John Galsworthy

Galsworthy was not just a writer but someone interested in political and social reform.  He was born to a well do to family in Surrey in 1867.  He had a good education and read Law at Oxford.   However he did not really want to practice law, he wanted to write.  For a time he manged the family’s shipping business but he befriended Joseph Conrad, whom he met in Australia.  Conrad would later become a novelist.  John began to write novels and plays.

In the 1890s, he fell in love with Ada, the wife of his cousin Major Arthur Galsworthy.  Her marriage was not a very happy one - but divorce was still a scandal and John didn’t want to hurt his parents, by marrying his cousin’s ex-wife.   Galsworthy pursued an affair with her for several years.

He supported many liberal causes and was sympathetic to the poor, to trades unions and the cause of prison reform.   In the Forsyte Saga, he created a bourgeois family, the Forsytes, who have risen into wealth and prosperity.  But they live by a narrow code.  Soames Forsyte, the protagonist, is a solicitor and a wealthy man.  He marries the beautiful Irene, because he admires her beauty, but she does not return his love.    Irene marries him for financial security, but he has promised to let her go if their marriage is a failure.   Soames however is far too possessive, and can’t tolerate the idea of losing his wife.  Irene falls in love with Philip Bosinney, a young Bohemian architect who is engaged to June, Soames’ younger cousin….He returns her love and neglects June. They have an affair but then Soames forces Irene to have sex with him.   His act drives Irene to leave him, and it takes Soames many years to get a divorce (as was the case with Ada)....