The Nobel Prize winner John Galsworthy (1867-1933) is, to my mind, one of the greatest English writers of the 20th century. I gasp with admiration over The Forsyte Saga, by which I mean all three Forsyte trilogies, the others being A Modern Comedy and End of the Chapter.
Galsworthy is not exactly forgotten – there have been two TV mini-series adaptations of The Forsyte Saga – but my sense is that people don’t read him anymore. They consider him middlebrow, like the writer Arnold Bennett, though both of these middlebrow writers knit skillful prose to traditional storytelling.
At the center of The Forsyte Saga is a well-to-do family, the Forsytes, who are mostly lawyers and businessmen, all of them “men of property.” But over the years as they become richer, their interests broaden. And when art and architecture come into play, the center does not hold.
The first novel, A Man of Property, is in many ways a work of architecture. There is a tussle over a house, designed by an extravagant architect. Will the uniquely artistic house stand? And will relationships survive, or will they topple like dominoes?
Unhappy Soames, a successful lawyer who collects art as a hobby, is married to a beautiful young woman, Irene, who is herself a work of art. She loathes Soames, whom she married under pressure, but is fond of his relatives: she enjoys carriage rides with Swithin Forsyte, an obese dandyish old man, and old Jolyon, an intelligent, lonely gentleman who has been alienated for years from his artist son, who left his wife to live with a governess. Old Jolyon behaves correctly, according to the rules of society, i.e., the Forsytes, and he has brought up June, his son’s daughter by his first marriage. June is an earnest, passionate collector of “lame ducks,” among whom is her fiance, Bosinney, an impoverished, unsuccessful architect. She is the most vibrant character in the book – much more so than beautiful Irene.
Art and architecture are dangerous to the Forsytes: beauty plays havoc with marriage, morals, and emotions. Soames decides to build a house in the country so he can control Irene: she will not be gadding around London then and perhaps will begin to love him. And so he hires Bosinney to design and build the house. He wants to keep the business in the family as a favor to June. (How many readers have made similar mistakes?)
Money is a source of contention between the man of property and the architect. And, indeed, Bosinney’s overspending does seem to be an obvious act of contempt for the man of property. But grief and chaos spin out of this connection when the two artistic non-Fosytes, Irene and Bosinney, fall in love. The Forsyte family dynamics are shaken. It’s touch and go.
And I must say that I am horrified by Bosinney, who doesn’t bother to break up with the devastated June. One day he tips his hat and walks away as if she is a stranger. She is doubly shattered, because Irene was her friend, too.
In many ways, Bosinney’s house is too artistic for Soames, but perfect for Irene. But the Forsytes pay a huge price emotionally for this splendid house in this shattering novel.
The Election
Here in the ‘hood, we are all rah-rah about the election. I predict that either Harris or Trump will win. But I really believe that Harris will win.
I have been anxious about the election this fall. I used to vote a straight Democratic ticket and not care too much. Democrats often won. Now I vote a straight Democratic ticket, and am horrified by the electoral vote system. The elections of the 21st century have often been traumatic. There was 2000, 2016, and then the insurrection at the Capitol by a group of thugs in 2020.
Excuse me for losing faith. Honestly, I am so harried by these dystopian elections that I want to go off the grid and wear an Amish bonnet.
But I do vote. And I’m not Amish.
I am praying for peace, though.