The Forsyte Saga

Summary (from the publisher): The three novels which make up The Forsyte Saga chronicle the ebbing social power of the commercial upper-middle class Forsyte family between 1886 and 1920. Soames Forsyte is the brilliantly portrayed central figure, a Victorian who outlives the age, and whose baffled passion for his beautiful but unresponsive wife Irene reverberates throughout the saga. Written with both compassion and ironic detachment, Galsworthy's masterly narrative examines not only the family's fortunes but also the wider developments within society, particularly the changing position of women in an intensely competitive male world. Above all, Galsworthy is concerned with the conflict at the heart of English culture between the soulless materialism of wealth and property and the humane instincts of love, beauty, and art.

 

Review: Spanning the years 1886 to 1920, The Forsyte Saga is three novels in one that cover the life and times of the Forsyte family. Just a few generations removed from farming, the Forsytes belong to the upper-middle English class. Having found success through various means including trade, the law, and publishing, the family is chiefly concerned with maintaining the Victorian opulence to which they have recently become accustomed. This translates to a family obsession with property, a preoccupation with the cost of living, miserly attention to their fortunes, and frequent attention to their wills. At the heart of the story is the unhappy marriage between Soames Forsyte and his lovely but miserable wife Irene. This one unhappy marriage becomes the center of the tension in various forms in each of the three books within this saga. The soap opera like twists and turns in the family drama are highlighted by the chorus of Forsyte relatives in the background of the drama, who are constantly gossiping and commenting on the family intrigues to comical effect.

 

The marriage between Soames and Irene highlights the tension between Soames, a man of property, and Irene, who represents love, art, and free will. Additionally, it highlights the changing social norms, where it is no longer accepted that a man can own or command his wife and Irene is no longer socially obligated to stay in an unhappy marriage. Soames is both a most contemptuous character but also a man to be pitied, for he never finds love or is able to grasp why Irene can fail to love him in spite of his attempts to obsessively possess her. Soames is contrasted sharply with the artistic and kind young Jolyon Forsyte. Despite the scandal created by leaving his first wife, Jolyon demonstrates that true happiness is independent of social acceptance, something the rigid and staid Soames is never able to grasp.

 

In the background of each character is the weight and opinion of the rest of the family. Indeed, there is a collective Forsyte identity, in which the family is supposedly recognizable by their 'distinguished' traits. For instance, a Forsyte is recognized "by their sense of property. A Forsyte takes a practical - one might say a commonsense - view of things, and a practical view of things is based fundamentally on a sense of property" (195). Furthermore, "active brutality is not popular with Forsytes; they are too circumspect, and, on the whole, too soft-hearted" (228). Furthermore, "it is written that a Forsyte shall not love beauty more than reason; nor his own way more than his own health" (348). The narrator seems to be poking fun at the Forsyte's exalted self image and their entitled sense of their own superiority.  

 

Indeed, there is a tongue-in-cheek quality to the understated comedy laced throughout Galsworthy's writing, which is evident from early on in the novel. In the opening scene, the Forsytes have gathered for an engagement party for young June Forsyte, although none quite approve of her young fiancé. This disapproval is conveyed through repeated stories of the shapeless, gray hat he wore to meet family members, deemed by Aunt Hester Forsyte to be "So extraordinary, my dear - so odd!" (6). Indeed, Aunt Hester, upon seeing the hat in a chair, "tried to 'shoo' it off a chair, taking it for a strange, disreputable cat" (6). This is representative of the older generation of Forsytes - rigid in their Victorian ways and wary of anything new or unusual and at the same time comical in their old fashioned traits. Yet as the story progresses, this plentiful generation of older Forsytes gradually die out, leaving room for a more youthful and modern generation of Forsytes.

 

Yet this multi-generational novel also includes true tragedies and earnest disappointments. The touching reunion between old Jolyon Forsyte and young Jolyon after fifteen years apart, the bitter betrayal young June feels as she slowly loses her fiancé's affection, and the pain of loss as various members of the family pass away give the novel depth and nuance. This is a lengthy, multi-generational novel that focuses on themes of changing social and cultural values both within society and marriages and a reflection on the path to true love and happiness rather than simply financial security. It was an engrossing read and a reflection on an age in history gone by. 

 

Stars: 4