John Galsworthy
The novel by John Galsworthy "The Forsyte Saga" was called by English critics the most outstanding work of English literature of the 20th century and the most English novel of its time.
Galsworthy, on the other hand, considered the Foresight Chronicle his passport to the shores of eternity. But it was a passport not only for him, but also for his wife and his muse, Ada Galsworthy.
The writer dedicated his novel to Ada. “Without her inspiration, sympathy and criticism, I would not even have become the writer I am,” wrote Galsworthy. Ada "gave" him the story of his life, which he described many times, including in the "Forsyte Saga".
John Galsworthy was born on August 14, 1867, and was listed as John Galsworthy IV in the family lineage. His father loved art, literature, read Dickens, Thackeray, adored Turgenev. The grandson of a farmer, he managed to become a lawyer and director of several industrial companies, including overseas. It was from his father that Galsworthy inherited the gift of writing. Until the age of nine, John studied at home, then it was the turn of the boarding house and Harrow College Privilege. From Harrow the road led straight to Oxford.
After graduating from university, Galsworthy and a friend were going on an overseas "big tour". But the departure had to be postponed for a short while: John had to attend the wedding of one of his countless cousins, Major Arthur Galsworthy. The Major's fiancee was Ada Cooper, a very attractive girl, a great musician, but a dowry.
Ada Galsworthy
Ada's family life with Arthur Galsworthy was unsuccessful. And what could be expected from a marriage, which for Ada was just an attempt to escape from a hateful life?
Ada's childhood and adolescence were completely different from John's childhood and adolescence. Ada was an unwanted and unloved child. Even the name given to her by her mother suggests that the child was a heavy burden for her. She named her daughter Ada Nemesis. And Nemesis, as you know, was the goddess of revenge. The cruel Nemesis has repeatedly claimed her rights to Hell throughout her life. Ada resisted her as best she could ...
In 1866, Ada was adopted by Dr. Cooper. To hide the fact that she was illegitimate, Ada began to call her year of birth this year, although in fact she was born in 1864. While dying, Dr. Cooper made a will in which he instructed the guardians to take care of Ada's education. She studied music, dancing, learned to sing, draw ...
After completing her education, Ada and her mother began traveling around the country in search of a husband. For 4 years they traveled 74 cities ... Marriage with Arthur Galsworthy seemed to unhappy Ada a good way out. But she was wrong ...
“Why aren't you writing? You are made for this "
Returning from the "big tour", John Galsworthy got to know Ada better. And when he realized that the beautiful Ada was unhappy in marriage, he was filled with sympathy for her.
Galsworthy led the life of a young wealthy gentleman: he gave dinners, went on visits, hunted ... However, such a life began to weigh on him. At the same time, John was studying law, but he was more and more overcome by doubts about the correctness of the chosen path. “Gnawing into any specialty in order to make money is a disgusting boredom ... How I wish I had talent, I really think that the most enjoyable way to make a living is to be a writer,” he complained in one of his letters. He was tormented by self-doubt. It was then that Ada said that decisive, that only word that he needed to hear.
The turning point in their relationship is the meeting at the Gare du Nord in Paris. Ada asked the young lawyer: “Why aren't you writing? You are made for this. " These words determined the future fate of Galsworthy, and Ada entered his life forever: she was destined to become his secretary, his muse, his comrade ...
Galsworthy left his parental home and settled in a small rented apartment. The father, although he was disappointed with the choice of his son, still gave him a small but sufficient content. In addition, Galsworthy's needs were small: a modest setting, his own departure (a carriage with a horse), he dressed with the exquisite casualness that was then in fashion.
Ada had a vocation to encourage talent. Not only Galsworthy found understanding in her: during her life she supported several writers. This is how Ada herself appreciated her, let us agree, a rare quality: "I think this is my destiny - to be useful to someone, and this is very important for me."
Ada immediately believed that John would become a great writer. His feeble literary attempts did not bother her in the least. She was the first listener to the so far clumsy and wordy stories of Galsworthy, and this brought them closer together. Ada is now his inspiration: she knew how to awaken in him a thirst for creativity.
So he began his journey alongside Ada.
10 years of waiting
It will be ten long years before they can get married. Ten years of mystery and painful life apart. Their love has long been clouded by the consciousness of the impossibility of "remaking" fate. “There is nothing more tragic in life,” the author of The Saga would later say.
In 1902, Ada settled separately from her husband, two minutes' walk from Galsworthy, but together they lived only abroad. Their situation was facilitated by the fact that they had the same surnames.
Ada and John traveled a lot. Italy, France ... Morning hours were devoted to work: he wrote, she retyped the text cleanly. During the day they wandered around the neighborhood, sat for a long time on the verandas and wooden balconies of the Norman country inns, drank coffee and ate rolls with honey. Happy time! During these years, music entered their lives: Galsworthy wrote, and Ada played the piano in the next room. Until the end of his days, John kept this habit - to work to the music of Ada.
In 1904, Galsworthy's father died. His death shocked John. The grief was so great that for two weeks he could not see anyone, not even Ada.
During his father's lifetime, John did not want to upset him by divorce proceedings and marrying a divorced woman. But the Victorian was dead, and now John and Ada could defy convention. They left for a few days in the village, then went to Italy, where they lived openly for six months, so that Major Galsworthy understood that a divorce could not be avoided. Upon returning from Italy, they learned that the divorce proceedings were in full swing.
House where Galsworthy lived
Galsworthy was certain that the doors of the secular drawing-rooms were now closed to him. “I quit all business, quit clubs, etc. I will finally have time and an unburdened mind to write. "
They were married on September 23, 1905, the first day of freedom. Finally, all the difficulties are behind them and cloudless happiness awaits them ... However, 10 years of mystery and 8 months spent together abroad gave reason to think that there would be difficulties.
Ada consigned to oblivion everything that had happened to her before her second marriage. Suddenly I cut out the first pages of my diary. And the countdown of life began anew - from 1905.
The long-awaited marriage did not bring happiness
Ada was devoted to John and his work. It's great, of course, but ... But sometimes Galsworthy was depressed by her overprotection. She did not let go of him for a minute. Lacking neither his outlook, nor sufficient nobility, Ada did not want to allow his soul to wander in those areas that were inaccessible to her. Knowing that John was not at all selfish and ready to do anything for the sake of a loved one, the restless Ada mercilessly exploited these qualities of her husband.
Hell needed to be protected from difficulties and troubles, to be protected from unrest, to pamper like a child, to give in in everything. They even chose games where she could win. It was necessary to maintain in her a sense of self-confidence, to surround her with love and care, which she had been deprived of before meeting Galsworthy.
At the same time, Ada was not at all a fragile creature and did not resemble a southern flower: it smells of cold - and it is not there. And she was not at all like Irene Forsyth - the symbol of suffering beauty. Ada is a woman with a Roman profile, a narrow strip of lips, sometimes touched by a faint smile. She has a regal posture and majestic movements. Many portraits of Ada have survived: Ada on horseback, Ada feeding the cat, Ada in a hunting suit - boots and breeches.
One of her friends recalled: "I have never seen a more muscular woman." No wonder. Ada, who often complained of her health and suffered from rheumatism, was an excellent athlete: she rode well, shot well, played cricket well, and just perfectly played billiards.
Ada's coldness and austerity contributed to Galsworthy's restraint. One of the readers of The Forsyte Saga decided that the writer disapproves of the sensual side of love, citing Soames and Irene as examples. To this Galsworthy replied: “I can rather be accused of the opposite, but we must distinguish between the manifestation of mutual feelings from that which is satisfied against the wishes of the other. They are not the same thing. Over the years, after going through some trials, you will learn that most women, created for love, are much less adapted to endure such an encroachment on the sensual side of their nature than others, because this is associated with a strong sense of spiritual degradation for them. These words, of course, refer to Hell.
The tragedy of Ada is that she, without hesitation, demanded more and more attention from John until his self-sacrifice became complete. And the writer, whom she initially supported with her faith and enthusiasm, found herself entirely in the shackles of their marriage.
Ada and John lived together, achieved success together - he became a celebrity. Ada is happy: after all, John is the meaning of her life. But Galsworthy was getting cramped in the "shroud of prosperity" with which she tried to wrap him up, not letting go of her for a minute. It is difficult for him to combine love for Ada and for literature: in order to develop as a writer, he had to become completely independent, even from his beloved Ada.
What did he prefer? "Of all the roads that we choose," wrote Galsworthy, "the only worthy one I consider is the path of courage and kindness."
John Galsworthy's second love
When Galsworthy was 44 years old, he met nineteen-year-old dancer and choreographer Margaret Morris, who took part in one of the productions of his play. She fell in love with him immediately. "To see him means to love him, he is so kind, delicate, he has such a charming smile."
Galsworthy did not immediately realize that he was also in love. I must say that Galsworthy and Margaret Morris's romance is the most innocent romance imaginable. But for Ada, this is a terrible tragedy. Nemesis overtook her again: John, the only person she trusted, the person who gave her protection and position, was about to reject her. And for him there was no choice: he could not see the torment of his wife.
Galsworthy writes to Margaret: "Neither you, nor I can build happiness on other people's suffering and illness." There is still correspondence between them, but it was soon put to an end: “Ada will not be better until everything is over between us. Forget and forgive me. "
According to the recollections of Galsworthy's nephew, who lived in his family for many years, the marriage of Ada and John after his "betrayal" of the holy trust between them continued to exist, but there was no longer any sensual love between them. Moreover, Galsworthy became even more dependent on Ada - now he could no longer work without her.
From Ada's diary: "Jack writes, I'm messing around: I'm either typing, or trying to play my favorite little Bechstein, which gives us such joy."
In 1932, Galsworthy was awarded the Nobel Prize. But he could not go to Stockholm - because of the disease, which turned out to be fatal.
For a long time Ada could not believe that John was dying. Who will take care of her? (Did Nemesis interfere again?)
He died painfully, but he bore the pain stoically: "I was living too well: Hell, money, houses, awards, travel, success ..."
On January 31, 1933, John Galsworthy passed away. His ashes were scattered at the top of Bury Hill, "under the four winds."
Two handwritten poems dedicated to Ada, which were found in a jewelry box after her death, are the only written evidence of the love between John and Ada Galsworthy.
The Forsyte Saga is considered one of the finest works of English literature of the twentieth century. For this monumental work, its author received the Nobel Prize in Literature. In addition, John Galsworthy, whose biography will be discussed in this article, together with Catherine Amy Dawson Scott is the founder of the PEN Club. This organization operates to this day, is engaged in the protection of the right of people of speech to freely express their thoughts.
Parents
John Galsworthy was born in 1867 near London, in Kingston upon Thames, the son of a successful lawyer. His father loved literature and art. He was read by Dickens, Thackeray and highly regarded Turgenev. As the grandson of an ordinary farmer, John Galsworthy Sr. not only managed to become a lawyer, but founded and headed several industrial companies, including overseas. It was from his father that the writer inherited his literary gift. As for his mother, she was the daughter of a large manufacturer.
John Galsworthy: biography in his youth
As a teenager, the future Nobel laureate decided to continue the family tradition. He graduated from Harrow Preferred School and then went to Oxford University to become a lawyer. At the university, John Galsworthy was known as a successful athlete. In addition, during his studies he was fond of reading Dickens, Thackeray and Melville, he loved to listen to Beethoven.
After graduating from Oxford, Galsworthy realized that he did not want to study law and went abroad. There he was to oversee the family's shipping business.
Meeting with J. Konrad
John Galsworthy was not at all eager to do business. Instead, he became interested in reading and travel. During one of the trips on a flight from Australia, John met the then unknown Joseph Konrad (Jozef Korjenevski), who was serving as the captain's mate at the time. Young people quickly became friends on the basis of common interests. This meeting proved to be life-changing for Konrad, as Galsworthy convinced him to publish his stories.
Fateful meeting
Shortly before the writer received his degree from Oxford, he was invited to the wedding of his cousin. Major Arthur Galsworthy was about to marry Ada Cooper. This was a very attractive girl who, being a homeless woman, decided to go down the aisle in order to get rid of poverty.
The couple's family life did not work out. And how could it be otherwise. Ada was illegitimate, and her mother's husband wanted to get rid of her as soon as possible. Mrs. Cooper was forced to travel with her daughter 74 cities in search of a groom. However, wealthy young people did not seek to marry a penniless girl. The only contender for her hand was Arthur, who did not cause any tender feelings in her.
A lifelong romance
Back in England, the writer John Galsworthy had the opportunity to get to know a new relative who often visited his sisters. From them he learned that the young woman is unhappy in marriage, since her cousin Arthur behaves like a dork. It was Ada who became, so to speak, his godmother in literature and a muse for many years. During a chance meeting in Paris Mrs. Galsworthy advised John to start publishing his stories.
Galsworthy left home and rented a small apartment, which caused a negative reaction from his father. However, he nevertheless decided to provide his son with a crew and pay him a small amount every month. This allowed John to calmly engage in creativity. In addition, living apart from the parental family allowed the writer to secretly meet with Ada, with whom they became lovers.
By the way, the fact that young people bore the same surname allowed them to travel under the guise of spouses abroad, where they were easily accommodated in double rooms. However, such happy moments in their lives were extremely rare. Although Ada was ready to divorce her husband, John understood that after she was free, he still could not marry her, since such an act would kill his father.
The beginning of a writing career
In 1897, Galsworthy's first collection of short stories, The Four Winds, was published. It was followed by the novels Jocelyn, Villa Rubane, and The Silver Box. All were published under the pseudonym John Sinjon. All these works were written in the then popular style of late English romanticism.
Despite their success, the writer decided to abandon this literary direction. Influenced by the works of Dickens, Thackeray, Maupassant, Turgenev and Tolstoy, John Galsworthy planned to create a cycle of realistic novels telling about the fate of a large family belonging to the big bourgeoisie.
Marriage
In 1904, the writer's father died. As a result, John Galsworthy, whose books have been published in our country for more than 70 years, became financially independent. He left for Italy and for several months lived openly with Ada as husband and wife. This forced his cousin Arthur to agree to a divorce. In 1905, Galsworthy was finally able to legally marry his beloved woman. Most relatives and acquaintances of the newlyweds refused to communicate with a couple who challenged Victorian morality. But Ada and John Galsworthy (the writer's novels are popular all over the world to this day) were so happy that nothing could darken their joy.
The first story about the family, on the example of which John Galsworthy decided to investigate the problems of the English bourgeois society, was published in 1901 under the pseudonym John Sinjon. It was titled Rescue Forsythe. In it, the writer first introduced the reader to Mr. James. Although in the short story he is shown briefly as the patriarch of the family, whose children and grandchildren became the heroes of other novels, novellas and short stories, which received the general name "The Forsyte Saga". The work on these works lasted 27 years. It included:
- the novel The Owner;
- short stories "The Last Summer of Forsythe" and "Awakening";
- the novels "In the Loop", "For Rent";
- cycle "Modern Comedy", etc.
The prototype of one of the heroes of the saga was Galsworthy's cousin Arthur. In particular, the fragment of the rape of his wife by Soames Forsyth was written based on the events that happened to Ada and her ex-husband.
Isle of the Farisees (John Galsworthy)
This novel is one of the most interesting and socially significant works of the writer. The Island of the Pharisees reveals the vices of the English bourgeois society. The novel tells about a young aristocrat, Dick Shelton, who, after being betrothed to a girl from a wealthy family, is forced, at the request of her parents, to be temporarily separated from his bride in order to test his feelings. By chance, he meets people from the people and learns about their worries, worries and problems.
As a result, the young man decides to abandon the engagement and break with high society, which appeared before him in the most unattractive light.
Galsworthy the playwright
The writer also created several plays, which were successfully performed on many stages in Great Britain, Europe and the USA. In his works, the issues of social inequality in British society were raised. In The Silver Box, the writer directly says that there are two laws: for the rich and for the poor.
The play Justice, in which Galsworthy advocated judicial reform, was also controversial. She made a big impression on Winston Churchill, forcing him to reconsider his views on the prison system.
A fleeting romance
In 1911, when John Galsworthy was already a celebrity, dancer and successful choreographer Margaret Morris took part in one of the performances based on his play. The girl was much younger than the writer, but fell in love with him at first sight. Her admiration could not leave indifferent a forty-year-old man. However, their romance remained only platonic. John learned that Ada was terrified that he could lose him, and wrote a letter to Margaret, in which he told her that he did not want to build his happiness on the tragedy of a loved one.
last years of life
John Galsworthy, whose biography is reflected in many of his works, received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1932. At the time of the award ceremony, the writer was already seriously ill, so he did not take part in it.
Galsworthy died in January 1933 in London at the age of 65 due to the growth of a brain tumor.
A group of the most famous writers of Great Britain of that time took the initiative to bury the ashes of the writer in the Poets Corner of Westminster Abbey. However, in his writings, Galsworthy so often ridiculed the church and its ministers that the request was refused. Then his remains were cremated and the ashes scattered over England.
Social position
Throughout his creative life, John Galsworthy, whose books were published in millions of copies, gave half of his earnings to charity. He actively fought to overhaul laws on censorship, women's suffrage, divorce, and minimum wages. By personal order of the writer, his Nobel Prize was awarded to the PEN-club he founded. At the same time, in 1917, Galsworthy refused to accept the knighthood from King George the Fifth.
After the death of the writer, his works began to gradually lose their popularity. Interest in them was revived after several successful adaptations of The Forsyte Saga were made. The work of John Galsworthy belongs to the best pages of English literature.
Ada Galsworthy survived her husband by thirteen years. Before she died, she burned every love letter that John had ever written to her. There is only one poem left, which the writer dedicated to his beloved girlfriend and wife.
Now you know what a huge role love played in the work of John Galsworthy, as well as the story of the creation of the monumental "Forsyte Saga".
English prose writer and playwright. Born in Kingston Hill (Surrey). He studied at Harrow School and New College, Oxford University, in 1889 he received a bachelor's degree in jurisprudence, was admitted to the bar. He spent several years traveling, practicing law. At the age of 28 he began to write; his first book "Under the Four Winds" was published in 1897. The novels "Jocelyn" and "Villa Rubane" were published under the pseudonym John Sinjon.
From the very first novel, The Island of the Pharisees, published under his own name, Galsworthy consistently criticized English society — the novels The Owner, The Manor, The Brotherhood, and The Patrician. They satirically portrayed the mores, morals and beliefs of merchants, landowners, the artistic environment and the ruling aristocracy.
Among the novels that criticize English life should be excluded "The Dark Flower", "Freelands", "Stronger than Death" and "The Way of the Saint", each of which touches upon a certain social problem and, as a rule, tells a love story.
In addition to 16 novels, Galsworthy wrote 25 plays (of which six are one-act). In them, the author develops mainly social themes of property, class of justice, hypocrisy of the upper strata of society in the field of morality, etc. The most famous are "Silver Box", "Struggle", "Justice", "Poop", "Runaway", "Crowd "And" Death grip ".
In his three collections of stories, included in the collected works under the general title "Caravan", he reveals himself primarily as a social artist. These are the stories "The Guy from Devon", "The Prisoner", "The Workers", "The Forest", "The Feud", "The Blackmailer", etc.
A number of short stories testify to Galsworthy's skill in analyzing the human psyche (The Miller from Dee, Farewell, Awakening - an interlude from The Forsyte Saga, - The Hedonist, Silence, etc.). In addition to these books, he published a collection of poems "Poems new and old" and three collections of articles and essays.
In 1917, Galsworthy returned to The Owner, his critically strongest novel, and, adding to it first the interlude The Last Summer of Forsythe, then The Loop, and For Rent, created his great trilogy, The Saga about Foresights ". It was followed by the second trilogy "Contemporary Comedy", which included "White Monkey", "Silver Spoon" and "Swan Song". The Forsyte Saga and The Contemporary Comedy are the story of three generations of a typical wealthy family, an epic of English life in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In November 1932 g.
Galsworthy won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Galsworthy's work combines impressionism and realism\u003e moral preaching and humanism. He deeply felt the beauty of life and at the same time was a chronicler of society, concerned about social injustice.
Chapter XVII.
JOHN GOLSWORSE: THE "ENGLISH" OF THE MASTER
John Galsworthy V: Becoming a Writer, - "Isle of the Pharisees": The Insight of Richard Shelton. - "Owner"; the birth of a dynasty. - Epic horizons: the fate of the dynasty. - "Spirit of Service to People": Galsworthy the Artist
If we learn to help our neighbors, keep courage and, surrendering with all our heart, take care of ourselves, do our job well, if we learn to bring a little beauty into life, if only by the fact that we will enjoy 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
The term "Englishness" has been increasingly used in the writings of British literary specialists. It is designed to determine the national identity, ideological aesthetic originality that distinguish English literature and its creators. The concept of "Englishness" is especially fully applicable to John Galsworthy: to the problems of his works, the typology of heroes, to the richest style and language, and finally to the most human, creative image of the writer. Its 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 forsightism.
John Galsworthy V: becoming 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 (1867-1933). His distant ancestor, John Galsworthy I ("Big Galsworthy"), was a landowner and a successful merchant. Galsworthy later captured the essential aspects of his family dynasty in The Forsyte Saga. The writer's father was a lawyer, director of a number of industrial companies. He was his wife at the age of 45, already being a wealthy man. By nature, he was harmonious, conscientious, appreciated, in the words of his son, "an ordered, measured life, full of warmth", loved good literature, in particular Thackeray and Turgenev. The future writer had deep respect for his father. With his mother, a woman of a strict disposition, who had clear ideas about decency and therefore did not favor creative people, the son did not have good relations. Later, Galsworthy wrote that he inherited a literary gift from his father, and from his mother "love of form."
Galsworthy's childhood Howled happy. He studied with the tutors, then entered a privileged school in Harrow, where he was distinguished by diligence and "excellent manners." However, the stay in Harrow was not completely cloudless. Later, Galsworthy admitted that at school they gave good knowledge, but at the same time independent thinking was not encouraged, they tried to protect young men from the influence of advanced social and political trends. “We were almost all reactionaries,” Galsworthy’s notes in his memoirs.
In 1886 Galsworthy became a student at Oxford. At first, it was difficult to guess the future of the famous writer, a subtle psychologist endowed with a responsive heart, in this pleasant, cleanly dressed student, "who did nothing remarkable", who followed all the social norms of secular life,
Meanwhile, in the soul of Galsworthy was an intense inner work, hidden from outsiders. Being a reserved person, he never advertised his emotions. In the last year, answering questions in the "Album of Confessions". Galsworthy wrote: “The dignity I value most is the absence of selfishness, the quality is stoicism; favorite writers - Dickens and Thackeray; composers - Beethoven; the motto is “do not do bad today what you can do well tomorrow”.
After graduation, Galsworthy went 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 took place that played an important role in the life and work of Galsworthy. At the wedding of his cousin, Major Arthur Galsworthy, he meets his fiancée, Alya Cooper, a charming girl, musical, endowed with a fine 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 connect, since divorce was considered reprehensible and the father was strongly opposed to it. Meeting in fits and starts, endless suffering of loving people lasted about ten years. Only in 1905, after the death of his father, John, who had already received a name in literature, and Ada, who went through the hardest 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 solid path - to become a lawyer. And John diligently studied the legal codes. However, Galsworthy seemed to be dead bored to do what he did not like. 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, because he was created for this.
First books. The writer's path to success was not easy. In 1897 he came across the first collection of his stories "Under the four winds", which reflected the impressions and observations made during the sea voyage. Galsworthy wrote the floor under the pseudonym John Sinjon.
In his first romance, Joneslin (1898), not devoid of melodramatism, Galsworthy addresses the theme of unhappy love.
The Frenchman Jules Lehart 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 parted.
In the collection of short stories "The Man from Devon" (1901), the action takes place in the area of \u200b\u200bDevon, where Galsworthy's relatives lived. The best story in the collection - "The Salvation of Forsyth" - first appeared Swithin Forsyth, a representative of the Forsyte dynasty, which will later be immortalized in the famous epic of Galsworthy.
Swithin, a slave to convention, a cautious owner, refuses the love of the revolutionary's young daughter, Boleshske, because he sees him as a threat to the essential order of things.
Already in his early works, almost the main theme of Galsworthy's work is indicated - the conflict between beauty, art and possessiveness. It is closely related to the topic of family and marital relations. This is evidenced by the second novel of the writer "Villa Rubane" (1900).
The protagonist, a young artist Alois Harz, a man of anti-conformist views, who hates the petty-bourgeois-proprietary hardened morality, is in love with Christian, the daughter of the bourgeois Trefri. Trefri, who is alien to all beauty, and only flat-pragmatic things are available, acts as the spiritual antagonist of the Harz; “If I were the most remarkable artist in the world, I am afraid that he (Trefrey - BG) would not have given a broken penny for me; but if I could show him a bunch of checks for large sums received for my paintings, even the worst ones, he would be filled with respect for me, ”says the artist.
These words, written over 100 years ago, still sound today with absolute urgency.
Isle of the Pharisees: the epiphany of Richard Shelton
Galsworthy's aesthetics.Since the early 1900s, Galsworthy has been on a broad literary road. Recognition came to him with the novel The Island of the Pharisees (1904) and was reinforced by 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 round of the tradition of the classic novel, presented 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 in creating true pictures of life, to capture the character of people, to see in them not only purely individual, but also typical. Great works, as Galsworthy believed, should "generalize, give symbolic meaning to whole layers of human nature." The writer should be concerned with the moral state of society, but not stray into the role of preacher.
Appreciating objectivity and analyticity in literature, he by no means denies the writer's right to be biased, but personal attitude should be veiled. The following judgment became significant for Galsworthy's aesthetics: three possible paths open to the writer. The first is to defend conventional wisdom; the second - on the contrary, to argue with the prevailing opinion. Galsworthy chose the 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 the true phenomena of life, characters, situations, patterns of behavior, selected and combined in such a way that the reader without any I learned moral lessons from what I read. All this, however, did not prevent Galsworthy from writing the foreword and afterword to The Forsyte Saga, in which he explained in detail his plan to the reader.
Above all, Galsworthy put 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, educators, realists), he opposed the deeply rooted truly national vice of hypocrisy.
The novel "The Island of the Pharisees" is evidence of the entry of the writer into the period of creative maturity. At the heart of the novel (by the way, the first one published by Galsworthy 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 main character, Richard Shelton, is autobiographical. This is one of the more free-thinking characters in Galsworthy.
The novel begins with the fact that, like the writer himself, Shelton returns to his homeland from a trip. In a joyful mood, he hurries to London, where his engagement to the noble beauty Antonia Dennant awaits him. On the train, Shelton meets the Belgian Ferrand, who has broken with bourgeois society, an outcast, the embodiment of the "rebellious side of life." Shelton listens not without sympathy and understanding to Ferrand, who talks about the unjust structure of society, about the self-righteousness 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", which Jack London described 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 "pharisaic", "merchant" country, a big shop in which the well-being of some is based on poverty and the loss of human dignity of others. And Shelton admits with all frankness: "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 fermentation and change”, that he “slowly awakened, realizing his true social position! life of the country ... "And further:" Resentment rioted too violently to be bottled, and in the end this book became the introduction to all subsequent ones, depicting 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, paralyze their thought. The hero recognizes the senselessness of dividing people into "gentlemen" and "non-gentlemen". For him, a true gentleman is one who does not accept the dominant morality of the Pharisees, the Clear-cut Shelton cannot live as before, because now he sees that almost all spheres of social life, as well as human relations, are saturated with disguised pharisaism. The government of India, which brings huge profits to the metropolis, is called "a great and noble mission." Oxford, this citadel of science, is actually a “town wrapped in cotton wool,” in which venerable scholars accumulate information about long-extinct tribes and nationalities, but leave the problems of our time. Pharisaism is ubiquitous: 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 6sed and discussions about poverty or imperfection of laws are considered unacceptable; in families where relations are based on veiled selfish interests. The quintessence of falsehood is the image of Miss Dennant, mother of Richard's bride. In the novel's finale, the hero, disillusioned with Antonia and her parents, refuses to be engaged to the bride.
The theme of spiritual growth, the "insight" of the hero is widespread in the literature of the turn of the century: it is François professor Bergeret, Ibsen's Nora and Dr. Stockman. Shelton is breaking 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 life of the writer was also streamlined. A year after the release of the novel; Galsworthy, 38, was legally married to Ada. It was a happy marriage. Ada with her artistic taste, a wonderful musician, was an irreplaceable assistant in her work, friend, and a source of inspiration. Galsworthy was financially independent, leading 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 no writer gave so much money, so much time and care to any unfortunate person as Galsworthy did. Humanism was an integral part 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 run-up, after which Galsworthy makes an energetic creative leap. The new novel of the writer "The Owner" (1906) is almost unanimously evaluated by critics as his best, summit, "significant" work. It absorbed 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 started writing this story, he thought it would fit into a single volume. However, twelve years after the release of The Owner, he returned to the Foresight theme, continuing it already in a series of novels, in an extensive epic work that has now entered the history of world literature.
Already the first novel of the series showed how capaciously the writer captured the late Victorian era, England in the 1880s and 1890s, bourgeois society and its typical representatives. Galsworthy managed to capture so accurately the typical in the life of people of that era that many of his contemporaries recognized themselves in the heroes of the novel. Could anything be more flattering for a writer!
Family portrait in the interior.The novel's exposition is the scene of a reception at old Jolyon's in honor of his granddaughter June's engagement to the architect Bosinney: "Those who received an invitation to the Forsyte family celebrations were a charming and instructive sight: a family of the upper class of the English bourgeoisie presented in all its glory." The writer captures "the best time in the life of the Forsytes - the time of their bloom." Foresights are the personification of a whole and powerful class, the "core of a nation." They are the descendants of those who created the Empire, its riches, who made England the "workshop of the world", the ruler of colonies in different parts of the world. They 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 is a site sales agent; Roger is the owner of a tenement house in the slums; Nikolac is a shareholder in railway and mining companies; Timothy is a retired former publisher.
"Seal of Forsytes".Before us is a family clan, whose members are linked not only by family ties, but also by common psychological traits. Foresight is a product of foresight 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 - a sense of ownership. It is it that determines the actions, decisions, life goals, moral priorities of the Forsytes. “The sense of ownership is the touchstone of foresight,” the writer says. A member of the Forsyte clan is used to looking at the world exclusively from the point of view of money: "If he cannot count on the absolutely definite value of things, then the compass begins to play pranks on him." The concept of ownership includes not only things in their specific monetary equivalent. It is said about the Forsytes that they did business "concerning this or that type of property (from wives to the right to use important sources)"; family relations are also colored by a proprietary ideology, for here the question of inheritance arises. Of father and son, James and Soames, we read: they "looked at each other as capital invested in a solid acquisition."
An indispensable value for Foresight is health. Almost all of them are strong in body and spirit, among them there are many long-livers: old Jolyon lived for 92 years. Timothy - 101. Health is ensured by a healthy lifestyle and high quality nutrition. There are many scenes in the novel describing feasts and meals consumed. The Forsytes, the 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 found (this theme will develop in subsequent novels of the epic). For example, young Jolyon is a "white crow", he is a painter (this profession is not "foresight"). No less a deviation from the foresight "norm" is his divorce and marriage to the governess. He offers the following generalizing characteristic to his relatives: “We are all, of course, slaves of property, the only question is the degree, but the one whom 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 a wife, a house, money, reputation - this is the seal of Forsythe. " And further: "... The pillars of society, the cornerstone of our life with its conventions ... By the most conservative estimate, three-quarters of our academicians, seven-eighths of our writers and a significant percentage of journalists are Forsytes."
So the "sense of ownership". Is it not 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 sense of ownership is "an unchristian, ignoble feeling." “I want people to see this,” added the novelist.
Soames Forsyth: 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 cracks.
Soames marries twenty-year-old Irene Aaron, the daughter of a professor, a poor man (from the point of view of the Forsytes); marriage saves the dowry Irzn from an unbearable life with her stepmother. Irene does not marry for love, and this is clear to Soames. But he, with selfish innocence, is sure that by providing Irene financially, by buying her outfits, he will make her happy and receive love and devotion in return.
How many times in the history of world literature this "eternal" theme has been played up - marriage of convenience, in particular, by two of Galsworthy's favorite artists: Dickens ("Dombey and Son") and Tolstoy ("Anna Karenina", to which Galsworthy wrote the foreword). Galsworthy brought fresh colors to the interpretation of the "eternal" theme.
Committed to a sense of ownership, Soames wants to preserve such a valuable asset. He builds a country villa in order to settle Irene there, chaining her to the seedbed, isolating her from unwanted external contacts. Soames entrusted 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. Frequent appearances in the house of Soames Bosinney contribute to their rapprochement with Irene, which develops into love. Irene and Bosinney are close souls in many ways. Carried away by Irene, the architect breaks off his engagement to June. Boshinri's love pushes Irene even more away from Soames, who experiences both the jealousy of a wounded spouse and the anger of the owner who is losing his "property."
Finally, a villa was built - a masterpiece of architecture. However, the process of its construction Bosinney exceeds the estimate. This allows Soames to settle accounts with his rival, against whom he is suing. Soames threatens Bosinney with ruin and shame. These troubles bring Irene and Bosinney closer together. Seized by passion, Soames, claiming his rights, abuses Irene, after which she leaves her husband, telling Bosinney about what happened. In a state of stress, Bosinney rushes about the city and dies, falling under the wheels of the crew. For a while Irene takes refuge in the house of old Jolyon. But then, like a “dying bird” in need of its own nest, it returns to the house of an unloved husband in order to leave him again in the future.
The meaning of the novel, of course, is incomparably more serious than the portrayal of intra-family drama, collisions associated with adultery. The conflict in the novel is a clash of Property and Beauty. Ownership is a soulless submission to the passion for hoarding, enrichment as a vital supreme task. Beauty is associated with freedom, independence from bigotry and proprietary morality, this is the happiness of love. Beauty is personified in the image of Irene, Art - in the image of Bosinney. The owner is 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 in relation to the foresight society, which, in the end, is to blame for the death of the hounded Bosinney, and for the distorted life of Irene. The novelist does not hide his dislike for Soames, as the embodiment of forsightism, for his arrogance, "stupid stubbornness" and "dog's anger." At the same time, Galsworthy does not act as a straightforward denouncer. He understands his hero, and the attitude towards him is complex. Soames is a hostage to that system of values, that morality, which he, as a member of the clan, is obliged to share.
In this novel, Galsworthy is already a mature artist, everyday life writer, psychologist and analyst. Every detail is significant for him; portraits of heroes, dialogues, insightful author's comments, sometimes colored 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 the subsequent novels of the Foresight cycle.
Epic Horizons: The Fate of a Dynasty
The idea of \u200b\u200bthe main book of the writer, The Forsyte Saga, was not immediately formed in his mind. 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; "The Dark Flower", 1913; "Freelands", 1915; etc.), plays of various genres: satirical comedies, lyric plays, tragedies and melodramas (The Silver Box, 1909; The Fight, 1909; The Crowd, 1914; and others). He also publishes several short stories collections.
The First World War, which affected the fate of almost every Englishman, was coming to an end, a new, post-war era began, marked by social and psychological changes in the life of the country and society. About 1918 Galsworthy's decision to continue the Forsyte story dates back to about 1918. Galsworthy said that this decision was the happiest day of his creative life. The shocks experienced by England, new horizons, not yet quite clear, but already outlined, convinced him that the fate of the Foresight 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 was an impressive example of an epic novel, War and Peace by L. Tolstoy. The most interesting experience in the creation of a modern cycle of novels covering the history of one family was the epic "Rougon-Makkara" Zola. The epic of the family type was broadly and succinctly presented in Thomas Mann's The Buldenbrokes. Works such as Jean Christophe by Rolland and the epic In Search of Lost Time by M. Proust (which was created in parallel with Galsworthy's Forsyte Saga) caused a huge resonance.
Galsworthy interpreted "epic" as a "collective method." The main thing for him was the image of human passions, historical and social events, and everyday life. Similar principles were realized in his Forsyte novels.
The Galsworthy epic originally consisted of two trilogies - The Forsyte Saga and The Contemporary Comedy. Then a third trilogy was added to them - "The End of the Chapter".
Explaining the meaning of the title of the first trilogy "The Forsyte Saga", Galsworthy wrote that the word "saga" was used by him not without a grain of irony. Naturally, the name is associated with the era of the Scandinavian sagas associated with heroic characters and deeds. In the work of Galsworthy, the heroes of the era of Victorian "prosperity" are derived. However, the existence of people in frock coats and bustles is not devoid of "a passionate struggle of forces hostile to each other."
Separate novels were held together using short stories-bundles called "interludes". The interlude The Last Summer of Forsythe (1918), in which old Jolyon, the patriarch of the clan, gives shelter to Irene, who left her husband, became a kind of epilogue to the first novel of the epic The Owner. The interlude is colored with a sad, minor key. On the verge of nothingness, Jolyon renounces the burden of conventions and prejudices, these signs of forsight. It manifests humanity and kindness. Galsworthy demonstrates a broad outlook on Forsytes that goes beyond criticism of forsightism.
After The Owner: 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 by Irene by old Jolyon gave her relative financial independence. After 12 years of a single life, she marries the then widowed artist Jolyon Jr. Soames also arranges his personal life by marrying the Frenchwoman Annette. But these are two fundamentally different marital unions. If Irene and Jolyon's marriage is built on spiritual kinship, then the family life of Soames, who has become even richer, "made a name for himself a prominent collector of paintings," is marked by a spirit of practicality and devoid of genuine feeling. Soames longs above all to have an heir who will continue his cause. Annette is young, but poor, she wants to successfully settle in life. Soames, whose feelings for Irene have not faded away, has 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 was 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, polished it; supported her until those lore, until her manners, morals, language, appearance, habits, soul almost ceased to differ from the aristocracy. An era that gilded the freedom of the individual so gilded that if a person had money, he was free according to the law and in reality, and if he did not have money, he was free only according to the law, but by no means in reality; an era that so canonized pharisaism that in order to be respectable, it was enough to seem to them. The great age, the all-changing influence of which has been exposed to 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 leaving! " In the future, this motive will sound more and more persistently in the epic.
The second novel of the trilogy is followed by the interlude Awakening (1920). Its theme is the happy childhood of the son of Irene and Jolyon, John, the birth in the soul of a teenager of a sense of beauty, 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 a new generation: Soames' daughter Fleur and son Irene John meet by chance in an art gallery. Mutual love awakens in them, but parents hide their past from them and do not approve of their meetings. Young people still hope to achieve consent to marriage. Soames, madly in love with his daughter, is ready to ask Irene for forgiveness. But Irene, and especially Jolyon, who are irreconcilable with Soames, are fundamentally opposed to this alliance. John, who loves his mother, sacrifices to her a new feeling for Fleur, who in desperation connects her life with Baronet Michael Mont, a young aristocrat, not loving him.
Fleur largely inherits the features of her father: she is also an owner, but strives not only for material well-being. She longs to rule over people, to achieve her goals.
One of the important events in the novel filled with symbolic meaning is the sale by Soames of the very house of Robin Hill, which was built by the architect Bosinney. This "fateful house" destroyed his married life with Irene, Soames darkly thinks. There is a sign on the house: "For Rent". “For rent” is the foresight age, the foresight way of life, when a person was the indisputable and uncontrolled owner of his soul, his income, ”Some sneers.
"Contemporary Comedy": New Times. The second trilogy is also titled, not without a touch of irony: "Contemporary Comedy" (which evokes associations with Balzac's "Human Comedy"). The trilogy is made up of novels: The White Monkey (1924), The Silver Spoon (1926), The Swan Song (1928). They represent an important period in the history of England - 1922-1926, culminating in the famous General Strike of 1926, which endangered the capitalist order of the country. But the fundamental foundations of England - and this is important for the design of the epic - remained unshakable.
The historical foresight is spelled out very specifically.
In the "White Monkey" in the center of attention - Fleur and her husband Michael Mont, living in their "emancipated" house in one of the prestigious quarters of the capital, where the "golden youth" gathers - 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 desert letters, “desert”), one of the visitors of Fleur's salon.
Desert, who fell in love with Fleur, flirting with him, confesses his feelings to her husband. Michael gives Fleur the opportunity to make her own choices, and she stays with her husband while Desert leaves England. And yet, no amount of 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 Mont and Forsyth resign after being mistrusted in the City, blaming them for their losses. 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, unmanageable and uncontrollable life, while for Michael Mont and his generation, who has been in the war, the main thing is endurance. But Michael is an optimist. Young people live for today, take advantage of the minute, hope for something. England, according to Galsworthy, "is in a hurry to find the Future, having no idea when, where and how this Future will come." One of the main symbols of the novel is a painting given by Soames to his daughter. The painting shows a white monkey squeezing an orange with a scattered peel. The monkey has longing eyes.
One of the artists sees this as an allegory: “Eat the fruits of life, scatter the peel and get caught in it.<...> It seems to her that something is hidden in this orange, and she is longing and angry because she cannot find anything. " He suggests calling the painting "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), the reader is again presented with John.
After deep experiences caused by the break with Fleur, he settled in the United States, engaged in agriculture, fell in love with a young American woman, Ann Wilmot.
The novel "Silver Spoon" is mainly dedicated to Fleur.
Fleur, languishing from a meaningless existence, gets involved in a conflict with the socialite Marjorie Ferrar, which results in a high-profile lawsuit. At the same time, both sides, who have turned out to be the object of gossip and polemics, 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 a German hired by him.
The second interlude is Meetings (1927).
Traveling to the USA with Fleur and Michael, Soames unexpectedly confronts his past.In Washington, he learns that Irene is in the city with John and his wife. He makes great 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 posed a serious threat to the entire order of life in England.
Soames finds himself among those who, fleeing Bolshevism, stand up to defend the proprietary foundations. Fleur organizes a dining room for seamstresses and brokers. Here she unexpectedly sees John among the diners, who has come home with his wife. The old feeling flares up in Fleur with renewed vigor. It is not for nothing that they say about her: "The desire to have what she did not yet have, has always been her characteristic feature." She meets with John and eventually pursues intimacy with him. But this turns out to be her "Pyrrhic victory." Upon learning that Anne will have a child, John feels remorse and decides to break up with Fleur. She is so acutely worried about what happened that she thinks about killing herself. Unaware of her actions, Fleur falls asleep, leaving an unextinguished cigarette, which causes a fire in his father's house. Soames, in spite of the danger, saves the paintings and at the last moment prevents the death of his daughter. Taking on the weight of the picture, about to fall on Fleur, he is fatally injured. He dies with the thought of his daughter.
"Final chapter". After completing The Contemporary Comedy, Galsworthy creates the third part of the trilogy, entitled The End of the Chapter (1930-1933). It is formed by the novels The Girl Waits (1931), The Blooming Desert (1932), and Across the River (1933). The content of the trilogy is a chronicle of the old noble family Cherrelov, related to the Forsytes thanks to the marriage of Michael Mont and Fleur. The trilogy is based on the idea of \u200b\u200bthe family as the mainstay of society. The most significant image is Dinny Cherrell, the ideal young Englishwoman who symbolizes the traditions of "good old England". Galsworthy's sympathies are given to conservative circles, the aristocracy.
In general, the "trilogy trilogy" is an outstanding artistic phenomenon in terms of scale, epic coverage 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 exalted art of storytelling, culminating in The Forsyte Saga." As A. Esterling, a member of the Swedish Academy, noted in his comments, Galsworthy was able to "see the historical background behind the destinies of individual characters, the transformation and disintegration of the Victorian era up to the present day." Esterling compared the skill of Galsworthy the novelist with that of Turgenev, emphasizing his irony as "synonymous with love of life and humanity."
Unfortunately, a fatal illness prevented Galsworthy from arriving in Stockholm and giving a speech.
Galsworthy and Classical Realism. The Nobel Prize secured Galsworthy's status as a true master. His 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 with the greatest originality his talent manifested itself in a large epic form. Galsworthy became an outstanding writer thanks to his natural talent, enviable hard work, determination, "self-discipline of the heart."
Galsworthy did not hide his literary predilections when he wrote: “... The people whose names we swear by - Tolstoy, Turgenev, Chekhov, Flaubert, France, - knew one great truth: they portrayed the body and that sparingly, but only in order to better show the soul. "
Of course, the well-known critic Walter Allen was unfair, who in his book Tradition and Dream, devoted to the development of the novel in England and the United States 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. at. The author of the Foresight epic continued the traditions of realistic and humanistic art, demonstrating their strength and vitality. However, not all critics liked Galsworthy: supporters of elite art and fashionable experiments saw the writer as overly traditional, even somewhat old-fashioned, because he passed by popular techniques and trends - Freudianism, "stream of consciousness", cinematic editing. However, it was Galsworthy, a truly national artist, who left a whole gallery of "English characters" that were most decisively embodied in the representatives of the Foresight clan.
Galsworthy and Tolstoy. Galsworthy, a realist and humanist, was also close to the Russian classics. In the article "Russian and Englishman", written during the First World War, in 1916, when Russia and Great Britain were fighting against a common enemy, Germany, Galsworthy emphasized: “The Russian prose of your masters is the most powerful life-giving stream in the sea of \u200b\u200bmodern literature.<...> Your writers have brought into fiction, in my opinion, the most important of all areas of literature - straightforwardness in depicting what they saw, sincerity, amazing for all Western countries, but especially amazing and precious for us - the least sincere of nations.
Throughout his creative life, Galsworthy treated Tolstoy's works with lively attention. This was facilitated by a close acquaintance with the translator of the Russian classic into English, Constance Garnet. Tolstoy and Galsworthy were in many ways united by their rejection of decadent trends.
Galsworthy's assimilation of Tolstoy's experience was carried out in two aspects. Of course, the author of the Foresight epic drew on the national tradition of Fielding, Dickens and Thackeray, a tradition of resolute protest against all forms of English hypocrisy. This tradition was reinforced by the example of Tolstoy, who boldly tore off "all and all kinds of masks." Galsworthy insisted: no novelist of the scale of Dickens, Turgenev and Tolstoy, as well as Meredith, Bennett, Hardy, "can not be a critic of life."
Galsworthy raised the art of psychological characterization to a new level, depicting in the spirit of XX century aesthetics. all the dialectical complexity of the inner world of the heroes. And Tolstoy was figurative for him in this respect.
The English writer Pamela Johnson made an interesting observation when comparing The Owner and Anna Karenina. The English novelist seems to draw parallels with Tolstoy's situations and characters. Karenin is Soames, Anna is Irene, Vronsky is Bosinney, June is Kitty. Anna-Irene steals Kitty-June's fiancé. Anna-Irene is disgusted with Karenin-Soames.
Galsworthy style.The writer skillfully applied the techniques of realistic prose. This tradition had its own appeal. It was in harmony with the texture of the writer's works. Galsworthy believed that an experiment is meaningful not in itself, as an end in itself, but only if it helps immersion in the material. Creating an image, the writer expressed its essence, emphasizing the unity of the internal and external appearance. Such is Soames, the cross-cutting figure of the foresight cycle.
Soames' self-righteousness is accentuated by the unchanging mask of contempt 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 engaged 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 "liberty" in his outward ideology, be it disheveled hair, a casually 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 wearing a top hat, but wearing a hat, it is perceived as a challenge to decency. For Forsytes, impeccability in dress is a symbol of respectability. An illustrative example from the gastronomic field. During dinner, Swithin does not have dessert, because it is important for guests to quickly get down to the "heart of the matter." The Forsyte's favorite dish, "lamb saddle", is evidence that the noble family believes in "nutritious, tasty food" and is alien to the "sentimental pursuit of beauty."
The main characters of the epic are endowed with individual characteristics of speech. In the manner of the writer, irony is important as a means of social criticism, the detection of the false essence of "respectable" characters who demonstrate their imaginary decency. In the novel Isle of the Pharisees, Miss Dennant, Shelton's fiancée, informs the hero of her grief: the gardener, after the death of his wife, is so depressed that he began to show carelessness in his work. The essence of this socialite is in the words addressed to Shelton: “I did everything to cheer him up, because it is very sad to see him so depressed! Ah, dear Dick, if you only knew how he mutilates my new rose bushes! I’m afraid he wouldn’t have gone mad and will have to fire him, poor fellow. ” This is followed by an improperly direct speech, which also does not require comment: “She, of course, sympathized with Benyan, or, rather, believed that he had the right to grieve just a little, since the loss of his wife is a completely legitimate reason for grief authorized by the church. But go to extremes? This is too much! "
Among the many advantages of Galsworthy is the ability to find aphoristically apt, indisputable words that grasp the essence of a phenomenon, object, person.
The architecture of his novels is notable for its harmony. The narrative is divided into episodes, scenes - such a construction betrays the playwright's hand. It is no coincidence that the Forsyte epic was embodied in a brilliant television series that 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 all arrogance, restrained, silent and internally lonely. He never tired of emphasizing the high mission of literature. His credo - in the words of one of the characters in the trilogy "End of the Chapter": "... We must try to preserve the beauty, dignity and spirit of service to people." In one of the writer's last addresses to the younger generation, we read: “A thorough knowledge of literature in the native language is the most enjoyable part of education. Not because our literature is superior to other literatures, not because when reading in their native language, the mind and imagination work more freely ... Anyone who speaks his native language so that he learns musically, writes well and knows the masterpieces created on it, - that educated person. "
The history of world literature shows that some fashionable innovations pass and are forgotten, while the classics invariably remain a living heritage. This explains the popularity of Galsworthy with modern readers and the fact that his multivolume collected works are constantly reprinted.
And who is he for England? We agree with the opinion of the critic Una Morrison: "Forsytes, like their author, have become part of the national identity."
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 AM John Galsworthy's Foresight Cycle Style: Towards the Struggle for Realism in 20th Century English Literature. / A. M. Gavrilyuk. - Lviv, 1977.
Dupre C. John Galsworthy: Biography / C. Dupre. - M., I986.
Mikhalskaya N.P. English novel of the XX century. / N P Mikhalskaya, GV Anikin, - M., 1982.
Tugusheva M.P. John Galsworthy: Life and Work / MP Tvrvsheva. - M., 1971
Probably, the name of the English writer John Galsworthy is associated with many of us, first of all, with his famous "Forsyte Saga", which tells the story of the fate of several generations of a family and reveals an outwardly successful, respectable, happy life behind which sometimes suffering, betrayal is hidden, hatred, intrigue and deceit.
However, in the collection "Walk in the Fog" John Galsworthy appears before us as a master of the short story genre, which nevertheless captures in the lens all the contradictory aspects of human nature. The author manages to reveal internal conflicts, to 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 protagonists - 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 the ex-husband of his beloved Wanda for defense purposes and confesses this to his brother. Both of these heroes are faced with a problem of choice that is difficult for each of them and is 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 the 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 Kit not least of all thinks about himself, his reputation and position in society. What will be stronger and will be decisive in this clash, how each of the characters will behave in this difficult situation - this is the main intrigue of the story. The name itself and the epigraph make us think that everything in life is unpredictable and can change places at any moment, and also makes us wonder what is the true strength, and where is the weakness of the act of each of the heroes.
The second story "The Blossom of an Apple Tree" continues the line. Again, at the very beginning, we have two opposite human types - the romantic Frank Asherst and his more pragmatic friend, Robert Garton. At the epicenter of an acute internal conflict, Frank is - he also faces a difficult choice between his feelings and impulses - love for a simple country girl Meagan - and a duty that disgusts him to take advantage of the girl's sincere feelings. But isn't this external nobility hiding behind another substitution of concepts, and does social position have a decisive influence on Frank's choice? Each reader must answer this question himself.
In this story, another important element appears, the strokes of which were outlined before and which is constantly present hereafter, another main character is nature. Elements of the landscape and descriptions of nature play an important role here, becoming a source of inspiration for the characters and representing a technique of psychological parallelism, but often, on the contrary, they can also set off and contrast with what is happening (for example, in the story "The Strangeness 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 transmitting it. The idea arises that modern man often does not notice and does not 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 heroes, contrasts with the ending of the story, where it becomes clear how short-lived, fleeting and fragile compared to the eternal beauty of nature this "period of spring" in life of every person. A 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 you can devote your whole life, content only with fleeting happiness, when inspiration comes and, as it seems, finally managed to grasp the invisible that constantly eludes us, and capture the soul of nature, which then often again turns out to be an illusion and deception, another story of this collection - "Beresklet" is dedicated.
The author also does not disregard acute social cataclysms and contradictions at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. So, in the story "Defeat" against the background of the events of the First World War, we are faced with the tragic fate of a German girl, in whose heart there is no more faith, but only pain and loneliness, but nevertheless, affection for her native land lingers and memories of formerly a happy peaceful life. Nationalities are not important for the writer here, or rather he wants to show that war is killing everything and everyone and there is no justification for this. This story is just an illustration of the ruined lives of millions of innocent people. John Galsworthy speaks here with accusatory pathos, he is against the very essence of war, destroying all the best in human nature.
The female images themselves are also interesting, which often stand in contrast (for example, the image of the mother and daughter in the story "The Strangeness of Life"). Often the heroines of Galsworthy's stories are fallen women who, nevertheless, evoke compassion and sympathy ("The Strangeness of Life", "Defeat") and in which morality, meekness, sincere love, and readiness for self-sacrifice coexist in a bizarre way ("The First and Last" ), thus resembling in their type 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 the ironic attitude to life and what is happening (for example, this is clearly seen in the story "Hope"). This irony sometimes turns into a bitter smile of fate ("Forest"), or it helps to convey an ambiguous attitude towards the hero, his actions, choice, life credo, despite the generally positive assessment of his personal and human qualities (for example, in the story "A Man with Endurance ").
Finally, the quintessence of the entire collection is the title story "A Walk in the Fog", which is a philosophical metaphor and allegory of human life, although some may reproach him for the absence of a plot and the development of the plot 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 to experience unity and merge with it, listen to it and feel like its organic part, because the most valuable thing is to achieve harmony within oneself and with the world around us.
It should be noted that in all the stories of this collection you will not find an unambiguously happy happy ending: they are all permeated with subtle melancholic sadness, and sometimes after reading a certain feeling of understatement remains. 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 the hope that a ray of light will definitely appear on the horizon, serve as a guiding thread and show the way to those who have lost their way in life, which is often obscured by a fog of uncertainty, adversity, sorrow, problems, vain thoughts, and that our road to the future will be clearer, brighter, full of hope and faith in the best.
Awful edition of this wonderful book. There are practically no margins on the pages, the print is blind. Impossible to read. If they wanted to release it in one volume, the format would have been done more. The publisher should be ashamed of such hack. Sorry for the money spent.
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Amazing book!
The author of the genius work "The Forsyte Saga" is the English writer John Galsworthy. In the center there is a big family, an epoch canvas, and inside there is a hectic life.
This book is amazing, voluminous, true, it is perfect, diverse. I really liked the story of the Forsytes, it just mesmerized me. Language, style of presentation conquered immediately and forever. I read from cover to cover the whole story, watched the film adaptation and I do not have enough words to describe this work. Read on, I think you will like it, because in this work everyone will find something of their own for themselves, 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
As soon as I first saw this book, the size scared me. It seemed that I would never master it. But things got much easier when I started reading. In fact, I read it so quickly that I was surprised myself. Probably because the story was drawn out. Here we see the main characters for a long time, we watch how they change, how their life develops. During this time, the heroes became friends to me. I think this is very important. Conquered, of course, descriptions and comparisons. Very colorful and beautiful. I do not regret at all that I have read this book. In it you can find emotions, customs of that time, beautiful nature and interesting characters. Not everything is so simple. The main character will have to endure enough losses.
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