John Galsworthy
1) Five Tales
Author
Publisher
Project Gutenberg
Language
English
Description
Excerpt: "It was a dark room at that hour of six in the evening, when just the single oil reading-lamp under its green shade let fall a dapple of light over the Turkey carpet; over the covers of books taken out of the bookshelves, and the open pages of the one selected; over the deep blue and gold of the coffee service on the little old stool with its Oriental embroidery. Very dark in the winter, with drawn curtains, many rows of leather-bound volumes,...
Author
Language
English
Formats
Description
The classic tale of a wealthy English family, and a jealous husband who will stop at nothing to gain dominion over his bride. The first installment of the critically acclaimed Forsyte Saga introduces the Forsyte clan and their endlessly fascinating intrigues. Author John Galsworthy's take on the constricted roles of women within the confines of marriage casts an unforgiving light on traditional courtship while rendering otherwise common domestic dramas...
Author
Language
English
Description
A brilliant social satire by Nobel Prize-winning author John Galsworthy, this monumental trilogy chronicles the lives of three generations of an upper-middle class London family obsessed with money and respectability. The first book, The Man of Property, established Galsworthy's reputation as an author and a keen observer of society. His masterly prose, always scorchingly accurate and often very funny, introduces Soames Forsyte, an avaricious man...
4) Swan song
Author
Language
English
Description
The final novel of "a social satire of epic proportions and one that does not suffer by comparison with Thackeray's Vanity Fair" (The New York Times).
From the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1932
Set against the backdrop of a post–World War I Britain, now rocked by a general strike, Swan Song captures the staunch resilience-and ridiculousness-of the British upper middle class, who view this new national crisis as just a...
5) Joy
Author
Publisher
Project Gutenberg
Language
English
Description
This 1909 "Play on the Letter 'I'"-as the subtitle puts it-is about a young woman, the Joy of the title. After the separation of her parents, she discovers that her mother inhabits a wider and wilder world than she had suspected, and Joy must come to terms with it one way or another.
6) Justice
Author
Publisher
Project Gutenberg
Language
English
Description
Justice is a 1910 play by the British writer John Galsworthy. It was part of a campaign to improve conditions in British prisons. Winston Churchill attended an early performance of the play at the Duke of York's Theatre in London. The play opens in the offices of James How & Sons, solicitors. A young woman appears at the door, with children in tow, asking to see the junior clerk, William Falder, on a personal matter. She is Ruth Honeywill, Falder's...
Author
Publisher
Project Gutenberg
Language
English
Description
The Freelands, a novel by John Galsworthy, presents a rich tapestry of themes that resonate profoundly with contemporary societal issues. At its core, the novel explores the conflicts between tradition and progress, the struggle for personal freedom, and the complexities of familial relationships. Set against the backdrop of early 20th-century England, the story revolves around the lives of the Freeland family, who embody various ideological stances...
8) In Chancery
Author
Language
English
Formats
Description
The moving story of a wealthy English clan and the infidelities and intrigues threatening to tear one marriage apart. In Chancery begins where The Man of Property, and its subsequent interlude, left off, pursuing Soames and Irene Forsyte across Edwardian England, meanwhile highlighting the failing marriage of Soames's sister, Winifred. Galsworthy juxtaposes the two relationships while bringing more members of the Forsyte clan into the drama, making...
Author
Language
English
Description
This 1912 collection of twenty-six "essays and studies," divided between "Life" and "Letters" was praised by the New York Times reviewer as "a string of the finest pearls." Contents include the title entry, as well as "The Black Godmother," "Magpie Over the Hill," "Sheep-shearing," "Evolution," "On Our Dislike of Things as They Are," and "A Christian," among others.
10) Jocelyn
Author
Language
English
Description
Jocelyn, by John Galsworthy, is a compelling narrative that explores themes of love, societal expectations, and personal integrity through the life of its protagonist, Jocelyn Brand. Set against the backdrop of an early 20th-century English society, the story delves into the conflicts between individual desires and societal norms, a theme that remains strikingly relevant today.
Jocelyn, a young and idealistic woman, finds herself caught in a web...
11) A Commentary
Author
Language
English
Description
This 1908 collection of short sketches and essays contains pieces on everything from the everyday to the philosophical, including: "The Lost Dog," "Demos," "Old Age," "The Careful Man," "Fear," "Fashion," "Sport," "Money," "Progress," "Holiday," "Facts," "Power," "The House of Silence," "Order," "The Mother," "Comfort," "A Child," "Justice," "Hope," and the title essay.
12) The Patrician
Author
Publisher
Project Gutenberg
Language
English
Description
In its review of this 1911 novel about conflicts arising from the rigid class prejudices of upper-caste English society, the New York Times singled out Galsworthy's heroine for special praise, calling her "at once splendid, simple, crowned with happiness, and somehow caged and tragically looking out between gilded bars."
13) The Eldest Son
Author
Publisher
Project Gutenberg
Language
English
Description
This 1912 play focuses on one of Galsworthy's perennial subjects: the injustice inherent in an economic and political system that privileges the rich over the poor, in this case, in the realm of marriage. Through a plot involving two forced marriages, Galsworthy exposes middle, and upper-class hypocrisy.
14) Beyond
Author
Publisher
Project Gutenberg
Language
English
Description
The daughter of an ex-Major and his now-dead mistress, Gyp becomes enchanted by Fiorsen, a Swedish violin player with wild cat-like eyes. Gyp's hypersensitivity comes into play when the romantic yet unstable Fiorsen asks her to marry him in this 1917 novel.
15) Strife
Author
Publisher
Project Gutenberg
Language
English
Description
Strife by John Galsworthy
libreka classics — These are classics of literary history, reissued and made available to a wide audience.
Immerse yourself in well-known and popular titles!
Author
Publisher
Project Gutenberg
Language
English
Description
This 1907 novel-later specifically cited by the Nobel Committee-is set in an English country house that stands as a microcosm of genteel society, where Victorian mores are coming into conflict with the realities of modern industrial life. When young George Pendyce falls for a "common" woman, the cracks in his family life are revealed.
17) Saint's Progress
Author
Publisher
Project Gutenberg
Language
English
Description
In the novel Saint's Progress, published in 1919, Galsworthy wrestles with issues of the Great War. What was really being fought for: love as the guiding principle of life, a balance between Might is Right and Right is Might or a basic belief in God?
18) The Dark Flower
Author
Publisher
Project Gutenberg
Language
English
Description
This 1913 novel traces the history of one man, Mark Lennan, from his eighteenth year through his forty-eighth. But Galsworthy's real focus is the women in Mark's life. Each phase of his adulthood focuses on a women – his mother, then wife, then daughter, represented by "Spring," "Summer," and "Autumn," respectively. A contemporary review in the New York Times called the book "his most vital novel."
19) Fraternity
Author
Publisher
Project Gutenberg
Language
English
Description
Widely considered one of Galsworthy's best novels, Fraternity is filled with memorable and sympathetic characters, including the beautiful model Ivy Barton, the painter Bianca Dallison, the utopian dreamer Mr. Stone, and the working-class Hughes family. One contemporary critic called Fraternity "as near being a perfect work of art as any novel ever written."
20) The Fugitive
Author
Publisher
Project Gutenberg
Language
English
Description
This 1913 play is a study of that peculiar English malady: good form. Clare Dedmond, the unhappy wife of George Dedmond, longs for a life of freedom and art. A friendship with the novelist Malise seems to offer her the chance to escape the deadening Dedmond household.... but at a great cost.