infinitive spoiling a procession of beautiful words, and one
occasionally loses patience over a squad of panting verbless sentences
all beginning with “And.” But he has a gift worth more than grammatical
perfection, and that is a real sense of words. In their combinations,
contrasts, and values, he marshals them with a poet’s strategy. He loves
those words which hold their meanings as soldiers their weapons; one
sees him apportioning the place of honour in a sentence, ranking the
subordinates. He is so absolute a craftsman that we see in his
occasional lapses more of a deliberate disregard than ignorance, and
certainly nothing of the slipshod.
His dialogue in the plays is masterly—not always so effective in the
novels. He is at his best in the dialogue of the lower classes.
Sometimes, even in the plays, the conversation of his “gentlefolk” is
apt to be stilted or to drag. On the other hand, the speech of the poor
is always both spontaneous and significant. He has a wonderful power of
economy in words. Throughout the plays, and in the most memorable
dialogues in the novels, there is not a word too much, and yet there is
nothing jerky or scrappy in the general impression.
Galsworthy is not a writer who owes much to outside influence. The first
thought of “influence” in his case calls up ideas of French and Russian
literature, but it would be surer to say that the resemblance is due to
French and Russian qualities in the author’s outlook and state of mind
than to discipleship either unconscious or deliberate.
Certainly he has that infinite pity, almost reverence, for suffering
which characterises Russian ideas. But the same pity and reverence are
not expressed in the large, straightforward manner of Tolstoy or
Dostoevsky, but with Gallic subtlety and irony, recalling Flaubert. The
writer with whom he has greatest affinity, to whom he may be said to be
to a certain extent indebted, is Turguenev. In Turguenev we see the
meeting ground of French and Russian art. There is the breadth, the
tenderness, the mysticism of the Slav, mingling with the Frenchman’s
sense of humour and sense of form. Every writer who sets store on form
must expect to be credited with French influences. English art is
essentially naïve in technique. Galsworthy has few, if any, English
affinities. But, on the other hand, he has anglicised the foreign
influences. The Russian pity is shorn of its mysticism, the French irony
of its gaiety. These two combinations are characteristic of the
countries of their origin, and Galsworthy splits them, choosing the pity
and the irony, leaving the mysticism and the gaiety—thus asserting both
his personality and his race.
Galsworthy is a pessimist—not in the spirit of fire and revolt, but in
the spirit of an artist, sad, rather hopeless, and compassionate.
Everywhere he sees ills—the trampling of the weak and poor, the conflict
of instinct and civilisation, the pariahdom of the enlightened, the
tyranny of unimaginativeness, hypocrisy and greed. He suggests no
remedy—in fact, he insists continually on the difficulty of finding any
remedy which shall be at once permanent and adequate—he just exposes the
sore, and shows at the same time his burning pity for it, kindling our
own.
But if he realises with painful vividness the evil and sorrow of life,
and if a certain tired hopelessness and dislike of interference keep him
from dreaming a brighter future, his eyes are not blind to beauty, to
tenderness, and charm. Though his fine characters are almost always in
revolt, though his beauty is always softened with pathos, his rare
humour twisted with satire, we must acknowledge that he has a true sense
of the splendour, the loveliness, and the fun of life. He sees them, so
to speak, through a mist of tears, but he does not miss them altogether.
It is because he is so much more than a social reformer, because he is
an artist and a sensitive, that he cannot glibly set down remedies for
the world’s wrongs. The genuine reformer is never content with pointing
out the evils of a system, he has an improving plan. Galsworthy only
shows us the shadows, with the lights that lie beside them, not those
lights which shall scatter them at last. He is an artist, and the
artist’s vision is not of the future, but of to-day. [Blank Page]
A SHORT BIBLIOGRAPHY OF JOHN GALSWORTHY’S PRINCIPAL WRITINGS
[The date is given of the first edition of each book. “New edition”
signifies a revision of text, change of format or transference to a
different publisher.]
[A] From the Four Winds [stories] (_Unwin_). 1897.
[A] Jocelyn (_Duckworth_). 1898.
[A] Villa Rubein (_Duckworth_). 1900.
[A] A Man of Devon [and other stories] (_Blackwood_). 1901.
The Island Pharisees (_Heinemann_). 1904. New edition, 1908.
The Man of Property (_Heinemann_). 1906. New editions: 1907. (_Hodder
and Stoughton_). 1911. (_Heinemann_). 1915.
The Country House (_Heinemann_). 1907. New edition, 1911.
A Commentary (_Richards_). 1908. New edition (_Duckworth_). 1910.
Fraternity (_Heinemann_). 1908.
Plays. Volume I. [The Silver Box; Joy; Strife] (_Duckworth_). 1909.
Villa Rubein [and other stories] (_Duckworth_). 1909. New edition, 1911.
[This contains the stories previously issued in the two volumes
enumerated above, “Villa Rubein” and “A Man of Devon.”]
The Silver Box [separate issue] (_Duckworth_). 1910.
Joy [separate issue] (_Duckworth_). 1910.
Strife [separate issue] (_Duckworth_). 1910.
Justice [play] (_Duckworth_). 1910.
A Motley (_Heinemann_). 1910.
The Patrician (_Heinemann_). 1911.
The Little Dream [play] (_Duckworth_). N.D. [1911.]
The Pigeon [play] (_Duckworth_). 1912.
Moods, Songs and Doggerels (Heinemann). 1912.
The Inn of Tranquillity: Studies and Essays (_Heinemann_). 1912.
The Eldest Son [play] (_Duckworth_). 1912.
Plays. Volume II. [The Eldest Son; The Little Dream; Justice]
(_Duckworth_). 1912.
The Fugitive [play] (_Duckworth_). 1913.
The Dark Flower (_Heinemann_). 1913.
The Mob [play] (_Duckworth_). 1914.
Plays. Volume III. [The Fugitive; The Pigeon; The Mob] (_Duckworth_).
1914.
Some Slings and Arrows from John Galsworthy. Selected by Elsie E. Morton
(_Elkin Mathews_). 1914.
Memories [an illustrated reprint of a single study from “The Inn of
Tranquillity”] (_Heinemann_). 1914.
The Little Man, and other Satires (_Heinemann_). 1915.
A Bit o’ Love [play] (_Duckworth_). 1915.
The Freelands (_Heinemann_). 1915.
Footnote A:
These four books were written under the pseudonym “John Sinjohn.”
AMERICAN BIBLIOGRAPHY
The Island Pharisees (_Putnam_). 1904. New edition, 1908.
The Man of Property (_Putnam_). 1906.
The Country House (_Putnam_). 1907. New edition (_Scribner_). 1914.
Villa Rubein (_Putnam_). 1908.
A Commentary (_Putnam_). 1908.
Fraternity (_Putnam_). 1909.
Plays: First Series (_Putnam_). 1909.
Joy [play] (_Scribner_). 1910.
A Motley (_Scribner_). 1910.
Justice [play] (_Scribner_). 1910.
The Patrician (_Scribner_). 1911.
The Little Dream [play] (_Scribner_). 1911.
The Pigeon [play] (_Scribner_). 1912.
Moods, Songs and Doggerels (_Scribner_). 1912.
The Eldest Son [play] (_Scribner_). 1912.
The Inn of Tranquillity (_Scribner_). 1912.
Plays: Second Series (_Scribner_). 1913.
The Fugitive [play] (_Scribner_). 1913.
The Dark Flower (_Scribner_). 1913.
The Mob [play] (_Scribner_). 1914.
Plays: Third Series (_Scribner_). 1914.
Memories [an illustrated reprint of a single study from “The Inn of
Tranquillity”] (_Scribner_). 1914.
The Little Man, and other Satires (_Scribner_). 1915.
A Bit o’ Love [play] (_Scribner_). 1915.
The Freelands (_Scribner_). 1915.
INDEX
_About Censorship_, 93
_Abracadabra_, 96
Barclay, Florence, 10
Barker, Granville, 18
Bennett, Arnold, 10, 12
_Bit o’ Love, A_, 16, 37, 44–47
Caine, Hall, 10
_Caste_, 34
_Commentary, A_, 88–90, 97
Conrad, Joseph, 10, 12, 15
Corelli, Marie, 10
_Country House, The_, 56, 63–68, 82, 83
_Dark Flower, The_, 15, 54, 56, 78–81, 84, 109
Davies, H. H., 18
Dostoevsky, 110
_Eldest Son, The_, 26, 27, 33–34, 37, 49
_Fisher of Men, A_, 90
Flaubert, 111
_Fraternity_, 55, 56, 69–74, 83, 85, 89, 102, 108
_Freelands, The_, 56, 81–85
_Fugitive, The_, 26, 35–37, 102
_Grand Jury, The_, 93
_Hall Marked_, 96
Houghton, Stanley, 18
_Housewife, The_, 96
_Inn of Tranquillity, The_, 88, 91–94, 95
_Island Pharisees, The_, 56, 57, 58, 102
Jones, H. A., 18
_Joy_, 26, 37–41, 49, 81
_Justice_, 23–26, 37–48, 102
_Justice_ (in _A Commentary_), 88
Kipling, 12
_Little Dream, The_, 15, 47, 50, 51, 98
_Little Man, The_, 88, 94–97
_Man of Devon, A_, 16, 86
_Man of Property, The_, 56, 58–63, 69, 82, 83, 84, 87, 102, 106
Masefield, John, 18
Maugham, Somerset, 18
_Memories_, 93
_Mob, The_, 37, 41–43
_Moods, Songs and Doggerels_, 16, 98, 99
_Mother, A_, 89, 91
_Motley, A_, 88, 90–91, 94, 97
Novelist’s Allegory, A, 92
_Once More_, 91
_Patrician, The_, 16, 55, 56, 74–77, 83, 103
_Pigeon, The_, 47–50
_Plain Man, The_, 96
_Riding in Mist_, 16, 93
_Salvation of a Forsyte, The_, 87
_Silver Box, The_, 26–33, 34, 35, 37, 94, 102
Shaw, Bernard, 18, 19, 102
_Some Platitudes Concerning the Drama_, 93, 101
_Street Lamps_, 98, 99
_Strife_, 21, 22, 24, 26, 35, 37, 42, 48, 94
_Studies in Extravagance_, 95
_That Old-Time Place_, 93
Tolstoy, 110
Turguenev, 111
Ultima Thule, 97
_Villa Rubein and Other Stories_, 15, 86
Wells, H. G., 10, 12
_Wind in the Rocks_, 91, 92
_Writer, The_, 95
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Transcriber’s Note
Errors deemed most likely to be the printer’s have been corrected,
and are noted here. The references are to the page and line in the
original. The following issues should be noted, along with the
resolutions.
36.19 though[t] it is spoilt by a riot of symbolism Removed.
51.18 So has it been with love.[”] Added.
82.19 young gener[er]ation Removed.