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JOHN GALSWORTHY

(186 7- 1933)

John Galsworthy came of a well-to-do bourgeois family; after graduating from Oxford University he became a law­ yer but soon abandoned this profession to take up litera­ ture.

He began to write in the last years of the 19th century,

but his first works were not very important. His best novels were written in the first decade of the 20th century. In them the reader finds a reflection of the opposition of the pro­ gressive-minded people to imperialism, to Britain's Boer

War adventure.

In 1904 Galsworthy wrote The Island Pharisees. In it he

attacked the British privileged classes. He criticized them

for being content with the bourgeois way of life; he stressed the fact that their minds had become inert and lazy

In 1906 Galsworthy's best novel appeared. It was The Man of Properly. He achieved great heights of generali­ zation in this work. In it he told the story of the class that

dictated its laws to the country, the class of the bour-

geoisie..

During the period 1907-1918 Galsworthy turned to

different subjects. He wrote many novels and plays. His

main object, however, always remained that of r flecting social contradictions and trying to find a humanist solution

to them.

THE FORS YTE SAGA

In 1918 Galsworthy began to write the continuation to the novel The Man of Property. This developed into a great panorama of English life, covering nearly fifty years.

The composition of this important work is as follows: The first trilogy The Forsyte Saga consists of The Man of Property (1906), In Chancery (1920), To Let (1921). The second trilogy: A Modern Comedy consists of The White Monkey (1925); The Silver Spoon (1926), Swan Song (1928). Each trilogy has Interludes connecting the novels that compose it. In the first trilogy they are: The Indian Summer of a Forsyte (1918) and Awakening (1920); in The Modern Comedy: A Silent Wooing (1928) and Passers-By (1928).

In The Man of Property we read about the flourishing of the Forsytes and of forsyteism.

In the book In Chancery Galswodhy describes the beginning of the Forsytes' degradation. Historically it develops against the background of the shameful Boer War

In To Let we see the Forsytes after World War I. The

Forsyte way of life is now "to let" Galsworthy presents

a striking picture of the inevitable end of forsyteism.

The second trilogy is dedicated to the younger genera­ tion- "the lost generation" of the post-World War I peri­ od, with Fleur, Soames' daughter, as its central character.

The symbol of the young generation is The White Mon­

key, with its scepticism, its disillusionment. These feelings

are reflected in the character of Fleur

The Silver Spoon shows the emptiness of young people born with a silver spoon in their mouths. Galsworthy

birngs in the needy people to show the contrast between their poverty and the luxury of the rich.

Swan Song treats of the ruin of the hopes and illusions

of the old bourgeosie. Soames' efforts to save the beau­

ty- a collection of paintings that was his property- is the "swan song" of forsyteism.

World War I and the October Revolution in Russia influenced Galsworthy's world outlook greatly. The very existence of the bourgeois class seemed to be threatened.

Since he himself was a member of this class a note of sorrow sounded in the Saga cycle.

The best novel in the Saga trilogies is The Man of Pro­

perty. The action develops during 1886. It acquaints us

with three generations of Forsytes at the height of the

Victorian era. These three generations of men and women live among their possessions; they consider themselves to bat the very top of the world. They are sure of their su­ rremacy and their imrortance, for they are, as the Eng­ lish say, the backbone of the country They arc quite certain that they will continue so for ever

The novel opens with the chapter At Home. It tells

about a party given by Old Jolyon to announce to the Forsyte family the engagement of his grand-daughter June Forsyte. Her fiance, Philip Bosinney is definitely an out­ sider among the Forsytes. He is a talented young architect,

but he is very poor and poverty is something the Forsytes can neither understand nor approve of. The marriage never takes place, however, for Bosinney falls deeply in love with Irene Forsyte, the beautiful wife of Soames Forsyte (one of the second generation of the Fors ytes), and she reciproca­ tes his feelings.

For Soames, the man of property, beauty is something to be acquired. When he fell in love with Irene- a very

lovely girl but quite poor, also an outsider to the Forsy­ tes,- Soames was quite sure that his money would help him to win her affection. He managed to buy Irene's

beauty' but could not buy her love. She decided to leave him after the tragedy of Bosinney's death.

From the very moment they see each other at Old Jolyon's party, Bosinney and Irene are opposed to the Forsytes and their love of money. It is through these two characters, that are entirely free from the power of money, that Galsworthy discovers his aesthetic principle: art is the embodiment of beauty and goodness. This principle is opposed to the pursuit of property and money-making (or business) neither of which have any place for goodness.

The extract that is given below from The Man of Pro­

perty, clearly shows Galsworthy's attitude towards the so­

called "sense oi property" or "forsyteism" which he dis­ closes through a conversation between young Jolyon, (June's father) and Bosinney

Young Jolyon sal down not far oil, and began nervously to recon­ sider his position. He looked coverlly at Bosinney silting there unconsci· ous. The man was unusual, not eccentric, but unusual, he looked worn, too, haggard, hollow in the cheeks beneath those broad, high cheekbones, though without any arrearance or ill health. for he was strongly built, wilh curly hair lhat seemed to show all the vitality or a fine constitution.

Something in Bosinney's face and altitude touched young Jolyon. He

knew what suffering was like, and this man looked as if he were suffering.

He got up and touched his arm.

Bosinney started, but exhibited no sign of embarrassment on seeing who it was.

Young Jolyon sal down.

"I haven't seen you for a long lime" he said. "How are you gelling on with my cousin's house?"

"It'll be finished in about a week"

"I congratulate you!"

"Thanks -I don't know thai it's much of a subjccl for congratu­

lation"

"No'" queried young Jolyon; "I should have thought you'd he glad to gel a long job like that off your hands; but I suppose you feel it much as

I do when I pari with a piclure- a sort of child?"

He looked kindly at Bosinney.

"Yes", said the taller more cordially, "Il goes out from you and there's an end of it. I didn't know you painted"

"Only water-colours; I can't say I believe in my work"

"Don't believe in iP Then how can you do it? Work's no use unless you believe in it!"

"Good" said young Jolyon; "it's exactly what I've always said. By­ the-bye, have you noticed thai whenever one says "Good", one always adds "it's exaclly what I've always saidl" But if you ask me how I do it, I answer, because I'rn a Forsyte"

"A Forsylel never thought of you as one!"

"A Forsyle" replied young Jolyon, "is not an uncommon animal. There are hundreds among the members of this Club. Hundreds out there in the streets; you meet them wherever you go!"

"And how do you tell them, may I ask?" said Bosinney.

"By their sense of properly A Forsyte takes a practical- one might say a commonsense- view of things, and a praclical view of things based fundamentally on a sense of properly. A Forsyte, you will notice, never gives himself away"

"Joking'"

Youne Jolyon's eye twinkled.

"Not much. As a Forsyle myself, I have no business to talk. But I'rn a kind of thoroughbred mongrel; now, there's no mistaking you. You're as different from me.as I am from my Uncle James, who is the perfect specimen of a Forsyle. His sense of properly is extreme, while you have practically none. Without me in between, you would seem like a different species. I'm the missine link. We are of course, all of us the slaves of property, and I adrnil that it's a question of degree, but what I call a "Forsyte" is a man who is decidedly rnore than less a slave of properly. He knows a good thing, he know5 a safe thing, and his grip on properly- it

doesn't matter whether it he wives, houses, money, or reputation -is his hall-mark"

"You talk of them" said Bosinney, "as if they were half England" "They are", repealed young Jolyon, "half England, and lhe beller

half, too, the half thai counts. It's their wealth and security that makes everything possible, makes your art possible, makes lilerature, science, even religion, possible. Without Forsytes, who believe in none of these things, but turn them all to use, where should we be? My dear sir, the

Forsytes are the middlemen, the commercials, the pillars or society, every­

thing that is admirable!"

Galsworthy paid great attention to the composition of his novels. Thus, the composition of The Man of Property is thoroughly worked out. The events are presented so vividly that the chapters may be easily staged, for instance At Home, Dinner at Swithin's, 'June's Treat and others.

Galsworthy's "feeling" for the language may be com­

pared with a painter's "feeling" for colour His choice of words is so accurate that it is difficult to paraphrase his sentences. He makes use of irony when describing his characters and the weaknesses of his own class.

John Galsworthy's contribution to the development of

the English novel was very important He was nearer than Wells and Shaw to his predecessors, the critical realists of the first half of the 19th century. Galsworthy brought the novel back to its former heights by creating a real "docu­ ment" of the epoch, a deep, realistic picture of the bour­ geois class_ The Forsyte Saga, his greatest achievement, is the culmination of English critical realism of the early 20th century.

L Describe the structure of The Forsyie Saga. 2. How can one apply the notion of "forsyteism" to Soames? 3. How does the author express his irony towards the Forsytes in young Jolyon's conversation with Bosin­ ney? 4. What is young Jolyon's explanation of the notions "sense of oroperly" and "forsyteism"?

 

HERBERT GEORGE WELLS

(1866-1946)

Herbert G. Wells was born in a poor family In his youth he worked very hard, and, at the same time, managed to get an education. He became a biologist and for some time worked as assistant to a well-known English scientist, a follower of Charles Darwin.

When Wells was quite young he became interested in social problems. He always called himself a socialist, but his socialism was very peculiar He understood that the world had to be changed; it had to be freed from the an­ archy that reigned in capitalist society At an early age he came to the utopian conclusion that only scientists and technicians could solve the existing contradictions. Ac­ cording to Wells it was not revolution, but evolution­ through certain reforms- that could change ihe world. And onlv science and technology could do it.

World War I came as a shock to Wells. He could no

longer be sure of peaceful progress. The October Revo­

lution was, in his opinion, a social "experiment" He did not

have much faith in it. However, in 1920 he visited Russia and was received by V Lenin in Moscow. Lenin's stress on the importance of science and, especially electrification in the reconstruction of the country, astonished him. Du­ ring his stay in Russia, Wells saw the devastation of the country. He described his impressions of this visit in his book Russia in the Shadows and called Lenin "the Kremlin dreamer".

In Wells' novels science and technology form the background against which the plot develops. Besides this, there is always a very strong social aspect in his works. In this connection Wells always said that he was a follower of Swift. Swift's Gulliver's Travels, he pointed out, was

•also based on fantasy. This fantasy served as a basis for social criticism.

His early cycle of science fiction was written from

189.5 to 1901. Among the works of those years were The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, The War of the Worlds, The First Men on the Moo!! and others. In the novels of this

cycle Wells wrote about the fate of civilization. This was his main theme.

A later cycle of novels was written between 1901 and World War I. In these he reflected on the fate of mankind Among them were The War in the Air, The World Set Free

and others.

After World War I, Wells turned to the genre of the

social novel. After his trip to the USSR he returned to social fantasies. In these novels he tried to reflect the danger of fascism in his country and in the rest of the

world.

THE W'AR OF THE WORLDS

The War of the Worlds, written in 1898, illustrated his belief that great technical achievements could have a ne­ gative side. There was danger that intellect could become stronger than human feelings, and would then destroy them.

Because of the cooling of Mars its inhabitants are faced with the necessity of looking for a new world to live

in. They choose our planet and invade it in great cylinders that fall on the English countryside. The people who see the fall of the first cylinder are very interested in the "Message from Mars" But when the occupants of the cylinder come out of it, they attack the peaceful population. They burn

down everything in their way with a Heat Ray that kills men on the spot and sets fire to trees, houses, and towns.

The Martians are not like human beings. They have an enormous head with eyes in it and sixteen tentacles that are their hands and feet. They have no body, no heart, no feelings, no emotions. In general, they have no organs­ only intellect, which is greatly developed. They cannot

listen to reason, for that requires feeling. There is no way of escaping them

10'4

However, when things become trag-ic and humanity is threatened with destruction, something happens to preven­ tit. Unexpectedly the terrible invaders of our planet begin to die. They are defeated by bacteria. Since the beginning of life on earth human beings had been threatened by bacteria, but they developed immunity against them. There were no bacteria on Mars and the Martians had no re­ sistance. They became the victims of a natural enemy The bacteria were stronger than the Martians' powerful in­ tellect, stronger than the guns made by human beings; the guns were powerless against the Martians. Thus, at the very last moment, the destruction of the world is prevented

The following extract (adapted and abridged) from The

War of the Worlds tells of the destruction effected by the

Martians.

... And this was the little world in which I had been living quietly for years, this fiery chaos! What had happened in the last seven hours I still did not know. I turned my desk chair lo U1e window, sat down, and looked atlhe blackened country, and at the three gigantic black things that were moving in the glare about the sand-pits.

They seemed very busy. I began to ask myself what they could

be. Were they intelligent mechanisms) I felt that such a thing was im­ possible. Or did a Martian sit within each, ruling, directing, as a man's brain sits and rules in his body) I began!o compare!he things lo human machines. I asked myself for!he firs! time in my life how an ironclad or

a steam-engine could seem lo an intelligent lowN animal.

Then I heard!he sound of steps in my garden. I looked down and saw a soldier at the fence. At the sight of another man my fear passed

... ll was a long lime before he could calm his nerves and answer my

questions, and!hen he answered brokenly. l-Ie was in!he artillery, and had only come into aclion about seven o'clock. AI!hat time firing was going on ncar the pit made by!he firs! cylindr and people said lhalthe first party of Martians were crawling slowly towards!heir second cy Iinder under cover of a metal shield...

"I lay still" he said "!error-stricken" We had been wiped out And

!he smell- good God! Like burnt mea(I I was hurl across the back by the fall of a horse, and there I had to lie until I felt be!!er Just like parade it had been a minute before- then iped out!"

He had hidden under the dead horse for a long time looking out across

!he field. The soldiers had tried lo rush lo the pi!, but had been simply wip.ed out. Then!he monster had risen to its feel, and had begun to walk across!he field among!he few fugitives. l!s hood turned about like!he head of a human being. A kind of arm carried a large metallic case; green

flashes followed by the Heal Ray carne out of il.

!Of>

In a few minutes lhere was nol a living lhing left upon the field, and every bush and tree upon it was burning. The giant saved the Station and the houses about it for some lime; then in a moment the Heal-Ray was directed there, and the town became a heap of fiery ruins. Then the thing shut off the Heal-Ray.. and turning its back upon the artilleryman, began to move away towards the smoking pine-woods where the second cylinder had fallen. As it did so, a second glittering giant came out of the pit...

This novel is many-levelled. We hear the author's question, addressed to all mankind: "What will happen to humanity if cold intellect triumphs over feelings and emo­ tions?" This question is, at the same time, a call to people to reorganize their way of life. And, above all, it is a war­ ning to humanity to avoid destructive wars.

Thus, Wells revealed in his novels the possible negative conseguences of technical progress. He showed how tragic the achievements in science could be if they were applied with destructive intentions.

The pessimistic theme that the earth is a temporary

phenomenon, and that the human race is determined to destroy itself, permeates all his work.

I. What is lhe peculiarity of Wells' science ficlion' 2. What surprised Wells most in his conversation with V Lenin in the year 1920' 3. What were the main themes of Wells' works? 4. What did Wells write about in his novel The War of/he Worlds? 5. What did he try to express in this novel?

 

GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

(1856-1950)

George Bernand Shaw was born in Dublin in a middle class family. In 1876 he carne to London. After an unsuc­ cessful career as a novelist he wrote art, music and book criticism for several periodicals. In his articles on drama he protested against the artificiality of the London theatre which at that time was full of shallow sentimental plays. He demanded that theatres should perform plays dealing with contemporary social and moral problems and should rouse people, make them think and suffer.

He called the first cycle of his dramatic works- Wid­

ower's Houses (1892), The Philanderer (1893) and Mrs. Warren's Profession (1894)- Plays Unpleasant. They

were unfavourably received by the public because they

unmasked bourgeois respectability by exposing the true source of rich families' wealth. It were his witty comedies to which he gave the name Plays Pleasant- Arms and the Man (1894), The Man of Destiny (1895), etc.- that estab­ lished his popularity. In these, as well as in Caesar and Cleopatra, he destroyed romantic illusions about some historical personages and showed the true motives of human actions.

Shaw wrote over 50 plays including John Bull's Other Island (1904) and Saint Joan (1923). In the former he criti­ cized England's colonial policy in Ireland. In the latter he gave his own dramatic interpretation of the character of Joan of Arc, the national heroine of France, also called the

Maid of Orleans, who fought against the Englishmen during the One Hundred Years' War. One of his best known works is the comedy Pygmalion (1913), later turned into a popular musical My Fair Lady.

His plays are, as a rule, based on paradoxical situations and dramatic discussions; they are full of brilliant witty

dialogues. A lot of his remarks have become well known aphorisms. Here are a few of them:

- Apessimisl? A man who thinks everybody as nasty as himself and hales them for il.

- A lifetime of happiness? No man alive could bear il; it would be

hell on earth.

- He who can, does, he who can't, leaches.

- The lest of a man's or woman's breeding is how they behave in a quarrel.

Shaw was always very active in political and social life of his country. In his younger years he joined several literary and political societies. Thus, he was a member of the Fabian society which advocated gradual reforms as a way of social reorganisation, opposed to immediate revolutionary action. In his numerous essays he set down his socialist and collectivist principles; he supported women's rights, abolition of private property and radical changes in the voting system.

He also stood for the simplification of spelling and punctuation and the reform of the English alphabet. Omis­ sion of the apostrophe in all contracted verb forms in his plays (cant for can't, youre for you're, whats for what's, etc.) is due to his hope to initiate these changes with his own writing.

Shaw was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1925.

WIDOWE 'S HOUSES

Widower's Houses revealed to the audience the fact that the prosperity of the upper classes was achieved by shamefully exploiting the poor Here, in his own words, Shaw destroyed the legend of the respectability of the bourgeoisie and disclosed the sordid origin of its wealth and power

Harry Trench, a not very rich young man of an aristoc­ ratic family, falls in love with Blanche Sartorius, a very riC'h heiress. Thev become engaged Trench learns that

Sartorius has made his fortune with money taken from poor people. To those poor he rents brokendown dwellings which he owns in the slums of London. Trench becomes indign< nt at this way of rn< king a fortune. He leaves Blanche, be­ cause he does not want to participate in this criminal exploitation of the poor Sartorius, however, proves to Trench that his source of income is the same. He tells Trench that business cannot be ruled by morals. TrPnch, finally, acknowledges that Sartorius is right anu that he exploits the poor just as much as Sartorius.

This is an extract from Act II of Widower's Houses in which Sartorius tells Trench that the latter's source of

income is the same as his own:

... Sa r (or ius. () As to my business, it is simply to provide homes suited to the small means of very roor people, who require roofs to sheller them just like other people. Do you suppose I can keep up those roofs for nothing?

Trench. Yes:!hats all very fine; but the point is, what sort of homes do you give them for their money? People must live SOITll'Wht'rt•. or els(' go lu jail. Advantage is taken of!hal to make lhern pay for houses!hal arc not fit for dogs. Why don! you build proper dwellings, and give fair value for the money you lake?

Sarlo r ius (pitying his innocence). My young friend: these poor

people do not know how to live in proper dwellings: they would wreck them in a week. You doubt me: try it for yourself. You arc W('lcome to repl: ce all the missing banisters. handrails, cistern lids and dustholl' tors at your own expense; and you will find them missing again in less than three days: burnt, sir, every stick of them. I do not blame lht' poor ere alures: they need fires, and ollen have no other way of gelling them Aut

I really cannot spend pounds in repairs for them to pull down. when I can barely gel them to pay me four and sixpence a week for a room, which 1s the recognized fair London rent. No, gentlemen: when people arc very poor, you cannot help them, no maltcr how much you may sympathize with them. It does them more harm than good in the long run. I prdl'r tu save my money in order to provide additional houses for the homeless. and to lay by a lillie lor Blanche. (He looks at them. Thy arc silent: Trench unconvinced, but talked down; Sartorius bends his brows; comes forward in his chair as if gathering hirnsell fur a spring; and addresses himself, with impressive significance, to Trench). And now, Dr Trench, may I ask what your income is derived from'

Trench (defiantly). From interest: nul from houses. My hands arc

clean as far as that goes. Interest on a mortgage.

SarI or ius (forcibly). Yes: a mortgage on my properly When I, to use your own words, screw, and bully, and drive these people to pay what

they have freely indertaken to pay me, I cannot touch one penny of the money they give me until I have first paid you your seven hundred a year out of it. And yet, Dr. Trench, you, who have never done a hand's turn of work in connection with the place, you have not hesitated to speak con­ temptuously of me because I have applied my industry and forethought to

the management of our properly, and am maintaining it hy the same

honorable means.

Trench (dazed). Do you mean to say that I am just as bad as you

are?

Sartorius. II, when you say you are just as bad as I am, you mean

that you are just as powerless to alter the state of society, then you are unfortunately quite right...

The composition of this play is similar to that of the other plays written by Shaw. The plot is not very enter­ taining, the stage directions occupy at least a quarter of the printed comedy. However, the dialogue is brilliant, the turn it takes when Trench discovers that his income comes from the same source as that of Sartorius is a paradox in itself. It appears that slums are necessary both for the poor and for the rich: the poor cannot afford anything better, while the ruling classes receive rich incomes from these slums.

Among Shaw's many plays one ranks very high. This is Pygmalion.

PYGMALION

Pygmalion, written in 1912, is a story of a poor young girl, Eliza Doolittle, who sells flowers in the streets of London.

Eliza speaks bad English, with a terrible accent and

intonation that show her humble origin. Professor Higgins, a linguist and phonetician, by experimenting on Eliza,

wants to prove that he can teach a person to speak perfect English, in a short period of time. He achieves his aim and in a period of six months he teaches Eliza to speak such perfect English, that at a grand reception in high society she passes for an aristocrat. However, Higgins is not at all interested in Eliza's future. He has finished his experi­ ment and is no longer interested in what will happen to her He does not notice that she has fallen in love with him. It is only when Eliza leaves him, that Higgins understands how much she means to him.

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