John Galsworthy Criticism
John Galsworthy (1867-1933), an English writer prominent under the pseudonym John Sinjohn, made significant contributions to literature as a novelist, short fiction writer, dramatist, poet, and essayist. Galsworthy is best known for his portrayal of English middle-class life in the early 20th century, most notably through The Forsyte Saga, a trilogy that introduces the emblematic character Soames Forsyte, who embodies the complex intersection of material success and emotional void. As a committed humanist, Galsworthy critiqued the social inequities of Victorian society and celebrated themes of nature, beauty, and love, crafting his narratives with charm and rich descriptive detail.
Biographically, Galsworthy hailed from Kingston Hill, Surrey, and his upbringing and education at Harrow and Oxford significantly shaped his worldview. Despite a brief stint in law, he gravitated towards literature, inspired by figures like Joseph Conrad and encouraged by his romantic partner and later wife, Ada Galsworthy. This personal history fed into his works, which often reflected his liberal views against rigid societal norms and his deep empathy for the underprivileged.
Galsworthy's short fiction mirrors the thematic depth of his longer works, exploring social justice, poverty, and personal relationships, often with a focus on character over plot. Stories like "A Man of Devon" and "The Apple Tree" are notable for their tragic romantic themes and richly depicted settings, while his broader oeuvre demonstrates a nuanced understanding of human nature and societal constraints. As noted by P.C. Gupta, Galsworthy's range and thematic breadth are truly impressive.
Critically, Galsworthy's work was initially impacted by Conrad and naturalist influences, but it later evolved toward symbolism and mythological references, as discussed by Sanford Sternlicht. While some contemporaries, including Virginia Woolf, critiqued his style as conventional, others celebrated the dignity and depth of his prose, as noted in reviews like Mr. Galsworthy's Tales. Despite mixed reviews, Galsworthy's legacy endures in his humanist vision and his keen insights into the social fabric of his time, leading to his Nobel Prize in Literature in 1932.
Contents
- Principal Works
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Essays
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Joseph Conrad
(summary)
In the following letter, the critic suggests that John Galsworthy should approach his characters with greater skepticism to enhance the authenticity and effectiveness of his storytelling, emphasizing that a writer's fidelity should lie in their conception of life rather than in loyalty to their characters.
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A Motley
(summary)
In the following review, the critic offers a favorable assessment of A Motley.
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John Galsworthy
(summary)
Kaye-Smith analyzes short stories by Galsworthy, comparing them to a few of his essays and poems, noting that while his early works are not on par with his later achievements, they possess a certain beauty and individuality worth considering.
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Mr. Galsworthy's Tales
(summary)
Below, the critic lauds Five Tales. Mr. Galsworthy's work, on a small scale or a big, has the quality of greatness. It is largely planned and stately built. There is dignity in its substance and in its form. It is not showy; it is not brilliant; it is not even clever. It is as free from that cocksureness which is the attitude of much modern writing as it is from the tip-and-run sensation which his younger contemporaries mistake for feeling, and from the 'carrying-on' which it was a fault of his predecessors to mistake for sensitiveness. You may dig deep into what he gives you, and the deeper you dig the richer you find the store to be. And his prose reveals his nature. It never shows off. It moves with dignity, but so quietly that at times you are tempted to declare it sluggish or even commonplace, until, when the tale is finished, you realize how apt an expression it has given to the quality of the mind that made it. The secret of this greatness may be partly shyness. It has taken Mr. Galsworthy some time to reveal himself. For years he seemed to be afraid of his own convictions and his own feelings. Little by little he has burned through the obstruction; but he is still rather shy, and the shyness saves him from exaggeration and display. But behind it lies a bigger and nobler quality—the habit of reverence. He reverences life, and nature, and men. He brushes nothing aside; he 'turns' nothing impatiently 'down.' A mind that has this quality goes on developing and enriching itself. It may do its finest work when the man is an old man.
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Mr. Galsworthy in War and Peace
(summary)
Below, Field commends Galsworthy's attention to beauty in Tatterdemalion, stating that the essence of Galsworthy's work can be summed up in the word 'beauty', both in expression and creed.
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Beauty and the Beast
(summary)
In the following review of Tatterdemalion, the critic declares some of Galsworthy's stories 'among the best of our time,' yet notes limitations of his literary style.
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A review of The Forsyte Saga
(summary)
In the following review, the critic praises Galsworthy's ability to create familiar and sympathetic characters in The Forsyte Saga.
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A review of Captures
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In the following mixed review, the critic maintains that the stories comprising Captures possess the characteristic beauty of Galsworthy's writing, but lack incisiveness and intensity.
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Captures
(summary)
In the review below, the critic compares Galsworthy's stories in Captures with the game of cricket, asserting that they both contain a 'code of gentility.'
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A review of Caravan
(summary)
In the following review, he describes the stories in Caravan as inventive, indignant, and at times sentimental.
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A review of Caravan
(summary)
In the following review, Kennedy offers a generally positive review of Galsworthy's Caravan but contends that "a golden mediocrity honeys and mitigates all his achievement."
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On Forsyte 'Change
(summary)
Below, the critic presents a favorable assessment of On Forsyte 'Change. Mr. Galsworthy gives us with unneeded apologies his volume of "apocryphal Forsyte tales," fragments that stop the remaining chinks in the history of the clan between 1821 and 1918. Time has moved on while Mr. Galsworthy has been writing these annals, and more and more his Forsytes, who began by being very much of a joke, have acquired the dignity of history; they are no longer mere individuals or a mere family, they are a whole social order and a lost one.
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New Tales of the Forsyte Clan
(summary)
In the following laudatory review of On Forsyte 'Change, Hutchison commends the insightful and familiar nature of the stories in the collection.
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Fragments and Remainders of Galsworthy's Writing
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Below, Hutchison provides a generally positive review of the stories included in Forstyes, Pendyces, and Others.
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A review of Forsytes, Pendyces and Others
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In the review below, Paterson terms the stories in Forsytes, Pendyces and Others "incisive analyses of the middle-class temperament."
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The Short Stories of Galsworthy and Other Studies
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Gupta provides a thematic analysis of Galsworthy's short stories, concluding that his body of work is "truly impressive in its range and compass."
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The Short Stories of John Galsworthy
(summary)
Below, Smit explores stylistic aspects of certain stories by Galsworthy and discusses his contributions to the development of the short story genre.
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Another Way of Looking at a Blackbird
(summary)
In the following essay, Ramsey analyzes the role of the blackbird in 'The Japanese Quince,' concluding that 'the reader is left with the pathos of life missed, life here understood as dark, mysterious, dangerous, not quite proper.'
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Galsworthy's Apple Tree and the Longus Tradition
(summary)
In the following essay, she determines the influence of classical Greek and Renaissance literature on Galsworthy's short story "The Apple Tree." Gesner explores how Galsworthy casts a Greek mood over the story, introducing themes of the inexorable power and vengeance of Aphrodite, and the helplessness of man to control his emotions against the will of the goddess.
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Sinjohn becomes Galsworthy
(summary)
Dupré investigates the satirical nature of the short stories in The Man of Devon, noting that Galsworthy claims to have found the satirical vein within himself through his character Swithin Forsyte.
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I'm Not Such a Fool as I Seem
(summary)
In the following excerpt, he surveys the plots and major themes of Galsworthy's short stories.
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The Short-Story Writer
(summary)
In the following excerpt, he traces the development in Galsworthy's short fiction from the earlier influence of French naturalism to a greater use of symbolism and references to classical mythology.
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Joseph Conrad
(summary)
- Further Reading