story writer, playwright and critic, but perhaps his talent was most original in the great epic form. Galsworthy became an outstanding writer thanks to his natural talent, enviable hard work, determination, and “self-discipline of the heart.”
Galsworthy did not hide his literary passions when he wrote: “... The people whose names we swear by - Tolstoy, Turgenev, Chekhov, Flaubert, France - knew one great truth: they depicted the body and then sparingly, but only in order to It’s better to show your soul.”
Of course, the famous critic Walter Allen was unfair, who in his book “Tradition and Dream”, dedicated to the development of the novel in England and the USA in the 20th century, arrogantly wrote about Galsworthy as an artist “gathering dust at the very end of the line” of realist writers of the 20th century. V. The author of Forsyte's epic was a continuator of the traditions of realistic and humanistic art, demonstrating their strength and vitality. However, not all critics were kind to Galsworthy: supporters of elitist art and fashionable experiments saw the writer as overly traditional, even somewhat old-fashioned, because he ignored popular techniques and trends - Freudianism, “stream of consciousness”, cinematic montage. However, it was Galsworthy, a truly national artist, who left a whole gallery of “English characters” who received the most decisive embodiment in the representatives of the Forsyte clan.
Galsworthy and Tolstoy. Galsworthy, a realist and humanist, was also close to Russian classics. In the article “The Russian and the Englishman,” written during the First World War, in 1916, when Russia and Great Britain fought against a common enemy, Germany, Galsworthy emphasized: “The Russian prose of your masters is the most powerful life-giving current in the sea of modern literature.<...>Your writers introduced into fiction, in my opinion, the most important of all areas of literature: directness in depicting what they saw, sincerity, surprising for all Western countries, especially surprising and precious for us, the least sincere of nations.”
Throughout his entire creative life, Galsworthy paid close attention to Tolstoy's works. This was facilitated by a close acquaintance with the translator of the Russian classic into English, Constance Garnet. Tolstoy and Galsworthy were largely brought together by their rejection of decadent trends.
Galsworthy's assimilation of Tolstoy's experience was carried out in two aspects. Of course, the author of Forsyte's epic relied on the national tradition of Fielding, Dickens and Thackeray, a tradition of decisive protest against all forms of English hypocrisy. This tradition was reinforced by the example of Tolstoy, who boldly tore off “all and every kind of mask.” Galsworthy insisted: no novelist of the stature of Dickens, Turgenev and Tolstoy, as well as Meredith, Bennett, Hardy, “cannot help but be a critic of life.”
Galsworthy raised the art of psychological characterization to a new level, depicting it in the spirit of 20th-century aesthetics. all the dialectical complexity of the heroes’ inner world. And Tolstoy was figurative for him in this regard.
The English writer Pamela Johnson made an interesting observation when comparing The Owner and Anna Karenina. The English novelist seems to be drawing parallels with Tolstoy’s situations and heroes. Karenin is Soames, Anna is Irene, Vronsky is Bosinney, June is Kitty. Anna-Irene steals Kitty-June's fiancé. Anna-Irene is disgusted by Karenin-Soames.
Galsworthy style. The writer skillfully used the techniques of realistic prose. This traditionalism had its own appeal. It was in harmony with the texture of the writer’s works. Galsworthy believed that an experiment is not significant in itself, as an end in itself, but only if it helps immersion in the material. By creating an image, the writer expressed its essence, emphasizing the unity of internal and external appearance. This is Soames, the cross-cutting figure of the Forsyte cycle.
Soames's complacency is emphasized by the constant mask of contempt frozen on his face. Soames seems to be in some kind of protective armor, not letting anyone into his soul: this is evidenced by the mention of his tightly buttoned frock coat. The prudence and caution inherent in a person involved in financial transactions is evidenced by his “mouse” gait. External details are often enhanced by the author's commentary. Soames is a gentleman aimed at success in life, so it is impossible to imagine any “freedom” in his external appearance, be it disheveled hair, a carelessly tied tie or a collar that does not shine with impeccable whiteness.
Galsworthy is a master of precise, meaningful detail. For example, when Bosinney appears at an official reception not in a top hat, but in a hat, this is perceived as a challenge to decency. For Forsytes, impeccable dress is a symbol of respectability. A striking example comes from the gastronomic field. During dinner, Swithin does not have dessert, because it is important for the guests to quickly get to the “substantive matter.” The Forsytes' favorite dish, "saddle of lamb" is evidence that the noble family believes in "nutritious, tasty food" and is alien to the "sentimental desire for beauty."
The main characters of the epic are endowed with individual speech characteristics. Irony is important in the writer's style as a means of social criticism, revealing the false essence of “respectable” characters who demonstrate their imaginary decency. In the novel “The Island of the Pharisees,” Miss Dennant, Shelton’s fiancée, informs the hero of the grief that befell her: the gardener was so depressed after the death of his wife that he began to show negligence in his work. The essence of this socialite is in the words addressed to Shelton: “I did everything to cheer him up, because it’s very sad to see him so depressed! Oh, dear Dick, if you only knew how he mutilates my new rose bushes! I’m afraid if he goes crazy, we’ll have to fire him, poor fellow.” What follows is an inappropriately direct speech, which also does not require comment: “She, of course, sympathized with Bunyan, or rather, believed that he had the right to grieve just a little, since the loss of a wife is a completely legitimate and church-sanctioned reason for grief. But going to extremes? This is too much!
Among Galsworthy's many advantages is the ability to find aphoristically apt, indisputable words that capture the essence of a phenomenon, object, person.
The architecture of his novels is distinguished by its harmony. The narrative is divided into episodes and scenes - such a structure reveals the hand of the playwright. It is no coincidence that the Forsyte epic was embodied in a brilliant television series, which stimulated a new surge of interest in Galsworthy.
Humanist artist. In the memoirs of contemporaries, Galsworthy appears as a magnanimous man, reminiscent of a patrician, but at the same time alien to any arrogance, reserved, silent and internally lonely. He never tired of emphasizing the high mission of literature. His credo is in the words of one of the characters in the End of the Chapter trilogy: “... We must try to preserve beauty, dignity and the spirit of serving people.” In one of the writer’s last addresses to the younger generation we read: “A thorough knowledge of literature in one’s native language constitutes the most enjoyable part of education. Not because our literature is superior to other literatures, not because when reading in our native language the mind and imagination work more freely... Anyone who speaks his native language in such a way that he can memorize musically, writes well and knows the masterpieces created in it, “that educated man.”
The history of world literature shows that some fashionable innovations pass and are forgotten, but the classics invariably remain a living heritage. This explains Galsworthy's popularity among modern readers and the fact that his multi-volume collected works are constantly republished.
Who is he for England? We agree with the opinion of critic Una Morrison: “The Forsytes, like their author, have become part of the national consciousness.”
Literature
Literary texts
Galsworthy J. Collected works: a 12 t / J Galsworthy - M 1988.
Galsworthy J. Selected Works/J. Galsworthy. - M., 1993.
Criticism. Tutorials
Voropanova M. I. Galsworthy D. // Foreign writers: biobibliogr dictionary: in 2 volumes / M. I. Voropanova. - M., 2003. - T. 1.
Voropanova M. I. John Galsworthy / M. I. Voropanova. - Krasnoyarsk, 1970.
Gavrilyuk A. M. The style of John Galsworthy’s Forsyte cycle: Towards the struggle for realism in English literature of the 20th century. / A. M. Gavrilyuk. - Lvov, 1977.
Dupre K. John Galsworthy: Biography / K. Dupre. - M., I986.
Mikhalskaya N. P. English novel of the 20th century. / N P Michalskaya, G V Anikin, - M., 1982.
Tugusheva M.P. John Galsworthy: Life and Work / MP Tvrvsheva. - M., 1971
Probably, many of us associate the name of the English writer John Galsworthy, first of all, with his famous “Forsyte Saga,” which tells the story of the fate of several generations of a family and reveals the underside of an outwardly successful, respectable, happy life, behind which sometimes hidden suffering, betrayal, hatred, intrigue and deceit.
However, in the collection A Walk in the Fog, John Galsworthy appears before us as a master of the short story genre, which nevertheless captures all the contradictory aspects of human nature through the lens. The author manages to reveal internal conflicts, show the evolution of the psychological state of his characters, which throughout the book is united by common themes and artistic techniques.
In the first story of this collection, “First and Last,” the main characters - successful lawyer Keith Durrant and his brother Larry - represent two opposing characters: the first is the embodiment of rationality, and the other is sensuality. Larry accidentally kills his beloved Wanda's ex-husband in defense and confesses this to his brother. Both of these heroes are faced with a difficult choice for each of them and relevant for any person at all times: for Lawrence it is a conflict between love for a girl and his conscience, and for Keith it is a choice between family feelings for his brother and justice, the duty of a law-abiding citizen and a representative of justice. However, this contradiction in the latter case is complicated by the fact that behind this external “correctness” of the choice there is also his own benefit, since Keith, not least of all, thinks about himself, his reputation and position in society. What will be stronger and decisive in this clash, how each of the characters will behave in this difficult situation - this is the main intrigue of the story. The title and the epigraph itself make us think that everything in life is unpredictable and can change places at any moment, and also makes us think about what the true strength and weakness of the actions of each of the heroes is.
The second story, “Apple Blossom,” continues the given line. Once again, at the very beginning, we are faced with two opposing human types - the romantic Frank Ashurst and his more pragmatic friend, Robert Garton. Frank is at the epicenter of an acute internal conflict - he also faces a difficult choice between his feeling and impulse - love for a simple village girl Meagan - and a duty that disgusts him to take advantage of the girl’s sincere feelings. But isn’t this external nobility hiding a substitution of concepts again, and doesn’t social position have a decisive influence on Frank’s choice? Each reader must answer this question for himself.
In this story, another important element appears, the touches of which were outlined before and which is constantly present further, another main character is nature. Elements of landscape and descriptions of nature play an important role here, becoming a source of inspiration for the characters and representing a device of psychological parallelism, but often, on the contrary, they can also set off and contrast with what is happening (for example, in the story “Strangeities of Life”). In addition, here another cross-cutting theme of the entire collection arises - the theme of art, the elusiveness and fragility of the beauty of the surrounding world and nature, the impossibility of capturing and conveying it. The idea appears that modern people often do not notice or appreciate this, which gives rise to conflict and misunderstanding between civilization and pure, pristine nature, which is embodied at the level of characters in the images of Frank and Meagan. This idyllic pastoral theme, the theme of spring, renewal, set at the very beginning and largely contributing to the emergence of feelings between the characters, contrasts with the ending of the story, where it becomes clear how short-lived, fleeting and fragile this “spring period” is in comparison with the eternal beauty of nature. life of every person. The retrospective composition, based on the memories of the hero’s youth, gives this work a touch of melancholy, subtle lyricism and sadness (the same technique is used in the story “Santa Lucia”).
The theme of the eternal search for beauty in art, to which one can devote one’s entire life, being content with only fleeting happiness, when inspiration comes and, as it seems, one has finally managed to grasp that invisible that constantly eludes us, and to capture the soul of nature, which then often again turns out to be an illusion and deception, is the subject of another story in this collection - “Euponus”.
The author does not ignore the acute social cataclysms and contradictions of the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Thus, in the story “Defeat”, against the backdrop of the events of the First World War, the tragic fate of a German girl is revealed to us, in whose heart there is no more faith left, but only pain and loneliness, but nevertheless, affection for her native land lingers and memories of before a happy peaceful life. Nationalities are not important to the writer here; more precisely, he wants to show that war kills everything and everyone and there is no justification for this. This story serves only to illustrate the ruined destinies of millions of innocent people. John Galsworthy speaks here with accusatory pathos; he is against the very essence of war, which destroys all the best that is in human nature.
The female images themselves are also interesting, which often appear in contrast (for example, the image of a mother and daughter in the story “Strangeities of Life”). Often, the heroines of Galsworthy's stories are fallen women, who, nevertheless, evoke compassion and sympathy ("Oddities of Life", "Defeat") and in whom morality, meekness, sincere love, and readiness for self-sacrifice coexist in a bizarre way ("First and Last" ), thus reminiscent in their type of the heroine of F. M. Dostoevsky Sonechka Marmeladova.
Despite the minor tonality of most of the short stories in this collection, John Galsworthy is not alien to an ironic attitude towards life and what is happening (for example, this is clearly visible in the story “Hope”). This irony sometimes turns into a bitter smile of fate (“Forest”) or helps to convey an ambiguous attitude towards the hero, his actions, choices, and life credo, despite the generally positive assessment of his personal and human qualities (for example, in the story “A Man with Grit” ").
Finally, the quintessence of the entire collection becomes the title story “Walk in the Fog,” which represents a philosophical metaphor and allegory of human life, although some may blame it for the lack of plot and plot development as such. Here all the features of John Galsworthy’s writing style come together: landscape sketches echo the inner state of the hero, and the slightest changes in nature symbolize the subtlest movements of the human soul, changes in the psychological state and emotional plane, and also mark the stages of human life in general. Left alone with this pristine, natural world, a person is called upon to experience unity and merge with it, listen to it and feel like an organic part of it, because the most valuable thing is to achieve harmony within ourselves and with the world around us.
It should be noted that in all the stories in this collection you will not find a uniquely happy ending: they are all permeated with a subtle melancholy sadness, and sometimes after reading there is a certain feeling of understatement. This open ending, on the one hand, brings them even closer to real life, which fits perfectly into the literary and cultural context of the era at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. On the other hand, this leaves hope that a ray of light will definitely appear on the horizon, will serve as a guiding thread and show the way to those who have lost their way in life, which is often obscured by the fog of the unknown, adversity, sorrows, problems, vain thoughts, and that our road to the future will be clearer, brighter, full of hope and faith in the best.
Terrible edition of this wonderful book. There are practically no margins on the pages, the printing is blind. It's impossible to read. If they wanted to release it in one volume, they would have made the format larger. The publishing house should be ashamed of such hackwork. It's a pity for the money spent.
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Amazing book!
The author of the brilliant work “The Forsyte Saga” is the English writer John Galswary. In the center there is a large family, the outline of the era, and inside there is a bustling life.
This book is amazing, voluminous, truthful, it is perfect, diverse. I really liked the story of the Forsytes; it simply fascinated me. The language and style of presentation captivated me immediately and forever. I read the whole story from cover to cover, watched the film adaptation and I don’t have enough words to describe this work. Read it, I think you will like it, because in this work everyone will find something of their own, something that will touch the soul and remain in it forever.
The book is easy to read, but not fast, the volume is not small))
The Forsyte Saga
When I first saw this book, I was intimidated by the size. It seemed that I would never master it. But everything became much easier when I started reading. In fact, I read it so quickly that I surprised myself. Probably because the story dragged on. Here we see the main characters over a long period of time, we observe how they change, how their lives develop. During this time, the heroes became friends for me. I think this is very important. We were captivated, of course, by the descriptions and comparisons. Very colorful and beautiful. I don't regret reading this book at all. In it you can find emotions, customs of the time, beautiful nature and interesting characters. Not everything is that simple. The main character has to endure enough losses.
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- (Galsworthy) John Galsworthy (Galsworthy, John) (1867 1933) English writer. In literary journalism he defended the principles of realism. 1932 Nobel Prize winner in literature. Aphorisms, quotes Russian people, in many respects... ... Consolidated encyclopedia of aphorisms
- (Galsworthy) (1867 1933), English writer. Socially everyday novels “The Island of the Pharisees” (1904), “The Patrician” (1911), “The Freelands” (1915), etc. In the socio-psychological trilogies about the fate of one large family, “The Forsyte Saga” (1906 21) and ... encyclopedic Dictionary
John Galsworthy (14.8.1867, London, 31.1.1933, ibid.), English writer. Son of a lawyer. Graduated from Oxford University. He began his literary activity as a neo-romanticist (collection “The Four Winds”, 1897; the novels “Jocelyn”, 1898, “Villa ... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia
- (Galsworthy, John) (1867 1933), English novelist and playwright. Born 14 August 1867 in Kingston Hill (Surrey). He studied at Harrow School and New College, Oxford University, received a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1889, and was... ... in 1890. Collier's Encyclopedia
GALSWORTHY John- GALSWORTHY (Galsworthy) John (18671933), English writer. Forsyte trilogies: The Forsyte Saga rom. “The Owner” (1906), “In the Loop” (1920), “For Rent” (1921) and the adjacent short stories “Forsyte’s Last Summer”... ... Literary encyclopedic dictionary
- ... Wikipedia
Galsworthy, John John Galsworthy John Galsworthy Aliases: John Sinjohn Date of birth ... Wikipedia
John (John Galsworthy, 1867) English novelist, short story writer, poet, playwright and essayist. Creative originality was revealed mainly in the novel. The main image of G.'s fifteen novels is the owner. Accumulation and preservation of private property... ... Literary encyclopedia
John Galsworthy Date of birth: August 14, 1867 (18670814) Place of birth: Kingston Hill, Surrey, England Date of death: 31 ... Wikipedia
- (1867 1933) English writer. Socially everyday novels The Island of the Pharisees (1904), Petritius (1911), Freelands (1915), etc. In the trilogies about the destinies of one family, The Forsyte Saga (1906 21) and Modern Comedy (1924 28) gave an epic picture of morals... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
Books
- John Galsworthy. Collected works in 8 volumes (number of volumes: 8), Galsworthy John. Book club 'Knigovek' is pleased to present to your attention the 8-volume collected works of John Galsworthy -…
- John Galsworthy. Collected Works in 16 volumes (set of 16 books), John Galsworthy. John Galsworthy is an outstanding English prose writer and playwright, one of the largest realist writers...
John Galsworthy- English novelist and playwright.
Born on August 14, 1867 in the family of a wealthy lawyer. He studied to become a lawyer at Harrow School, then at Oxford University. However, Galsworthy, apparently, did not see himself in this profession and, instead of starting a career in law, went to travel abroad, where formally he was supposed to look after the family business in the field of shipping. The craving for reading and travel outweighed the solidity and prestige of the service, and the passion for literature became a matter of life.
During his travels, John, on a flight from Australia, met Joseph Conrad, who at that time was the first mate and with whom he became close friends. It was Galsworthy who convinced Conrad to publish his travel stories, becoming a kind of initiator of the latter’s literary career.
In 1897, Galsworthy's first collection, The Four Winds, was published, followed by the novels Jocelyn (1898) and Villa Rubain (1900), marked by the influence of late English romanticism. However, even then Galsworthy had a plan, which he realized for more than 30 years - to create a series of realistic novels about the fate of a large bourgeois family. His artistic taste was greatly influenced by Dickens, Thackeray, Maupassant, Turgenev and Tolstoy. In the multi-volume epic “The Forsyte Saga” (1901-1933), Galsworthy included the short story “The Rescue of Forsyte” (1901), the novel “The Owner” (1906), the short stories “The Last Summer of Forsyte” (1918), “The Awakening” (1920) , novels “In the Loop” (1920), “For Rent” (1921). These works formed the first part of the Forsyte Saga trilogy, published in 1922.
In 1905 Galsworthy married Ada Pearson, the former wife of a cousin. For ten years before this marriage, Galsworthy secretly met with his future wife.
In 1921, together with Catherine Amy Dawson-Scott, he founded the PEN Club and became its first head, and in 1929 he became a member of the Order of Merit for services to literature.
The second part of the global work, called “Modern Comedy,” included the novels “White Monkey” (1924), “Silver Spoon” (1926), “Swan Song” (1928), the short stories “Idylls” and “Meetings” (both 1927 ). The third part of the Forsyte trilogy (“End of the Chapter”) consisted of the novels “The Girlfriend” (1931), “The Blooming Desert” (1932) and “Across the River” (1933).
Galsworthy's plays were performed on the stages of English and other European theaters, notable for their acuteness characteristic of social conflicts: “The Silver Box” (1906), “The Struggle” (1909), “Justice” (1910). In the 1920s, Galsworthy wrote the dramas Stranglehold (1920) and Allegiance (1922), in which he expressed concern for the “lost generation” entering life after the end of the First World War.
In 1932 Galsworthy was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. During his lifetime he was awarded honorary degrees from seven universities in England, Scotland and the USA. For a long time he suffered from severe headaches as a result of a steadily growing brain tumor. Died January 31, 1933 in London.