John Galsworthy – författare

Första delen i Forsyte-sagan

Berättelsen om den högre medelklassfamiljen Forsyte, inte helt olik författarens egen, utspelar sig i England under åren 1886-1920. Dess medlemmar, ständigt medvetna om sin status som nyrika, håller hårt på den viktorianska överklassens konventioner och har utvecklat ett utstuderat kotteri, trots att de knappt alls har någon sympati för varandra. I den inledande delen Förmöget folk börjar äktenskapet mellan Soames Forsyte och hans fru, den undersköna Irene, att krackelera. Soames strävan efter att äga saker - där Irene är kronjuvelen i hans samling - får hans svartsjuka att kulminera. Samtidigt har June Forsyte förlovat sig med den idérika men penninglösa arkitekten Philip Bossiney, en person som blir allt viktigare i Irenes liv. Denna volym innehåller även mellanspelet En Forsytes brittsommar. I svensk översättning av Agnes Byström-Lindhagen.

JOHN GALSWORTHY [1867-1933] var en engelsk författare, dramatiker och Nobelpristagare i litteratur. Galsworthy kom från en välbärgad familj och studerade juridik vid universitetet i Oxford. Efter sin examen arbetade han med familjens transportföretag och träffade under en av sina resor Joseph Conrad, som kom att bli en nära vän. Mest känd är John Galsworthy för sin romansvit om familjen Forsyte, en berättelse som även gjorde stor succé när den producerades som TV-serie av BBC.

England är ett land i långsam förändring. Den viktorianska eran lider mot sitt slut, Boerkriget är i faggorna och en lagförändring tillåter gifta kvinnor att äga egendom.I denna andra roman om den högre medelklassfamiljen Forsyte skärskådas familjens äktenskapliga misslyckanden med panoramalins - den engelska originaltiteln In Chancery refererar till just den domstol där äktenskapsfrågor avhandlades. Det har gått tolv år sedan Irene lämnade sin make Soames Forsyte och han är fortfarande bitter över hur det slutade. Stolthet och brist på bevis står i vägen för den skilsmässa som aldrig utkrävdes, och Soames saknar fortfarande den ägodel han eftertraktar mest - Irene. Kanske kan han åtminstone hjälpa sin syster Winifred vars äktenskap krackelerat under flera år. Irene å sin sida har börjat komma nära Soames kusin, den yngre Jolyon, som också är hennes välgörare. I svensk översättning av Arne Johnsson. I denna volym ingår även mellanspelet Gryning, i översättning av Agnes Byström-Lindhagen.

JOHN GALSWORTHY [1867-1933] var en engelsk författare, dramatiker och Nobelpristagare i litteratur. Galsworthy kom från en välbärgad familj och studerade juridik vid universitetet i Oxford. Efter sin examen arbetade han med familjens transportföretag och träffade under en av sina resor Joseph Conrad, som kom att bli en nära vän. Mest känd är John Galsworthy för sin romansvit om familjen Forsyte, en berättelse som även gjorde stor succé när den producerades som TV-serie av BBC.

I denna tredje del i John Galsworthys familjekrönika har många år och ett världskrig passerat sedan Soame och Irenes gick skilda vägar. Soames, som en gång bara ville ha Irene, har i stället ägnat sig åt att skämma bort sin dotter Fleur. Han har däremot aldrig gjort anspråk på att försöka förstå sin andra hustru, Annette. Irenes nya äktenskap, med Jolyon, har varit lyckligt och deras son, Jon, är lika gammal som Fleur. När de båda träffas uppstår kärlek, men de förstår att det finns detaljer om deras gemensamma familj som de inte känner till. Fleur uppvaktas också av Michael Mont - ett giftermål med honom skulle upphöja familjen från nyrik till riktig adel. Men ska även Fleur ingå i ett kärlekslöst äktenskap?I svensk översättning av Ellen Rydelius.

JOHN GALSWORTHY [1867-1933] var en engelsk författare, dramatiker och Nobelpristagare i litteratur. Galsworthy kom från en välbärgad familj och studerade juridik vid universitetet i Oxford. Efter sin examen arbetade han med familjens transportföretag och träffade under en av sina resor Joseph Conrad, som kom att bli en nära vän. Mest känd är John Galsworthy för sin romansvit om familjen Forsyte, en berättelse som även gjorde stor succé när den producerades som TV-serie av BBC.

John Galsworthy was born at Kingston Upon Thames in Surrey, England, on August 14th 1867 to a wealthy and well established family. His schooling was at Harrow and New College, Oxford before training as a barrister and being called to the bar in 1890. However, Law was not attractive to him and he travelled abroad becoming great friends with the novelist Joseph Conrad, then a first mate on a sailing ship. In 1895 Galsworthy began an affair with Ada Nemesis Pearson Cooper, the wife of his cousin Major Arthur Galsworthy. The affair was kept a secret for 10 years till she at last divorced and they married on 23rd September 1905. Galsworthy first published in 1897 with a collection of short stories entitled “The Four Winds”. For the next 7 years he published these and all works under his pen name John Sinjohn. It was only upon the death of his father and the publication of “The Island Pharisees” in 1904 that he published as John Galsworthy. His first play, The Silver Box in 1906 was a success and was followed by “The Man of Property" later that same year and was the first in the Forsyte trilogy. Whilst today he is far more well know as a Nobel Prize winning novelist then he was considered a playwright dealing with social issues and the class system. Here we publish Villa Rubein, a very fine story that captures Galsworthy’s unique narrative and take on life of the time. He is now far better known for his novels, particularly The Forsyte Saga, his trilogy about the eponymous family of the same name. These books, as with many of his other works, deal with social class, upper-middle class lives in particular. Although always sympathetic to his characters, he reveals their insular, snobbish, and somewhat greedy attitudes and suffocating moral codes. He is now viewed as one of the first from the Edwardian era to challenge some of the ideals of society depicted in the literature of Victorian England. In his writings he campaigns for a variety of causes, including prison reform, women''s rights, animal welfare, and the opposition of censorship as well as a recurring theme of an unhappy marriage from the women’s side. During World War I he worked in a hospital in France as an orderly after being passed over for military service. He was appointed to the Order of Merit in 1929, after earlier turning down a knighthood, and awarded the Nobel Prize in 1932 though he was too ill to attend. John Galsworthy died from a brain tumour at his London home, Grove Lodge, Hampstead on January 31st 1933. In accordance with his will he was cremated at Woking with his ashes then being scattered over the South Downs from an aeroplane.

John Galsworthy was born at Kingston Upon Thames in Surrey, England, on August 14th 1867 to a wealthy and well established family. His schooling was at Harrow and New College, Oxford before training as a barrister and being called to the bar in 1890. However, Law was not attractive to him and he travelled abroad becoming great friends with the novelist Joseph Conrad, then a first mate on a sailing ship. In 1895 Galsworthy began an affair with Ada Nemesis Pearson Cooper, the wife of his cousin Major Arthur Galsworthy. The affair was kept a secret for 10 years till she at last divorced and they married on 23rd September 1905. Galsworthy first published in 1897 with a collection of short stories entitled “The Four Winds”. For the next 7 years he published these and all works under his pen name John Sinjohn. It was only upon the death of his father and the publication of “The Island Pharisees” in 1904 that he published as John Galsworthy. His first play, The Silver Box in 1906 was a success and was followed by “The Man of Property" later that same year and was the first in the Forsyte trilogy. Whilst today he is far more well know as a Nobel Prize winning novelist then he was considered a playwright dealing with social issues and the class system. Here we publish Villa Rubein, a very fine story that captures Galsworthy’s unique narrative and take on life of the time. He is now far better known for his novels, particularly The Forsyte Saga, his trilogy about the eponymous family of the same name. These books, as with many of his other works, deal with social class, upper-middle class lives in particular. Although always sympathetic to his characters, he reveals their insular, snobbish, and somewhat greedy attitudes and suffocating moral codes. He is now viewed as one of the first from the Edwardian era to challenge some of the ideals of society depicted in the literature of Victorian England. In his writings he campaigns for a variety of causes, including prison reform, women''s rights, animal welfare, and the opposition of censorship as well as a recurring theme of an unhappy marriage from the women’s side. During World War I he worked in a hospital in France as an orderly after being passed over for military service. He was appointed to the Order of Merit in 1929, after earlier turning down a knighthood, and awarded the Nobel Prize in 1932 though he was too ill to attend. John Galsworthy died from a brain tumour at his London home, Grove Lodge, Hampstead on January 31st 1933. In accordance with his will he was cremated at Woking with his ashes then being scattered over the South Downs from an aeroplane.

Short stories have long been regarded as a potent form of writing. Concentrated and distilled yet engaging the reader at a pace that commands attention in the pages it occupies. Narrative and characters are still fully fleshed and the story is no longer, or shorter, than it absolutely must. Handed down from the oral tradition they have been variously regarded as ‘apprentice pieces’ written by authors on their way to becoming better writers as well as fodder for innumerable periodicals over the decades for those who liked their reading in more succinct chunks or perhaps with a ‘cliffhanger ending’ to keep the interest until the next exciting instalment. Today they are regarded as works in their own right and, in the pens of the most highly skilled, to be greatly admired. In this series we take the very best of those British Short stories and present them here, all from the year 1922.