John Galsworthy his life and work. Forsyte Saga and Modern Comedy. Forsytism as a phenomenon of the English society. Plan: Introduction 3

Recent Forum Posts on John Galsworthy

Galsworthy Obituary

It was in shocked horror that I reached the fourth paragraph of this obituary, to read: "After an extended affair with Ada Pearson (1866–1956), who was previously married to Galsworthy's cousin Arthur, John and her married in September of 1905." John and her? To find this elementary grammatical gaffe on a Literary website is simply breathtaking. And if I appear regrettably pedantic, I apologize, but there are some things that should not go unpunished!...
Posted By guykguard in Galsworthy, John || 0 Replies

Galsworthy vs. de la Roche?

Just curious about this. Years ago, I read Mazo de la Roche's 16-book series about the Whiteoaks of Jalna. Like the Forsyte chronicles, it covers the life of a family from the 19th to the 20th centuries. But whereas Galsworthy gives us 3 trilogies--- spanning 1886 to 1932---, Ms. de la Roche encompasses a full century and more (1848 to 1954). How do the two series compare? Having read both, I think Galsworthy by far the better author. Notwithstanding, there's something oddly appealing about the Jalna books. Galsworthy's "antihero," Soames, rapes his unwilling first wife, a fact that later will play havoc with his daughter's happiness. Similarly, Mazo de la Roche gives us a somewhat unsy...
1.2 The Man of Property
This has long been my favorite amoung Victorian literature and I just realized that he wrote two more trilogies about the Forsytes. I've read the second series of books but have been reluctant to start the last series, I just don't know if it can be the same without Soames. Has anyone read the complete saga?...
A very important person concerning Englishrealism is William Dean Howells, editor of the „Atlantic Monthly“ magazine, which contained texts by Mark Twain as well as by other so called „local colorists“ such as e.g. Bret Harte. But Howells didn’t only publish this magazine, he also wrote himself, mostly about topics like love, ambition, idealism and temptation. Another subject which was very important for him was the corruption of emerging business tycoons, with which he deals in „The Rise of Silas Lapham“.
A kind of contrary to the local colorists were the so called „cosmopolitain novelists“ like e.g. Henry James who’s writing was on a very high level. James is, apart from Mark Twain, regarded as the greatest Englishnovelist of the second half of the 19th century. He is mostly concerned with the so called „international theme“, meaning the complex relationships between the „naive“ Americans and „cosmopolitain“ Europeans.
A third cathegory of realists are the naturalists, who often wrote about social problems and who were strongly influenced by Darwinism and determinism. Determinism in this case means the denial of a religious force as leader adn creator of the world and instead the idea of the universe as a machine that could not be controlled.
One of the best and one of the earliest naturalistic novels is „Maggie: A Girl of the Streets“ by Stephen Crane, published in 1893. Maggie, a poor and sensitive girl is neglected by her parents, runs away with a man who deserts her, becomes a prostitute and finally commits suicide.
A naturalistic author who is known better than Crane today is Jack London, famous for „The Son of the Wolf“ (1900) and „The Sea Wolf“ (1904). London was the highest paid U.S. writer of that time, but nevertheless he never forgot that in his past he had been a poor worker and that’s why all his novels kept their down - to - earth style.
Apart from realism there was another important post - Civil War development: the rise of AfroEnglishLiterature.
Former slaves, now freed had suddenly the time and the rigt to explore theri creative talents. Thus a number of great Afro- Englishwriters emerged. One of them was Booker T. Washington, who was not only a writer, but also the most prominent black leader of that time. In his autobiography „Up From Slavery“ (1901) he described his own way towards freedom, a giftthat he wanted to use to improve the lives of other Afro -Americans and to integrate them into the Englishsociety. He expressed this wish in his famous Atlanta Exposition Address in 1895.
Although in the beginning and in the course of the 20th century books lost some of their influence due to new forms of mass media like the radio, the television and recently the internet, Englishliterature became more and more influential on an internationale level. By the turn of the century writers of prose as well as poets and playwrights were keen on experimenting with new techniques and topics. The rather idealistic point of view authors had taken in the 19th century was no longer up - to - date and especially after the 1st World War another style of writing got popular. Perhaps it would be the best description to say that realism got even more realistic. Ernest Hemingway e.g. had a very realistic, straightforward style without the romantic ornaments that had been used before. He got first famous with his two anti - war novels „The Sun Also Rises“ and „A Farewell to Arms“ published in 1926 and 1929.
Englishauthors in general began to reject the emotional aspects of literature more and more. Instead they became fascinated with describing and analyzing the psychologic depths of their characters. An example for this development is Ellen Glasgow who described in her novels the transformation of the EnglishSouth from a rural to an industrial economy and the role of southern women caught in the traditionals southern code of domesticity, piety and dependence.
The 1920s, also known as „The Roaring Twenties“ brought change again. Society and thus also the society of writers, started to reject the Puritan and Victorian values and ideals that had been established. Writers felt that now they had much more freedom in chosing their topics - and also in choosing their way of life. A good example for this is Francis Scott Fitzgerald. On the one hand he was a brilliant author, who draw a satiric portrait of the Englishupper class ind „This Side of Paradise“ in 1920 and analyzed the EnglishDream in „The Great Gatsby“ in 1925. On the other hand he was a severe alcoholic and lead a very eccentric and sometimes immoral life.
In 1930 Sinclair Lewis was the first Englishto get the Nobel Prize for Literature for his novel „Dodsworth“.
But the most important persons of the Englishliterature scene at that time were surely a group of people called the Lostgeneration. Gertrude Stein, a homosexual Englishwriter living in Paris, who wrote the famous poem A/ ROSE IS A/ ROSE IS A/ ROSE IS A/ ROSE, gathered some writers around her, for whom she became both mentor and idol. Members of this group were e.g. Thornton Wilder, a famous novelist and playwright and Scott Fitzgerald as well. They were mainly influenced by the consequences of the 1st World War, which were personal disillusionment and the loss of old values. The most important author of the Lostgeneration who was even called the most important Englishauthor of the 20th century was certainly Ernest Hemingway. Ernest Miller Hemingway was born on the 21st July 1899 in Illinois and the biggest part of his life was influenced by tragic events. He took part in the 1st World War, where he was severely wounded and about at that time his father commited suicide. In the first period of his life Hemingway wrote mainly anti- war novels, but other topics followed soon. In the following years Hemingway concentrated on Short Stories - something he got especially famous for. His Short Stories were so tight, compact, condensed and plain in style that up to now many people think nobody could ever come close to Hemingway. The best example for this is „The Killers“, published in his collection of Short Stories „men Without Women“ in 1927. Later, Hemingway decided to take part in the Spanish Civil War as well as in the 2nd Worl War. In 1952 his most famous novel, although critics agree that it’s not his best one, was published - The Old Man and the Sea. In 1954 he was awarded with the Nobel Prize.But after that Hemingway’s creative energy strated to vanish. On the 2nd of July 1961 he, like his father, commited suicide by shooting himself with a gun.
Another very important person especially for the Lostgeneration but also for every other writer was the Irishman James Joyce. With his stream of consciousness- technique, the use of many symbols and his prose style that was rather lyric, he set new standards not only for Europeans, but also for Americans.
The second important literary movement of the early 20th century was the so called Harlem Renaissance. This name describes the literary work of Afro- Englishnovelists, whose creative center was Harlem, N. Y.. These people wanted to evoke a new kind of cultural selfconfidence in their black brothers and sisters spread all over the country and to support the idea of the „New Negro“, a topic which was described by Alain Le Roy, a sociologist, in 1925. An author of the Harlem Renaissance was e.g. Langston Hughes who wrote poems as well as short stories. His most famous invention is the short story character Jesse B. Simple, who is the prototype of an Afro- Englishliving in a big city.
At the beginning of the new decade, the 1930s the Black Friday at the New York Stock Exchange and the following world- wide recession shocked all Americans. Many writers suddenly left their old topics to write in a very realistic way about social problems. One of the authors to do so was John Steinbeck, who expressed all his despair in „Of Mice and Men“ in 1937. In 1939 he published his novel „The Grapes of Wrath“. In this book he decribes the life of poor farmhands in California and their will to live, but he also criticizes Englishcapitalism. In 1940 John Ford made a very successful film out of this story. Steinbeck achieved the Nobel Prize in 1962.
Another very popular subject at that time was the so called Southern Gothic, which means the EnglishSouth and its problems. William Faulkner e.g. created in his novel „The Hamlet“ in 1940 as well as with other books a very humorous picture of the South for which he was awarded with the Nobel Prize in 1949.
Other authors occupied with this subject were Truman Capote and Robert Penn Warren, not only a novelist but also a critic who was in 1946 drawing the portrait of a politician in the South in his novel „All the King’s Men“
After the 2nd World War an ethnic minority in the U.S. the Jews became more and more creative. In their novels, short stories and poems they decribed their life as Jews in Englishcities, sometimes humorous, sometimes marked by despair. One of these jewish authors, Saul Bellow even got the Nobel Prize in 1979.