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Chapter I. Historical prerequisites for creating “The Forsyte Saga”
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Chapter I. Historical prerequisites for creating “The Forsyte Saga”.
It is quite difficult to known how to define 20th Century literature, because many authors began to produce their works in the XIX century, and continued their literary activity in the XX century, too. We can enumerate authors belonging to this cycle, such as Thomas Hardy, Robert Bridge8, Galsworthy and Arnold Bennett9. These authors belong to the XX century; even they began their literary career at the beginning of the Edwardian English. Their works especially reflected the English society, they hardly spoke about the ideal way of living in their surrounding, there was not any peace and the society was governed by the higher classes. Life was full of possibilities and cheers, but not everyone could enjoy them, because the society divided people to the rich and the poor. Only the rich could get these pos-sibilities, which bothered the poor. Also the Christian faith which was dominated by the Vic-torian laws became problematic. These discriminations lead to discontent between the classes. So, these social problems were demonstrated in the literary activity of the authors of the time. The core of this chapter consists of finding how “The Forsyte Saga” gathered in it hard social processes, spiritual and lawful problems of the proprietorship England. As some con-flicts emerge in the first trilogy, Galsworthy needed to continue their progress and solution in the second trilogy - “Modern Comedy”, especially, it concerns social collisions. For this rea-son “The Forsyte Saga” by John Galsworthy consists of several comparisons. Sometimes a great interest arises, what was the difference between Soames Forsyte in 80‟s of XIX century and in the 20‟s of the XX century, how the socio-psychological condition changed. Another type of comparison brings explanation to the features of Galsworthy‟s outlook and different periods of work on Forsytes‟s history. Social storms of the XX century encouraged the author of the “Saga” sharply to change the frames of writing, and involve the creative investigation of lives of the whole classes of the English society. Also from the comparison of the first trilogy with the second one, we can come to the same conclusion. Galsworthy entered the literature in the early XX century, when political opposition of Empire straightened, by means of which England tried to solve internal conflicts, the protest ___________________ poets novelists 20 of the working class about their condition increased day by day against “the other nation”. Galsworthy revealed the real essence of the internal politics of England in the disgraced Eng-lish-Boer War in 1899-1902. Also, the war helped him to have a clear notion about the injus-tice of human rights predominating in the country. The feeling of responsibility before the so-ciety became the main quality of the author. With this quality he can be put together with Bernard Shaw, Herbert Wells and so on. Like these writers, Galsworthy influenced the forma-tion of critical realism of the XX century, tried to raise the role of literature, as he believed, can be the means of a deep meaningful life and critics of the social institutions of his time, the carriers of human ideas. In the end of the nineteenth and in the beginning of the twentieth century, individuals‟ ownership became an important factor in the English society. They expanded over the country, and assured their places in the land owning, stock markets, and other types of busi-ness. For a short period they began to invest both in London, in different parts of the Empire, generally, across the whole Globe. Though, these individuals had not been great in number, they gained an important and special role in the governing of the society. It was difficult for everyone to earn money immediately, but some could get the pulse of the time and made the layer of the rich. Their fathers and grandfathers were not aristocrats, but in a very short time demanded to be treated as aristocrats. At last, this layer was formed, and with the formation of these new aristocrats the “possessive instinct” developed. End of the nineteenth and the be-ginning of the twentieth century can be characterized with the raising pace of the “possessive instinct”, as Galsworthy calls it. The decision of saving much money, and making it circulate in the market was related with the changes happening in the world economy. Each individual who chanced and became “an aristocrat” in fact was afraid of loss of the earned property; so they tried not to compromise to anyone their property, and their position. Galsworthy gave an explanation to it in “The Forsyte Saga”, published, in 1906, with such a description. The possessive instinct never stands still. From a self-contented pro-vincialism to a still more self-contented, if less contained imperialism, the possessive instinct of the nation was always on the move. The intellectuals and artists of the Victorian era mainly dealt with social problems. This period was the great age of the English novel. Realistic, character driven, thickly plotted, and long novels were particular to this time. It was the right way of describing contemporary life and to entertain the middle class people. The novels of Charles Dickens, full of drama, humor, and an endless variety of vivid characters and complicated plots, portraits of urban life was familiar for all classes. The other writer, William Makepeace Thackeray nowadays is 21
Time which pushes the author forward the creative activity and the literary activity it-self, as a reflection of the time and historical period which feeds literary activity are closely connected to each-other. This durable and disintegrated epoch distinguished with the begin-ning of the end of capitalism and great revolutionary changes, which brought to socialistic system. This is the end of the XIX and first 20 years of the XX century. One century bore the other one, but on the border of them emerged Galsworthy‟s creative work. Both centuries are reflected in his work, in the series of the plot. Dying century with its old norms, coming cen-tury with its new, but not tested norms of living, which was a young century when the author was in life reflected in the activity of the author. If we try to explore the important aspects of the Victorian England society and life, these aspects would be changes – or, to speak correctly, upheaval. Everything which was pre-sented ideal by the higher organs of the society in the previous centuries turned out to be more rigid and insulting laws for lower classes at the end of the nineteenth century. Nearly, every sphere of the society was shaken by the changes demanded by the common people. Improve-ments became in industry, politics, etc. Economy in Europe expanded rapidly and global size of it were laid. A great number of wealth was created, and the spirit of the period encouraged business sphere. This generation which is known for wealth was the core of the newly appeared “upper-middle class” which was urbanized townsmen, who appreciated themselves and tried to diminish the lower class. All the aspects of the English society reflected in John Galsworthy‟s literary activity, more widely in “The Forsyte Saga”, which could show a huge amount of the society members. The influence of Charles Dickens‟s traditions was of great importance in the literary activity of John Galsworthy. The characters introduced by Dickens were very close to him. So, we can say that, he continued the way brought by the XX century classical realism. The author‟s view of literature had a deep value. He tried to give shortcomings of live, good and bad sides of society with literature. Also the author thought that, literature should carry high humanistic ideas. Though he had been of a wealthy family, the author differed from them, who had not any kind of humanity. It was due to his education and the people who could in-fluence him deeply. Generally, European writers discussed social problems more than morals, and Galsworthy was one of them. To his mind, moral problems stand on the social matters. 22
Saga is biographical which makes it also historical, thus the biography of the author happened in such a period of the country that, it is indispensable part of the important period. So, Galsworthy not only shows relations between his cousin‟s wife and him, and complex re-lations around them, but also depicts two different eras, which are the causes of the dis-cussions Art and Property. Through his biographical relations the author reveals positive and negative sides of the Victorian era, but after it he tries to depict the chaos of period which be-gan after the World War I, where the humanity is in the search of beliefs and moralities. So the author criticizes the both periods of the English society, pre and post war periods. A lot of things underwent changes, but there still existed too many social problems, which shakes the society. He criticizes the whole society not individuals. The novel tries to embody historical matters of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. So, the fall of the strong English bourgeoise and the ruin of the modes introduced by it are the main theme of “The Forsyte Saga”. These historical events took much time; so, the novel continued the description chasing the modes of society. Thus, the events happening in the lives of the family members are closely related with the historical matters, even they reveal them. In the first cycle we can observe historical events such as English-Boer War, the death 23
Most of the literary historians try to put Galsworthy between two periods: Galsworthy, who wrote just after the Victorian writers, and who wrote before Wolf, Joyce, Lawrence, and Freud. So, he is considered transitional figure. Critics, also, say that the author gained his place as a writer, after all. If Galsworthy stayed in his previous radical ideas as he had before the first war, he might be included to the rank of Georgian writers. Only the first volume, “The Man of Property” is different from the coming volumes. It has a pre-war mood. Other volumes did not deal with the pre-war events. Carol Hawkes discussed in his work “Galsworthy: The Paradox of Realism” about Gals-worthy and other nineteenth and twentieth century writers. He tried to show the main dif-ferences between their works. Hawkes proved that, the writers of the nineteenth century did not condemn the social structure of the country totally; they mildly say that, individuals might not be behaved according to legal laws. Only in the twentieth writers began to speak about basic questions of the society. “The Man of Property” uses the Victorian period events, but generally it should be considered the twentieth century novel, with its alienation from indi-viduals. Galsworthy shows two different eras, but it does not mean that, he appreciates one of them. He depicts strong and week sides of both. Generally he is concerned with the society, he does not care the era, he is interested with the minuses of the period which bother the indi-viduals and the English society totally. Though the world became complicated in the flow of the twentieth century, the writer continued picturing the Forsytes. As we know, Galsworthy‟s intention was to make “The For-syte Saga” a separate novel. So, it stands as the only pre-war novel in the Saga, the others can only serve together in one chapter. One of the important needs of creating “The Forsyte Saga” is biographical, which is confined legitimately with the adventures between the writer and Ada, who is changed to Irene. Galsworthy thought that, “to take the pen is urgent when you are worried about the human nature and society”. In general lines, his program does not greatly differ from other realistic plots. But his identity consists of his artistic ability with expressing the national layer of talent, social orientation, which could be refined only by him, in the junction of the two centuries. So, the author coincides with the time he lived. 24
Looking with the open eyes to the illusions and contradictions, John Galsworthy con-centrates on their deep influence to the heart of epoch and the country. Also, he wanted to show how dangerous the laws of capitalism were to which he hoped so much. In the novels of J.Galsworthy, the fates of Forsytes and non-Forsytes are captured; the different classes of the English society are viewed. Even very fault-finding critics accept that John Galsworthy stepped up with his age. By the end of the period, the novel was not the only form of entertainment, but also mainly analyzed and offered the solutions of socio-political problems. John Galsworthy was one of those writers, whose place in the society, and his impact to it was really unparalleled. As a writer his services before the society and literature can be evaluated more correctly with the fact that, belonging to the upper middle class, with his way of life, surrounding, upbringing it was nearly impossible to understand the lower class people. So, in the formation of John Galsworthy‟s outlook of the English society, and to write the Sa-ga in order to show the members of this society systematically influenced several facts that, one of them is his tours to other countries, and the other is English-Boer War. As we know, Galsworthy is mostly remembered as a chronicler of the English bourgeois society of the early twentieth century. His fame came mostly with his trilogy of no-vels “The Forsyte Saga”. “The Man of Property” (1906) was the first novel which began the chronicle, and expanded his audience and image. But it was not the first appearance of the Forsyte family, before it they were created in the “A Man of Devon” (1901). Here include, “The Man of Property” which begins the incident. Soames rapes his wife Irene, which is biographically related with Ada‟s life and her relation with former hus-band Arthur. The second part, In Chancery (1920), here Irene and Soames divorce both of them remarry and have children from their new spouses. Then in the third book, “To Let” (1921), Fleur and Jon fall in love with each other, but Jon refuses to marry her. Two inter-ludes are “Indian Summer of a Forsyte” and “Awakening”. The second trilogy contains “The White Monkey” (1924), “The Silver Spoon” (1926), “Swan Song” (1928), and also two inter-ludes- “A Silent Wooing” and “Passers by” published in 1929. As we know, “The Man of Property” was written as a separate novel, and the name “The Forsyte Saga” was its first original name. The other novels continued the story and made chronicles about the family, which was very popular in the period. The name of the chronicle 25
The first book is “The Man of Property” which begins the “Saga” deals with Soames and Irene‟s marital status. A lot of things in “The Man of Property” help us to understand the special features of John Galsworthy‟s literary activity. Showing the Forsyte family in this novel in the period of flourishing of Forsytism10 the author gave the image of the whole class through them, who rule the society, whose laws predominate in the country. The Forsytes are-financial owners, stockholders, who belong to the epoch of Empire, when England lost his financial monopoly, began to put its money to the less developed countries. They are the offspring of bourgeois time and the honors of England. They can be compared with Dombey-the character of Charles Dickens. But in Galsworthy‟s novel for the first time in the English literature we find such a deep, systematic analysis of the Forsytes‟ look to the British colonies, ending with their menu. The Interlude “Indian Summer of the Forsyte” sets the stage for events that happen in the second novel- “In Chancery”. In this interlude mainly spoken about how Old Jolyon gets acquainted with Irene. As he didn‟t like his nephew he never got the chance to know his family, too. So, Old Jolyon wanted to buy the estate for delight which was built by Soames. Old Jolyon‟s vague imagination turned quite the reverse about Irene. He found her living a modest life getting free of her unhappy marriage, teaching piano lessons, quite satisfactory with her life and smiling to the face of life. ____________________ 80‟s of the XIX century 26 Old Jolyon tries to have more contact with her, always invited her for a dinner, even just to play for himself, then she gave piano lessons to Old Jolyon‟s granddaughter - Holly. So, his attitude towards Irene has changed and upon his death he inherited her fifteen thousand pounds of his estate which was governed by his son Young Jolyon posthumously. Then the plot is continued in “In Chancery” and “Awakening” which reached up to the final in the last novel of the Forsyte clan “To Let”. “In Chancery” mainly deals with Soames‟ and his sister Winifred‟s marital changes, so the title is being referred to these facts, because nearly all the story speaks how they divorced and the courts that deal with domestic issues is drawn to the main plan. Though Soames tries to convince his sister of taking resolute steps in her divorce process, he himself could not keep himself from hounding and chasing Irene abroad and asking her to return. So at last he also divorces and remarries a young French girl Annette11. From this marriage he has only child- Fleur. Also Irene has remarried to Soames cousin Young Jolyon and they also had a boy child-John. Though Young Jolyon had a son Jolly, Jon also was their apple of eyes. The third and the final book of the Saga is “To Let”. It is already the year of 1920. So, 20 years passed how Soames and Irene divorced and remarried and they haven‟t met each-other since then, ultimately Jon and Fleur didn‟t have any notion of each-others‟ existence. From the old Forsytes only Timothy is alive. June has opened her gallery near Cork Street. Soames plans to meet Fleur at this gallery while again they see there Irene and John. Soames tries not to confront with them and keeps himself of showing any kind of emotion. To their surprise John and Fleur are attracted to each-other at a distance, so Fleur drops her hand-kerchief. This novel begins with the epigram from Romeo Juliet. “From out the fatal loins far those two foes A pair of star-crossed lovers takes their life” This is a point to show that, in spite of their parents wishes children love each other. But unlike in “Romeo and Juliet” they did not go to the end. They step backwards discovering facts of their parents‟ past. So they are the weak victims of the period which has the con-flicting ideals of marriage and self-determination. This novel is mostly plot-driven and not so much deals with characters. ____________________ The daughter of a French restaurant owner 27 But the previous two novels including Saga were character- driven, there were a lot of internal monologues and debates revealing characters‟ internal, spiritual world. But emotion-ally we can see the same Soames Forsyte, he is again as usual lonely, but has property, which is a means of being proud of himself. In this novel the awareness of the new modes of society is revealed, which is a conse-quence of a broad historical process where the whole society submerges step-by step the clas-sic individualism which underwent upper-middle-class Victorian subjectivity. The death of old Jolyon which is shown in “Indian Summer of a Forsyte” is a sign of nearly ending of the Forsytism. Old Jolyon dies and his final sentence describes “soundless footsteps on the grass”. (27, p.364) This death is a hint to the events happening in the country which is abnormal, which is not acceptable for the people sharing the viewpoint with the author, thus late Victorian and Edwardian life mode was not accepted by J.Galsworthy, and the death of old Jolyon is a hope of the end of such way of life. As we mentioned, historically “The Forsyte Saga“ gives a wide descriptions of Victo-rian period. Herman Ould writes that, in keeping religion almost entirely out of this half-dozen novels Galsworthy, either instinctively or what is more probably, deliberately de-monstrated how non-religious fundamentally, the Victorian era was and how sedulously the post-war generation shunned, as from fear, matters which affected its spiritual development. (9, p.217) Historical matters which are so important in the creative activity of J. Galsworthy, especially in the writing of “The Forsyte Saga” are reflected in his letters. His letters cover the period of time between 1890s to the 1930s. These letters give an ideal insight into the writer‟s thoughts, about the period and the influence of the time to the people and vise versa. Bio-grapher H.V.Marrot gave a lot of significant pieces from his letters in his book “The Life and Letters” of John Galsworthy12. It provides valuable biographical information; also he gives such sources which are not publicly acceptable even nowadays, which are true sources, written under the supervision of Ada. The observation of Galsworthy‟s literary activity shows how strong was the impact of the society to the literature. Though the author was the supporter of reforms, gradual evolu-tion, he was blamed in being socialist and the defender of subversion. ____________________ 1936, London, Heinemann 28 From the other side, this atmosphere gives us information about the courage of Galsworthy, which was very important in order “to go against the stream”. Focusing mostly on the moral aspects of social contradictions, blaming people of the higher class of having proprietorship feeling, more than needed, egoism, obduracy Galsworthy thought that harmony will be esta-blished if these properties are released from, and retrieve the feeling of proportion in the mor-al sphere. All the people, who were belonging to the aristocracy, but deep inside had humanistic ideals, knew the real faces of them, and tried to unmask this aristocracy. These people, such Galsworthy helped the society to unveil this hypocritical level of the country. They came with the history, and should go with it. In Galsworthy‟s time, especially from his surrounding people could not understand independence of a heart; they lived according to the rules of pro-perty. Galsworthy returns to Forsytes after the revolution in history. The anxious state of his spirits is reflected in his way of life after the War in England; its condition, as he wrote about then, was blurred and endless. So, it makes him to turn to the past which thought to be more stable. So in the novel “In Chancery” we again come across with Forsytes where again the author gives a wide description of characters. The author describes England at the turn of the century and here is felt the mood of the post war period which influenced him too deeply. It is described in the scene where Soames clashes with the participants of the street carnivals. He guessed that “a living denial of aristocracy and Forsytizm” one day can go to streets in another mood, so one day they can be against their parents, too. He understood that, their younger generation greatly differs from, as if they are strangers. So, the impact of the war and post –war period is seen very openly in the novels of the Saga. In the novel “To Let” again we can observe the author‟s view of the Forsytism period. After the death of Jolyon, a tablet was hanged on the door of his house with the words “To Let”. Also the death of Timothy-the last man of the older generation is a sign to the end of the “Forsyte century”, the Forsyte way of living, the Forsyte century is about “To Let”. Another reason of writing “The Forsyte Saga” which is not historical cause, but a very important factor is the author‟s personal life, correctly his wife Ada Pearson. She was a per-son who encouraged him to write. If she did not excited in his life, J.Galsworthy either would not write or write in another way. Because their lifestyle, their tours, the tours, which were of great importance in the literary activity of the author, - all were regulated by her. So, it is become clear that, the era where the author lived in influenced both his love and literary activity. Galsworthy was an independent person morally, and he wanted to have a 29
The writer‟s object was not only one hero, but the whole family. He observed several generations of the same family, and witnessed that the modes of society were not stable, they changed through the time. Previous generation suffer from one thing, next one from other problems, but some modes are very stable, and it takes a very long period to change the attitude towards them. Humanistic ideas come with the new generation, which suffered from something. Also, wars influenced people very badly. The society which had experienced a war became cruel. Thus, individuals did not want to compromise others, everyone wanted to have more property, and to find such ways of earning money which could be safe, in order to ensure a stable prosperous future. Having such a character mankind lost humanity. People be-came to far from one-another. Some of them became very rich, and forgot about troubled past war years; the others became very poor and suffered both from money and loss of humanity. 30
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