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= The_Forsyte_Saga =
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Introduction
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'The Forsyte Saga', first published under that title in 1922, is a
series of three novels and two interludes published between 1906 and
1921 by the English author John Galsworthy, who won the 1932 Nobel
Prize in Literature. They chronicle the vicissitudes of the leading
members of a large upper-middle-class English family that is similar
to Galsworthy's. Only a few generations removed from their farmer
ancestors, its members are keenly aware of their status as "new
money". The main character, the solicitor and connoisseur Soames
Forsyte, sees himself as a "man of property" by virtue of his ability
to accumulate material possessions, but that does not succeed in
bringing him pleasure.
Separate sections of the saga, as well as the lengthy story in its
entirety, have been adapted for cinema and television. 'The Man of
Property', the first book, was adapted in 1949 by Hollywood as 'That
Forsyte Woman', starring Errol Flynn, Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon,
and Robert Young. In 1967, the BBC produced a popular 26-part serial
that dramatised 'The Forsyte Saga' and a subsequent trilogy concerning
the Forsytes, 'A Modern Comedy'. In 2002 Granada Television produced
two series for the ITV network: 'The Forsyte Saga' and 'The Forsyte
Saga: To Let'. Both made runs in the US as parts of 'Masterpiece
Theatre'. In 2003, 'The Forsyte Saga' was listed as #123 on the BBC's
The Big Read poll of the UK's "best-loved novel".
Following 'The Forsyte Saga', Galsworthy wrote two more trilogies and
several more interludes based around the titular family. The resulting
series is collectively titled 'The Forsyte Chronicles'.
''The Man of Property'' (1906)
================================
In this first novel of the 'Forsyte Saga', after introducing us to the
impressive array of Forsytes headed by the formidable Aunt Ann,
Galsworthy moves into the main action of the saga by detailing Soames
Forsyte's desire to own things, including his beautiful wife, Irene
Forsyte (née Heron). The character of Irene is based upon Galsworthy's
wife Ada Galsworthy. Forsyte is jealous of her friendships and wants
her to be his alone. He concocts a plan to move her to a house he is
having built at Robin Hill, away from everyone she knows and cares
for. She resists his grasping intentions, and falls in love with the
architect Philip Bosinney, who has been engaged by Soames to build the
house. Bosinney returns her love, although he is the fiancé of her
young friend June Forsyte, the daughter of Soames's estranged cousin
"Young" Jolyon. There is no happy ending: Irene leaves Soames after he
asserts what he perceives to be his ultimate right on his property by
raping her, and Bosinney dies under the wheels of a bus after being
driven frantic by the news of the rape.
"Indian Summer of a Forsyte" (1918)
=====================================
In a short interlude after 'The Man of Property', Galsworthy delves
into the newfound friendship between Irene and Old Jolyon Forsyte
(June's grandfather, now the owner of the house Soames had built).
This attachment gives Old Jolyon pleasure, but exhausts his strength.
He leaves Irene money in his will, with his son, Young Jolyon, as
trustee. In the end, Old Jolyon dies under an ancient oak tree in the
garden of the Robin Hill house.
''[[In Chancery]]'' (1920)
============================
The marital discord of both Soames and his sister Winifred is the
subject of the second novel (the title refers to the Court of
Chancery, which dealt with domestic issues). They take steps to
divorce their spouses, Irene and Montague Dartie respectively.
However, while Soames tells his sister to brave the consequences of
going to court, he is unwilling to go through a divorce. Instead he
stalks and hounds Irene, follows her abroad, and asks her to have his
child, which was his father's wish.
Irene inherits £15,000 after Old Jolyon's death. His son, Young Jolyon
Forsyte, also Soames's cousin, manages Irene's finances. When she
first leaves Soames, Young Jolyon offers his support. By the time his
son Jolly dies in the South African War, Irene has developed a strong
friendship with Jolyon. Then Soames confronts young Jolyon and Irene
at Robin Hill, falsely accusing them of having an affair. Young Jolyon
and Irene assert that they have had an affair because Soames has it in
his mind already. This statement gives Soames the evidence he needs
for divorce proceedings. That confrontation sparks an eventual
consummation between young Jolyon and Irene, leading to their marriage
once the divorce is final and the birth of a son Jolyon "Jon" Forsyte.
Soames marries Annette, the young daughter of a French Soho restaurant
owner. With his new wife, he has his only child, a daughter named
Fleur Forsyte.
"Awakening" (1920)
====================
The subject of the second interlude is the naive and exuberant
lifestyle of eight-year-old Jon Forsyte. He loves and is loved by his
parents. He has an idyllic youth, and his every desire indulged.
''To Let'' (1921)
===================
This novel concludes the Forsyte Saga. Second cousins Fleur and Jon
Forsyte meet and fall in love, ignorant of their parents' past
troubles, indiscretions and misdeeds. Once Soames, Jolyon, and Irene
discover their romance, they forbid their children to see each other
again. Irene and Jolyon also fear that Fleur is too much like her
father, and once she has Jon in her grasp, will want to possess him
entirely. Despite her feelings for Jon, Fleur has a very suitable
suitor, Michael Mont, heir to a baronetcy, who has fallen in love with
her. If they marry, Fleur would elevate the status of her family from
'nouveau riche' to the aristocratic upper class. The title derives
from Soames' reflections as he breaks up the house in which his Uncle
Timothy, recently deceased in 1920 at age 101 and the last of the
older generation of Forsytes, had lived a recluse, hoarding his life
like property.
Knowing he is soon to die from a weak heart, Jolyon writes a letter to
Jon, detailing the events of Irene's marriage to Soames, including her
love affair with Philip Bosinney and Soames's rape of her and warns
him that Irene would be alone if he were to marry Fleur. But while Jon
reads the letter, Jolyon suddenly dies of a heart attack, and Jon is
left torn between the past and his present love for Fleur. He
ultimately rejects Fleur, breaking his own heart as well as hers, and
leaves for Canada. Fleur marries Michael Mont, though she knows she
doesn't love him. With her marriage, Soames is separated from the only
person whom he has truly loved. Irene also leaves for Canada, selling
the house at Robin Hill. Soames and Irene briefly exchange glances at
a distance and a kind of peace is made between them, but Soames is
left contemplating all that he never really had but tried to possess.
Silent films
==============
The book was filmed in 1920 and 1922. There was also a silent film
adaptation of 'The White Monkey' (1925).
1949 movie
============
A 1949 adaptation, called 'That Forsyte Woman' in its United States
release, starred Errol Flynn as Soames, Greer Garson as Irene, Walter
Pidgeon as Young Jolyon, and Robert Young as Philip Bosinney.
1967 serial
=============
A television adaptation by the BBC of 'The Forsyte Saga', and its
sequel trilogy 'A Modern Comedy', starred Eric Porter as Soames,
Joseph O'Conor as Old Jolyon, Susan Hampshire as Fleur, Kenneth More
as Young Jolyon and Nyree Dawn Porter as Irene. It was produced by
Donald Wilson and was shown in 26 episodes on Saturday evenings
between 7 January and 1 July 1967 on BBC2. It was the repeat on Sunday
evenings on BBC1 starting on 8 September 1968 that secured the
programme's success, with 18 million tuning in for the final episode
in 1969. It was shown in the United States on public television and
broadcast all over the world, and became the first British television
programme to be sold to the Soviet Union.
Radio adaptations
===================
There have been various BBC radio dramatisations. The first was
probably a radio production of 'The Man of Property' in 11 weekly
parts commencing 9 December 1945 on the BBC Home Service. The music
used as the opening and closing theme came from Edward Elgar's 'Enigma
Variations', specifically the 'Nimrod' variation. This adaptation
starred Leo Genn as Jo, Grizelda Hervey as Irene and Ronald Simpson as
Soames. It was adapted by Muriel Levy and produced by Val Gielgud and
Felix Felton. Young Jolyons in later adaptations included Andrew
Cruickshank, Leo Genn and Guy Rolfe. Another production of the
dramatised cycle, which had Rachel Gurney as Irene, Noel Johnson as
Young Jolyon and Alan Wheatley as Soames, came soon after the 1967
television series. The version broadcast in 1990 comprised a 75-minute
opening episode followed by 22 hour-long episodes, entitled 'The
Forsyte Chronicles'. It was the most expensive radio drama serial ever
broadcast, due to its length and its big-name cast, which included
Dirk Bogarde, Diana Quick, Michael Williams and Alan Howard. This
radio series was rerun on BBC 7 radio in 2004, and has been released
commercially.
In January 2016, BBC Radio 4 began broadcasting a new radio adaptation
by Shaun McKenna and Lin Coghlan under the title 'The Forsytes',
scheduled to continue until late 2017. The cast was led by Joseph
Millson as Soames, Jessica Raine as Fleur, Juliet Aubrey as Irene,
Harry Haddon Paton as Bosinney and Ewan Bailey as Young Jolyon. It
was directed by Marion Nancarrow and Gemma Jenkins.
''The Forsyte Saga'' (2002)
=============================
In 2002, the first two books and the first interlude were adapted by
Granada Television for the ITV network, although, like the 1967
production, the miniseries took many liberties with Galsworthy's
original work. Additional funding for this production was provided by
American PBS station WGBH, the BBC version having been a success on
PBS in the early 1970s.
''The Forsyte Saga: To Let'' (2003 serial)
============================================
Immediately following the success of the 2002 adaptation, a second
series was released in 2003. It portrays the saga's last book 'To
Let'. Much of the cast resumed their roles, but most of the first
generation of Forsytes had died in the previous series. The principal
characters played by Damian Lewis, Gina McKee, Rupert Graves, and
Amanda Root return. The series has also been released on DVD.
''The Forsyte Saga: Parts 1 & 2'' (2024 stage play)
=====================================================
An adaptation of the 'Forsyte Saga' for the stage premiered at
London's Park Theatre in October 2024, bringing unheard female voices
to the fore. The two parts were adapted for stage by Shaun Mckenna and
Lin Coghlan, starring Fiona Hampton, Joseph Millson, and Flora
Spencer-Longhurst.
The old Forsytes
==================
* Ann, the eldest of the family
* Old Jolyon, the eldest brother, made a fortune in tea
* James, a solicitor, married to Emily, a most tranquil woman
* Swithin, James's twin brother with aristocratic pretensions, a
bachelor
* Roger, "the original Forsyte"
* Julia (Juley), Mrs. Septimus Small, a fluttery dowager
* Hester, an old maid
* Nicholas, the wealthiest in the family
* Timothy, the most cautious man in England
* Susan, the married sister
The young Forsytes
====================
* Young Jolyon, Old Jolyon's artistic and free-thinking son, married
three times
* Soames, James and Emily's son, an intense, unimaginative and
possessive solicitor and connoisseur, married to the unhappy Irene,
who later marries Young Jolyon
* Winifred, Soames's sister, one of the three daughters of James and
Emily, married to the foppish and lethargic Montague Dartie
* George, Roger's son, a dyed-in-the-wool mocker
* Francie, George's sister and Roger's daughter, emancipated from God
Their children
================
* June, Young Jolyon's defiant daughter from his first marriage;
engaged to an architect, Philip Bosinney, who becomes Irene's lover
* Jolly, Young Jolyon's son from his second marriage; dies of enteric
fever during the Boer War
* Holly, Young Jolyon's daughter from his second marriage, to June's
governess
* Jon, Young Jolyon's son from his third marriage, to Irene, Soames's
first wife
* Fleur, Soames's daughter from his second marriage, to a French Soho
shop girl Annette; Jon's lover; later marries the heir of a baronet,
Michael Mont
* Val, Winifred and Montague's son; fights in the Boer War; marries
his cousin Holly
* Imogen, Winifred and Montague's daughter
Others
========
* Parfitt, Old Jolyon's butler
* Smither, Aunts Ann, Juley and Hester's housekeeper
* Warmson, James and Emily's butler
* Bilson, Soames's housemaid
* Prosper Profond, Winifred's admirer and Annette's lover
Duty versus Desire
====================
Young Jolyon was the favourite of the family until he left his wife
for his daughter's governess. He eschews his status in society and in
the Forsyte clan to follow his heart. Soames, though it seems he is
the polar opposite of Jolyon, has those same inclinations toward doing
what he desires. For example, instead of finding a wife who is rich,
he marries Irene and then Annette, who have neither money nor status.
When he takes Irene to a play about a married woman and her lover, he
ironically sympathizes with the lover and not the husband. However,
most of his decisions are on the side of duty.
Generations and Change
========================
The many generations of the Forsyte clan remind everyone of what has
come to pass over the years. However, as the old ranks begin to die,
people are able to change. For example, after a few generations, the
fact that they are nouveau riche does not matter as much. This is also
the case with Soames and Irene's marital problems. Once they grow old
and their children can overcome their parents' past, Soames can
finally let go of the past. Another change with generations is the
diminished number of Forsyte offspring. Many of the second generation
have fewer children.
Sequels
======================================================================
Galsworthy's sequel to 'The Forsyte Saga' was 'A Modern Comedy', a
further trilogy written in the years 1924 to 1928. This comprises the
novel 'The White Monkey'; an interlude, 'A Silent Wooing'; a second
novel, 'The Silver Spoon'; a second interlude, 'Passers By'; and a
third novel, 'Swan Song'. The principal characters are Soames and
Fleur, and the second saga ends with the death of Soames in 1926. This
is also the point reached at the end of the 1967 television series.
''The White Monkey'' (1924)
=============================
Fleur Forsyte has settled into married life with Michael Mont,
following her aborted romance with Jon Forsyte. Unbeknownst to
Michael, his best friend Wilfred Desert has also fallen in love with
Fleur. Fleur seems to treat Wilfred’s affection as an amusement in her
otherwise dull life.
Michael works for a publishing firm and catches one of his employees,
Bickett, stealing books and is forced to fire him. Feeling bad for a
man who was trying to help his sick wife, Michael helps Bickett’s wife
Victorine gain a job posing as a nude model for various artists.
Victorine eventually gains enough money for the two of them to move to
Australia.
Soames Forsyte, Fleur’s father, is on the board for a company with
extensive capital invested overseas. A young man comes to him and
advises that he has overheard that the Chairman of the Board, Mr
Emerson, has been taking commissions to invest in failing stock,
losing a considerable amount of the shareholders’ money in the
process. Soames and Lawrence Mont, Michael’s father, attempt to bring
this to the attention of the Board but are too late to stop Mr Emerson
escaping prosecution. They both resign in protest.
Soames also visits his cousin George shortly before his death and
secures a Chinese painting, the titular ‘White Monkey’. He gives the
painting to Fleur and Michael.
Eventually, Wilfred tires of Fleur tormenting him and leaves to go to
the East. A depressed Fleur turns to Michael and falls pregnant and
eventually gives birth to a son, Christopher (or Kit).
A Silent Wooing (Interlude 1927)
==================================
In America, Jon goes on a picnic with his friend Francis Wilmot and
meets his sister Anne. Anne and Jon go to explore an Indian mound and
become lost, returning hours later. Jon then visits Francis and Anne
at home and falls in love with her. They eventually marry.
''The Silver Spoon'' (1926)
=============================
The book focuses mainly on Michael Mont’s political career, and
Fleur’s social activities. Jon Forsyte’s brother-in-law, Francis
Wilmot, arrives in London, staying with Fleur and Michael. He attends
one of Fleur’s evening parties, and is smitten with Marjorie Ferrar,
grand-daughter of the Marquess of Shropshire, and a lively member of a
‘fast set’.
Soames overhears her talking disparagingly about Fleur, and strong
words are exchanged. Fleur writes some injudicious letters about the
incident, and Marjorie is persuaded to launch a libel action. Soames,
Sir Lawrence Mont and Lord Shropshire attempt to mediate, but in vain,
and neither party will back down.
Michael chucks publishing, and launches his political career. His
maiden speech promotes a scheme known as ‘Foggartism’, which advocates
a policy of child migration to the Dominions. He also attempts to
assist a group of ‘down-and-outs’, but the project only partly
succeeds. He has a run-in with Marjorie’s fiancée, Sir Alexander
McGown, a fiery Scottish MP.
The libel case comes to court. As a result of legal manoevering by
Soames, Marjorie’s views on modern morality, including the reading of
‘advanced literature’, are aired in public. She defends her opinions
bravely, but is persuaded to quietly settle out of court, without an
apology from Fleur.
Now deeply in debt, and refusing to disclose her various love affairs
to McGown, he breaks their engagement. Lord Shropshire offers to pay
her debts, on her word as a lady to pay cash for her needs in future.
Marjorie is now the toast of her set, and Fleur is humiliated. She
asks Michael to take her ‘around the world’. She and Soames decide to
go together, with Michael joining them later, when Parliament rises.
Passers-By (Interlude 1927)
=============================
Soames is in the final days of his holiday with Fleur and Michael in
Washington when he becomes aware that Jon, Anne and Irene Forsyte are
in town and staying at the same hotel. He works to ensure Fleur
remains unaware of their existence, though he cannot stop himself from
spying on Irene playing the piano. They return to England with only
Soames aware of the near encounter.
''Swan Song'' (1928)
======================
The General Strike is called. Many Forsytes enrol as special
constables. Michael Mont’s sympathies are with the strikers, but he
can do nothing to help. Fleur takes over the running of a canteen for
the volunteers who will keep the trains running. Holly joins her, as
well as Anne, Jon’s wife. Jon volunteers to stoke an engine; he eats
at the canteen, but he and Fleur do not meet.
Anne and Jon decide to stay in England, and buy a farm in Sussex..
Disillusioned with Foggartism, Michael is drawn into a scheme promoted
by his uncle, Rev. Hilary Charwell, to buy and convert the worst of
the London slums. He and his father help to set up the Fund, and
recruit rich and influential men to invest in the scheme. Soames is
co-opted as legal advisor.
Michael visits June Forsyte, who tells him the story of Fleur and
Jon’s affair, and something of the tangled family history, which he
hadn’t previously known.
Val Dartie is visited by an old college pal, Stainforth, now fallen on
hard times, who claims to know something about an employee at Val’s
racehorse stables, and offers to sell him the information. He later
forges Val’s name on a cheque.
Fleur sets up a rest home in the country for working girls, but it’s
really an excuse to be close to Jon. She schemes to arrange
‘accidental’ meetings. Jon and Fleur have one last fling, but when
Anne becomes pregnant, he breaks it off. Fleur is devastated.
A fire breaks out in Soames’ house, almost certainly started
accidentally by Fleur. Most of the pictures are saved, but a heavy
painting falls and hits Soames as he tries to rescue Fleur. He is
badly injured, and dies a few days later.
Later works
=============
Galsworthy wrote one further trilogy, 'End of the Chapter', comprising
'Maid in Waiting', 'Flowering Wilderness', and 'Over the River' (also
known as 'One More River'), chiefly dealing with Michael Mont's young
cousin, Dinny Cherrell.
The three trilogies have been republished under the collective title
of 'The Forsyte Chronicles'.
In 1930 Galsworthy published 'On Forsyte 'Change', which deals in the
main with the older Forsytes before the events chronicled in 'The Man
of Property'. Galsworthy states in a foreword that "They have all been
written since 'Swan Song' was finished but in place they come between
the Saga and the Comedy ..." By way of explanation he writes that "It
is hard to part suddenly and finally from those with whom one has
lived so long; and these footnotes do really, I think, help to fill in
and round out the chronicles of the Forsyte family."
; Contents:
# The Buckles of Superior Dosset, 1821-63
# Sands of Time, 1821-63
# Hester's Little Tour, 1845
# Tiimothy's Narrow Squeak, 1851
# Aunt Juley's Courtship, 1855
# Nicholas Rex, 1864
# A Sad Affair, 1867
# Revolt at Roger's, 1870
# June's First Lame Duck, 1876
# Dog at Timothy's, 1878
# Midsummer Madness, 1880
# The Hondekoeter, 1880
# Cry of Peacock, 1883
# Francie's Fourpenny Foreigner, 1888
# Four-In-Hand Forsyte, 1890
# The Sorrows of Tweetyman, 1895
# The Dromios, 1900
# A Forsyte Encounters the People, 1917
# Soames and the Flag, 1914-1918
In 1994 Suleika Dawson published a sequel to 'The Forsytes' titled
'The Forsytes: The Saga Continues' in which Soames's daughter, Fleur,
Lady Mont, is the main character. She has been a dutiful wife and
mother, and has long forgotten her love for Jon Forsyte, but when
tragedy brings Jon back to England Fleur is determined to recapture
the past and the love of her life.
Awards
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'The Forsyte Saga' earned John Galsworthy the Nobel Prize for
Literature in 1932.
Dedication
======================================================================
A framed letter from Galsworthy stood next to his wife's bed until her
death. It read, "I super-dedicate in its entirety 'The Forsyte Saga'
whose first word was written on Campden Hill, London of a May morning
in 1903 and whose last word was written at Hampstead on 15 August
1920. Of all my work I have most enjoyed the making of this chronicle,
and on the whole set more store by it than anything else I have
written up to now. This is why I super-dedicate the whole of it to one
without whose instigation, sympathy, interest and criticism, my
obscure inner necessity might never have pushed through the mufflement
of circumstance and made me a writer - such as I am." (1921)
External links
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*
* Full text of '[
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4397 The Forsyte
Saga]' at Project Gutenberg
*
*[
http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/F/htmlF/forsytesaga/forsytesaga.htm
Encyclopedia of Television (1967 series)]
*[
http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/1071033/index.html British Film
Institute Screen Online (1967 series)]
*
*
*
*
License
=========
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Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Forsyte_Saga
