Galsworthy, John

Galsworthy, John (1867–1933), trained for the law then turned to literature. The first appearance of the Forstye family was in one of the stories in Man of Devon (1901). His novel The Island Pharisees (1904), revealing his interest in the effects of poverty and the constraints of convention, was followed by other novels including Fraternity (1909) and The Dark Flower (1913). The first of the Forstye novels, The Man of Property (1906), was followed by In Chancery (1920) and To Let (1921) which, together with two interludes, appeared collectively as The Forsyte Saga (1922). The second part of the Forsyte chronicles, containing The White Monkey (1924). The Silver Spoon (1926), Swan Song (1928), and the two interludes ‘A Silent Wooing’ and ‘Passers By’, was published as A Modern Comedy in 1929. Galsworthy followed their immense success with a further collection of stories, On Forstyte Change (1931).

Galsworthy began his playwriting career with The Silver Box (1906)—a play about theft in which he employed a favourite device of ‘parallel’ families, one rich, one poor. This was the first of a long line of plays on social and moral themes, including Strife (1909), an examination of men and managers in industry, and Justice (1910), in which a minor felon is ground down by the cruel majesty of the law; the play was part of Galsworthy's long campaign against the practice of solitary confinement, which strongly influenced the Home Office. His later plays include The Skin Game (1920), Loyalties (1922), and Old English (1924).

Posthumous publications included Collected Poems (1934) and in 1935 The End of the Chapter, consisting of Maid in Waiting (1931), The Flowering Wilderness (1932), and Over the River (1933), relating the family history of the Charwells, cousins of the younger Forsytes. Galsworthy was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1932.