John Galsworthy: short biography

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

John Galsworthy, whose biography is presented in this article, is an English playwright and prose writer of the 19th century. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Biography

John was born in Surrey in 1867. His family was not poor, since his father owned a large company, and was also a certified lawyer, and his mother was the daughter of a serious industrialist.

John Galsworthy was supposed to follow in his father's footsteps. He studied at the prestigious Harrow School, then entered the University of Oxford. Among his main hobbies were sports and reading. Galsworthy even became a master at football and cricket. Among literary preferences were Thackeray, Dickens.

After graduating from university, he did not start a law practice, but traveled. Formally, this trip was of a business nature (family business), but in reality, John Galsworthy simply pretended to be interested.

In 1904, his father dies, leaving John free to act.

Founded and became president of PEN in 1921.

Soon, Galsworthy began to suffer terrible headaches. The doctors diagnosed him with a brain tumor. John was unable to attend the Nobel Prize ceremonybonuses due to his illness.

He died in 1933 in London. Galsworthy wished to be cremated. His ashes were scattered from a plane over the top of Bury Hill.

Private life

John Galsworthy was married, but this marriage was not easy for him. Ada Pearson, his chosen one, was the wife of Arthur Galsworthy's cousin.

John met the lovely Ada at her wedding. And after she believed in his literary talent, he fell in love irrevocably!

Ada and Arthur's marriage was unhappy. Mutual sympathy between John and the girl grew. The lovers secretly met for almost ten years, and in 1905 they finally got married.

Ada was too protective of her husband, not letting him out of her sight even for a second. This is probably why, at the age of 44, John Galsworthy met the young dancer Margaret. She fell in love right away, the writer just got carried away, but when he saw the suffering of his wife, who felt cool on his part, he broke up with Margaret.

Between the spouses, those quivering feelings that were before never arose again. Ada considered her husband a traitor. But his death just crushed the poor woman.

Until her death, she reread two poems written for her by John and remembered her love.

Literary career

In 1987, a collection of short stories by John Galsworthy was published. The second publication was the novel "Joslyn". Then the writer worked under a pseudonym, but everyone knew that it was John Galsworthy. Reviews abouthis writings were somewhat controversial, but not negative, which was pleasing.

In 1906, the play "Silver Box" was released, which became quite successful. The topics that the writer raised in his works de alt with class relations, the inequality of society. His dramas began to be staged in the theaters of London.

Galsworthy has twenty novels, twenty-seven plays, three collections of poetry, many short stories and essays. But the most important thing in his life was the "Forsyte Saga".

The Forsyte Saga

The history of the Forsythe family was created from 1906 to 1921. The main theme of the novels is the life of social classes. The author sympathizes with his characters, but cannot help but talk about their snobbery, greed and even immorality. Most of these qualities were characteristic of the upper class of that time.

John Galsworthy, whose photographs were printed in all London newspapers after the release of the novels, was the first to question the ideals of modern society.

John writes about three generations of the Forsyte family, takes a lot from his personal life and the fate of the people around him.

This monumental work includes The Forsyte Rescue, published in 1901.

Followed by a cycle of novels, united under the title "The Forsyte Saga":

1. Proprietor (1906)
2. In the loop (1920)
3. For Rent (1921).

The interludes of 1918 "The Last Summer ofForsyth" and 1920 "Awakening".

In 1929-1930, Galsworthy publishes a collection of short stories "On the Forsyth Exchange", and in the preface indicates that without reading the "Saga" the meaning will not be clear.

Several times the novels were filmed. One of the best works is the BBC television film (1967), after which the name of John Galsworthy again became known.

The 1949 Hollywood version was made by Metro Goldwyn Mayer.