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Galsworthy, John (1867-1933)

English novelist and dramatist. His work examines the social issues of the Victorian period. He wrote The Forsyte Saga (1906-22) and its sequel, the novels collectively entitled A Modern Comedy (1929). His plays include The Silver Box (1906). He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1932.

Major works

Galsworthy first achieved recognition with The Silver Box and The Man of Property (1906), the first instalment of the Forsyte Saga series, which also includes In Chancery (1920) and To Let (1921). Soames Forsyte, the central character, is the embodiment of Victorian values and feeling for property, and the wife whom he also ‘owns’ - Irene - was based on Galsworthy's wife. A Modern Comedy contains The White Monkey (1924), The Silver Spoon (1926), and Swan Song (1928), and (included in later editions) the short stories On Forsyte Change (1930).

Life Galsworthy was born in Kingston Hill, Surrey, and studied law at Oxford. He became a barrister, but instead of practising as a lawyer, he went on a trip to the Far East, making the voyage in merchant ships; he met the future novelist Joseph Conrad on the ship Torrens.

Minor works In 1897 Galsworthy published a book of stories, From the Four Winds, under the name John Sinjohn; it was followed by the novels Jocelyn (1898), Villa Rubein (1900), and A Man of Devon (1901). The Island Pharisees (1904) was the first book to appear under his own name; other novels include The Country House (1907) and Fraternity (1909).

Plays In 1906 he also established himself as a dramatist; later plays include Strife (1909), Justice (1910), The Skin Game (1920), Loyalties, Windows (both 1922), Old English (1924), and Escape (1926).

20th-century English literature

Conrad, Joseph

novel