JOHN GALSWORTHY'S

THEORY OF THE NOVEL

A Thesis

Presented to
the Faculty of the Department of English
Indiana state Teachers College

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In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Master of Arts in Education

by

Mary McKnight
June 1949
 The thesis of Mary ]4cKnight
----~;;.:.;.;:~...:::.:;..:==~.:.-.__._-
Contribution of the Graduate Sehool, Indiana state
Teachers College, Number 620, under the title
JOHN GALSWORTHY'S THEORY OF THE NOVEL

is hereby approved as counting toward the completion

of the Master's degree in the amount of 8 hours'
credito

Committee of .the t~e?

'~~1Z,---f;,I.J4~~~Ot~:!Lh~_

. .~ tzt::r::t.
Representativ of the Eng 'sh Department:
Chairman

Date of
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAprrER PAGE

I. GElIJ""ERAL IDEAS OF l~RT AND THE NOVEL . . • . . 1

II. RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE ARTIST . . 20

III. JOHN GALSWORTHY'S THEOHY OF THE CHARACTERIS-

TICS OF THE MASTERPIECE • . . 34
BIBLIOGRAPHY 70
 [Link] I

GENERAL IDEAS OF ART AND THE NOVEL

John Galsworthy believed the novel to be an invaluable

medium of intellectual control. In his own novels he attempt-
ed to direct the social trends of his day toward a more
aesthetic form of interaction. He' hoped that by means of his
novels to develop in the minds of the upper classes such en-
tirely new patterns of thought that the upper-tenth of society
would voluntarily adopt ~,&1'l'. ~tll:i;D:aJ.,
• ".. _, •.., • .. • '. .. ,}
c:Od~
'I..
:w~'j;6h
• .. ~ It ~ ..
would eventually
.. .. ,., .... ' _,. -'01 ••• .. & I ...... ...
.. .. e .. " .... " ) "', .. J .. -, 'b \ I

assuage all social unres~'.

..
:,,John: ..
:G~a.:~sw.o:r~{ly
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was fully aware
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that such a code could only be perfected by time. Therefore,

he sought only to design its points of procedure.
The ~ of Property a [Link] the soul-
destroYlng effects of property, lS taken by
nearly all readers as an indication that I
would like to forcibly and pbli~ically remove
from people their wives and property. This
~s crUdely put, but you know what I mean--the
political mind (nine-tenths of our minds) can-
not abide a spiritual idea without translating
it at once into facts. Whereas the very
essence of a spiritual idea is that you mustn't
force it by machinery from without, but must
let it germinate, until it forces the fulfill-
ment from withino l
As proof that Galsworthy was interested in arousing

the upper classes to a spiritual realization of their faults,

.

1 . ," ., "
H. V. Marrot, The Life and Letters of John Galsworthy
(To ,Frank ,Luoas) ,(New York-=----CharlesScribner' s Sons, 1936).
F. 686.
 2

the following lengthy quotation is off~red from his' essaY1

Faith of a Novelist:
But no novelist who believes in glvlng value to
his temperament will always be soporifio. That whioh
gets on his nerves will surely out, and more espeo-
ially when his theme deals with the honeyoomb we oall
Sooiety. To think that birth 1 property, position,
worldly superiority--in sum--is anything but a pieoe
of good luck may be out of date, but Sooiety takes
itself for a genuine 'There, b~t for the graoe of
God, go 11' feeling in those who do not have to slave,
struggle, and oadge for their livings; little power
of seeing themselves as they might so easily have
been but for their good fortune, little of the ironio
eye, turned in as well as out. Quite modest and
unassuming speoiment in the upper seotions of the
honeyoomb aocept quietly, blindly, blandly, themselves,
their clothes, habits, aooent, manners, morals. This
very deep unoonsoious Pharisaism is to be found fit-
ting like a skin on aristocrats professing the most
democratio sentiments, on pastors proolaiming the
most christian dootrines, on intelleotuals redolent
of culture--so natural it is, so almost physioal, so
olosely conneoted with the nerves of nose, and eyes,
and ears.
The inevitable tendenoy, then of the novelist
who deals with sooial types, if he sees things in .
due pro~ortion, will be to skin the knuckles of pri-
vilege.
It will be noted that Galswort~y mentions "to
skin the knuokles of privilege". He is never opposed to
"olass" society. In a disoussion of The Patrioians he say~,

"If I establish the 'drying effect of aristo-

oraoYt • • . it's all I care to do beoause there
are points to aristo,graoy--points of [Link] merit •
• One other point whioh you don't [Link] grasp
is, that in that cirole of sooiety--the main line

2 John Galsworthy, Candelabra, Seleoted Essays and

Addresses (Faith of a Novelist), (New York: Charles Soribner's
Sons, 19 )3:) Pp. 2)6-46~
\
 3
"

of it there is a kind of fluidity, and lack of

'mannerism, and elasticity, which can only be con-
veyed by the negative method of not satirizing
manners--and if one started the satirized intimate
business on~ would be hitting the tributary, the
side lines, and lay oneself open at once to the
charge of ignorance and unfairness, from the other
side, which would be more damning to the book than
the impatience and even contempt of those Wh~ see
only red where the aristocrat is concerned. tT
In fact Galsworthy belongs to the "landed gentry"
himself. As he states in a letter to Edward Garnett:
nMy Dad's forbears were absolutely of the small farmer class
for hundreds of years, and all from the same little corner
of South Devon. And my mother's absolutely of the provincial
Squire class • • • • 4 In another letter he says, "If you knew
my mother you's admit that there's quite enough of the dried-
caste authority element in me to be legitimate subjects for
the attack by my other half. n5
Galsworthy is definitely not opposed to class society.
He m~rely wishes the upper classes to modify their behavior
toward the lower classes by means of more ethical conduct.
In other words this book, like The Man of
Propertz, The Country House, and FraternIty
is simply the criticism of one half of myself
~he artist] by the other, [the patrician]
the halves being differently divided according
to the SUbjects. It is not a piece of social
criticism--they none of them are. If it's

3 2.£. cit,.
4 Ibid., pp. 133-4.
5,Ibid., pp. 303-4.
.--
 4
anything it's a bit of spiritual examination. 6
Galsworthy evidently did not oonsider his works to
be sooial oritioism himself. He says,
The more I oonsider these things the more I
find that I'm only a social oritio by aooident.
I've neither the method nor the qualities of the
sooial oritio • . . . My value from first to last
asa oritio of sooial conditions is that there
are two men in me, both fairly. strong: and the
oreative man in me up against the other produoes
a critioal effect.7
John Galsworthy strove only for harmony between the
classes as he states in a letter to P. H. Mottram:
• • • INha t you say is in effeot: 'This man
is a believer in harmony.' You would be answer-
ed; 'So are we all--in different ways.' So that
in itself is no message. Where and how it be-
oomes a message I propose to indioate. Eaoh man's
idea of what is harmony, is different • . • . It
appears to me that the work as a whole is an in-
diotment of harshness, intoleranoe and brutality.
I believe it'll all pass that test and praotioally
no other. In a word, and there's no getting out
of it, the message is a plea for humanitY,for
more sympathy and love; oonveyed almost absolute-
ly negatively by attack on the opposites of those
things. The vision of what is harmonious is dis-
tinotly that of a softener of things, as they at
present are.' By one who feels that the soales
are, still weighed down on the side of harshness.
You may oondemn this message and this view of
,harmony, but you ought to state it as the upshot
of this partioular work. n8
In still another letter Galsworthy seems to stress

6 Loo. oit.
- - -'-
7 Ibid., p. 304.
Ibid., p. 721.
8.,---
c,
.
 5
kind behavior as the essence of happiness in hLUnansociety.
My purpose in writing? I haven't any purpose
except to express myself, my feelings, my temper-
ament, my vision of what life is. I don't address
any particular audience--and I don't care what les-
sons or morals people get out of my writings. Those
who have sufficient similarity to myself in their
composition will be moved to a sort of general
sympathy--those who have not will reject me. If I
have a philosophic or religious motto it is con-
tained in Adam Lindsay Gordon'~ words (quoted in
Country House).
Life is mostly froth and bubble. Two things
stand like stone. Kindness in another's trouble,
courage in your own. There is no such thing to
my mind as beauty of life and conduct based on
hope of reward. Beauty only lies in worship of
perfection for perfection's sake. 9
To help one understand just what Galsworthy wishes his
disciples to perfect, it is necessary to understand what he
means by "Beauty."
The word beauty is not used here in any precious
sense. Its precious definitions are without num-
ber. or value to speak Df. Nol It is here used
to mean everything which promotes the true dignity
of human life.
The dignity of human life demands in fact not
only such desirable embroideries as pleasant
sound, fine form, and lovely color but health,
strength, cleanliness, balance, joy in living,
just conduct and kind conduct. A Illan who truly
loves beauty hates to thinl\: that he enjoys it at
the expense of starved and stunted human beings
or suffering animals. lO
Since, then, nBeautyfl, to Galsworthy is the promotion

9 Ibid., pp. 7D8-9.

10 JOhn Galsworthy, Candelabra, (Oastles in Spain), £E.
cit. P. 112 •
. f,

, .
 6
of lltrue dignity in human life lf , and if Hdignity in life"
demands "just conduct and kind conduct", the following
short quotation seems to sum up Galsworthy's philosophy of
life:
The pursuit of beauty includes, then, what-
ever illay be tr~r in the ideal of happiness in
a future life.
.-
Though Galsworthy says that he addresses no particu-
lar audience, and that he cares nothing about what people
get from his writings, a statement in the preface to his A
Modern Comedy seeniS to refute this idea. As stated above he
seems to be definitely appealing to the upper-tenth of society
for "just conduct and kind comduct."
_ All this, of course, refers only to that tenth
or so of the population whose eyes are above the
property line; below that line there are no Forsytes,
and therefore no need for this preface to dip.12
All of John Galsworthy's novels are no doubt excellent
satires opposing harshness. Some, however, seem to be assign-
edespecially to the task of alleviating "harshness, intol-
erance, and brutality." For instance, in his novel Frater-
nity, which so carefully depicts the sterile knowledge of the
cultured class, Galsworthy points out the fact that this
class, in perfect self-consciousness of conditions, does

11 -
Ibid.
- ' - p. 114.
12 J"hhh Galsworthy, .A Modern Comedy, Preface" (New
York: Oharles Scribner's Sons, 1929).
 7
·
absolutely nothing about changing social conditions beoause
of olass-intoleranoe. One of his oharaoters says,
!fHe's so delightfully unoonsoious, murmured Mrs"
Tallents Smallpeace. He didn't even seem to know
that there was a problem of the lower [Link]
Another oharaoter says,
n • • • There are suoh a lot of movements going
on. It's quite exoiting. We ?ll feel that we
oan't shut out eyes any longer to sooial questions.
I mean the oonditions of the people alone is
enough to give one nightmare. n14
But these oharaoters are portrayed as, one by one,
shutting their eyes to conditiofis beoause they oannot over-
oome class oonsciousness. Galsworthy through his character
mouthpieoe, J~rtin stone, seems to point the way toward
ethical oonduct in these words,
"He says that we need to shake ourselves free of
all the old sentimental motions, and just work at
putting everything to the test of Health. n1 5
These words of Mrs. Smallpeace again expressed the
refusal of this olass to aot. She says,
nWe have our trained inquirers. Jrha t is the ad-
vantage of Societies suoh as ours; so that we don't
personally have the unpleasantness. SOllie cases do
baffle everybody. It's such very delicate work. n16

IJJohn Galsworthy, Fraternitl, (New York and London:.

G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1909), p. 14.
14 Ibid., p. 13.

15 Ibid., p. 128.
16 Ibid., p.: 190.
 S
.
And, then, Galsworthy again has Martin stone speak
for him.
"Then, if those who have the social conscience
and can see what is wDong, have lost their power
of action, how can you say there is any light at
the end of this darkpassage?n17
Similarly in his novel, The Freelands, in which
Galsworthy opposes all the harshne~s and brutality imposed
by landlordism, he again makes a vivid appeal for a just
and kind solution of social difficulties rather than vio-
lence from below or a change in the social system. Through
a character called Felix Freeland Gals,yvorthy seems to state
his demands for more aesthetic action by the upper-tentho
ItBut I detest humbug, and I believe that so
long as you and your Mallorings go on blindly dosing
yourselves with humbug about duty and superiority,
so long will you see things as they are not. And
until you see things as they are, purged of all
the sickening cant, you will none of you really
move to make the conditions of life more and ever
more just. For mark you, Stanley, I who do not
believe in revolution from the bottom, the more
believe that it is up to us ifshonour to revolu-
tionize things from the top.!!
Later in this novel Galsworthy has Felix again ex-
press the reasons for the selfish lack of action by land-
lords.
lfThere it is,1I thought Felix. lIUp to a point,

17 Ibid., p. 263.
lS John Galsworthy, The Freelands, (New York: Charles
Scribner's SOns, 1915), p. 215.
 9
.
they~ll move--not up to the point. It's all
'fiddling. One won't give up his shooting;
another won't give up her week-ends; a fourth
won't give up his freedom. Our interest in
the thing is lackadaisical, a kind of bum-fight
of pet notions. There's no real steam."19
In 1he Freelands, Galsworthy has a newspaper editor,
Cuthcott, speak his demands for a kinder system of inter-
action very emphatically.
ftChanging? By gum~ It's got to ohange~
This d pluto--aristogratic ideal~"20
And, once again in the words of Felix Freeland
Galsworthy says,
"With the masterly inactivity • • • of
authority, money, cUlture, and philosophy.
With the disapproval that lifts no finger--
winking at tyrannies lest worst befall us.
Yes--we-brethren-we--and so we shall go on
doing. 1121

In a number of novels, Galsworthy also appeals to

men for more dignified behavior in the sex relationships.
n • • • But while there is tyranny in this
land, to laborers, women, animals, anything
weak and helpless, so long, will there be
rebellion against ~~ and things will happen
that disturb you."
The following excerpts from his novel, The Country
House are examples of his numerous appeals for kindlier

19 Ibid. , p. 277.
20 Ibid. , p. 146.
21 Ibid. , p.
404.
22 Ibid. , p. 404.
.
,
.1'
 10
behavior toward women.
This episode occures at the birth of his
thirteenth child.
The event at the rectory was expected every
moment. The Rector, who practically never
suffered, disliked the thought and sight of
other's sUffering. Up to this day, there had
been none to dislike, for in answer to inquiries
his wife always said: "No, dear; no; I'm all
right--really, it's nothing. And she always
said it smiling, even when her smiling lips were
white. But this morning in trying to say it she
had failed to smile. Her eyes had lost their
hopelessly, hopeful smiling, and sharply be-
tween her teeth she said: "Send for Dr. Wilson,
Hussell. tl
......................
Softly without knowing it was softly, he
opened the door; softly, without knowing it
was softly, he stepped to the hat-rack and
took his black straw hat; softly, without
knowing it was softly, he went ou~ and un-
faltering hurried down the drive. 3
Here is the pathetic picture of a women's life in a
country house.
But this was all to be expected, nothing out
of the con~on; the same thing was happening in
hundreds of country houses throughout theffthree
kingdoms,u and women were sitting waiting for
their hair to turn White, Who, long befnre, at
the altar of a fashionable church, had parted
with their imaginations and ~ll the changes and
chances of this mortal life. 4
Also, jUdging from a statement in the preface to The '

23 John Galsworthy, The Country House,(New York:

Charles Scribner's Sons, 19U7) ,pp. 2;13 -4.
24 Ibid~, p. 59.

r
 11
.
Island Pharisees, it would seem that Galsworthy credits men
in the upper-tenth, only, with the proper amount of spiritual
courage to change their mode of interaction.
The Cosmic Spirit, who was very much an
artist, knew it s war}:, and previously devised
a quality called courage, and divided it- in
three, naming the parts spiritual, moral,
physical. To all the male-bird spirits, but
to no female (spiritually, [Link]
speaking), It gave courage that was spiritual;
to nearly all, both male and female, It gave
courage that was physical; to very many hen-
bird spirits It gave moral courage too. But,
because It knew that if all the ruale-bird
spirits were complete, the proportion of male
to female--one to ten--would be too great,
and cause upheavals, It so arranged that only
one in ten male-bird spirits should have all
three kinds of courage; so that the other
nine, having spiritual courage, but lacking
either in moral or physical, should fail in
their extensions of the poultry-run. And
having started them upon these lines, It left
them to get along as best they might. Thus,
the proportion of the others to the complete
male-bird spirit, Who, of course, is not in-
frequently a woman, is ninety-nine to one; . . . 25
Thus, we see that Galsworthy hoped to inaugurate a
kindlier social code for the men of the upper-classes to
perfect and bring happiness to all other sections of human-
ity.
The pursuit of beauty as a national ideal,
the building of that castle in Spain, requires
of course foresight, long and patient labor,
and steadfastness of ideal. The cult of beauty
--a, higher and ~ider conception of the dignity

25 John GalswDrthy~ The Island Phqrisees, Preface,

Revised Edition (New York and London: G~ [Link]'s Sons,
1908), pp."
, v--vi .
,,
 12
of human life. 26
That Galsworthy desired to influence future life by
means of his satirical novels is evident in this passage
from Faith of a Novelist:
What purpose then will the novelist serve?
Well! By depicting a section of life in due
relation to the whole of life without fear or
favor, he does not cure the section, but he
does throw it into proper relief for the gen-
eral eye, and indirectly fosters evolution. 2 7
Again in "A Novelist's Allegory" Galsworthy states
his thesis that the function of the artist is to hold up- the
lantern of truth "without fear or favor" •
• the 1anthorn did but show that which
was there, both fair and foul, no more, no
less; . . • And surely, reverend Judges, being
just men, you would not have this 1anthorn turn
its light away from what is ragged and ugly be-
cause there are also fair things on which its
light may fall; how, indeed, being a lanthorn,
could it, if it would. Sirs, that by this
impartial discovery of the proportions of one
thing to another, this 1anthorn must indeed
perpetually seem to cloud and sadden those
things which are fair, because of the deep in-
stincts of harmony and justice planted in the
hmnan breast. • •• --it is not consonant with
equity that this lanthorn should even if it
could, be prevented from thus mechanically
buffeting the holiday cheek of it. . •• The
old man has said that he cannot help what has
lanthorn sees. This is a just saying. 28

.26 John Gals,worthy, Candelabra,.9J2.. c,it., p. llL~.

27 Ibid., pp. 239-41.
28 John. Galsworthy The Tnn .of Trang,uilli tl, Part II,
(A Novelist's :Allegory), London: 'WilliamHeineman, 1912),
pp. 171-,88.
,
,
 13 ,
So Galsworthy says,
• •• and for me Literature only comes into
being at all when Life strikes sparks out of a
temperament~ • • • It is when that action and
reaction is vivid enough that there starts
forth from some lucky one of us visions chiselled
in words; and Literature is born. 2 9
If a political reference illay be allowed for compari-
son, it could be said that Galsworthy's form of social read-
justment somewhat resembled the political mood of Thoma~

Jefferson's theory of political deLlOcracy. Jefferson spoke

of democracy for the COllllilon man, but he meant the intellBc-
tual con~on man, and not the garden variety of comrfion man,
as is the ordinary notion. Similarly, Galsworthy felt that
Art, because of its broader vision and exceptional talents,
employed in the field of social science, could effect a
benign movement within the upper tenth of society which
would bring harmony between the classes and effect a realiza-
tion of man's goal in life--hUlnan happiness.
In his novels Galsworthy advocated the removal of all
pressures which class distinction imposed upon a defenseless
mUltitude of less fortunate hUllian beings, and the substitu~

tion of any principle evolved from the spiritual realization

that all men are brothers. He attempted to arouse this
spiritual revelation and cause the powerful upper-tenth of

29 John Galsworthy, Candelabra, (Literature and Life),

~. cit., p. '?75.
.
,
 14
. '"
sooiety to strive for the perfeotion of the Christian oode
of ethios whioh is embodied in the simple statement--Love
thy neighbor. Galsworthy felt that this olass oould afford
to be magnanimous. He thought, also, that the versatility
of the novel oould best reveal the neoessary truths; and he
held a faith that the upper olasses oould answer the ohallenge
of suoh an awareness.
The Englishman must have a thing brought under
his nose before he will aot. . •• He lives very
muoh in the moment beoause he is essentially not
a man of imagination. • • • Want of imagination
makes him philosophioally speaking rather ludi-
orous. • •• And yet, he is at bottom an idea-
list, though it is his nature to snub, disguise,
and mook his own inherent optimism. • vVhen
he does and seize a thing he holds fast. Henoe
the symbol of the bulldog.30
It was suoh a spiritual awakening in this olass toward
whioh all of Galsworthy's novels were aimed. He hoped to
inaugurate a oode of ethios for the future. This type Qf
lead~rship was, to Galsworthy, art's only legitimate purpose
~pr existenoe.
"

The oourse of an art, painting, musio, litera-

ture, is a pilgrimage. To what shrine? To see
whose faoe does the artist, bearing his gift,
trail aoross the thirsty sands--the faoe of beauty;
the faoe of truth; or, only the face of a danoing
faun, or of a golden oalf? What is the aim and
end of Qfr arts? For the greater grace and dignity
of man.)

30 Ibid., pp. 52-60.

31 .I bld.,
. pp. 2 79- 8O.
,,
 15
.
Galsworthy believed that art had always inadvertent-
ly controlled civilization, but that its latest form, the
novel, would eventually be its lllOSt completely satisfactory
form of intellectual control. In an essay, Castles In SQain,
he makes this claim for arts' civilizing influence:
• . • art has been the greatest factor in
raising mankind from its old savage state •
• • • Beauty, alone, in the largest sense of
the word • . • has civilized mankind • • • •
It should be our castle in Spain to clear our
age of that defect, and put beauty within the
reach of all.32

Although Galsworthy was sure that art had been the

greatest influence toward civilizing mankind, he admitted
that it had to develop a more vigorous, or perhaps, one
should say, a more definite philosophy and style for greater
efficiency in social control. And he concedes that artists
are lireaching out to a new faith not yet crystallized, to a
New Art not yet perfected; the forms still to find--the
flowers still to fashion."33 He indicates, however, that the
novel, a very recent form of art, has in a short period of
time changed its form many times. He seems to think that
this extremely versatile attribute may establish the novel
Bsthe medfuum for art's perfection of social thought.

32 Ibid. , p. 110.
33 Ibid. , p. 23.
 16
Oonsider the'novel--that most recent form of
·Artl . • • It is no question of better or worse,
but of differing forms--of change dicmted by
gradual suitability to the changing conditions
of our soci~l life, and to the ever fresh dis-
coveries of craftsmen. • . • Very slowly, and
in face of condemnation, it has been losing
that form (biographical) in favor of a greater
vividness which places before the reader's brain,
not historical statements, as it were, of mo-
tives and of facts, but word-paintings of things
and persons, so chosen and arranged that the
reader may see, as if at first-hand? the spirit
of Life at work before him. • •• 34
The great artistic problem, then, to Galsworthy is the
necessity for discovering the proper form in the novel in
order to present art's point of view on life in such a way
as to produce a vital intelleotual reaction in the reader.
Suoh "vitality" of thought or new life, as Galsworthy be-
lieves it to be, is the one essential quality which he main-
tains art must produoe.
The seeing of things as they really are-- the
seeing of a proportion veiled from other eyes
(together with the power of expression), is
what makes a man an artist. What makes him a
great artist is a high fervour of spirit, which
produces a superlative, instead of a oomparative
clarity of vision.35
In a letter to Ralph Mottram, Galsworthy brings to
mind another aspect of the same artistic problem a trifle
less vaguely than in the essay. Here, one can easily see

34 Ibid., p. 27.
35 John Galswo:rthy, The Inn of TranSluillity,Q.E. cit.,
p •. ··270
 17
that J to the artist: the choice of form is a long and ardu-
ous process. Galsworthy says:
As to moral tendencies we all have them, or
philosophies which correspond to them--the
thing we writers have to study is how to present
our philosophy so that others can assimilate it
without nausea--and this gilding of the pill is
Art. 'Art for Art's sake'--there is no such
thing--only Art for the sake of getting our-
selves, our feelings, our visions known, felt
and seen by a sort of ideal spectator created
by our own instinct and our experience, and3~ho
is at once our conscience and our audienoe.
In the choioe of his form the artist evidently expeots
many failures before he aooomplishes the desired l1vitalityn
which he oraves o
"I personally look on the Universe of Creative
Purpose as a oolossal and in~ortal artist forever
[Link] turn itself out in works of art and
(failing nine times out of ten J as all artists
must); .but always moved by the unoonquerable in-
stinot toward Perfeotion as all artists are.37
This required intellectual nvitality" produoed by a
work of art oomes into existenoe between the author and his
reader when the reader is exoited by an "impersonal emotion",
and is reoeptive of new thought. This "impersonal emotion lf
is produced for a work of art by a "rhytrunic relation of part
to part to whole n38 relationship of ideas, or the stressing

36 Mrs. M. E. Reynolds,Memories of John Galswbrth.;y:,

p. 59.

37H.V~ Marrot,The Life and Letters of John Gals-

worthy,(ToSir Michael Sadler), P:-728. .. - - - -
38 John Galsworthy, Candelabra, pp. 17-18.
,.
 18
of a single thought~throughout the woria The reader's thought
when exoited by the truth of the artist's premise, is then
ohanged by the artist's point of view; and through mutual
emotion a new intelleotual oonveotion is oonoeived. Gal~-

worthy oompares this process with the sexual process in

physioal life.
The creative principle--movid by the implioit
instincts for Harmony and Perfeotion--uses, so
far as I can see, a certain foroe that we oall
sexual instinct for the production of its fail-
ures and its occas'ional masterpieces, from the
amoeba up to man, from the lowest plant to the
highest--in a word, for all 'forms of life; and
perhaps even for the formations of what we do
not recognize as life, for it uses vibration
and oonjunction, which is the essence of the
sexual aot.39
Thus it is, Galsworthy thinJ;.:s." that, by a universal
process, the individual can be reconciled to a universal
truth, and after a period of germination, perhaps, reaot in
perfect harmony with his fellow I,lan. In his novels Gals:'"
worthi planned a related whole, guided by a single idea in
order to produce his ethioal code of behavior, because he
believed that--
Art is that. imaginative expression of human
energy, whic.h, through technioal concretion of
feeling and perception, tends to reconcile the
individual with the universal, by exciting in
him impersonal emotion. And the greatest Art
is that which excites the greatest impersonal

39QJ2. • cit., pp. 757- 8.

.
t•
 19 ,
.
emotion in an hypothetical perfect hrnnan being •
• ,,40

Galsworthy was confident that the novel was the per-

feet medium for the transfer of his theory of spiritual ex-
amination which would .at some future time result in ethical
behavior. He thought the novel presented the most effective
design for such evolutionary thought for two reasons •
• The novel is the m6st pliant and far-
reaching medium of [Link] between minds
--that is it can be--just because it does not
preach, but supplies pictures and evidence from
which each reader may take that food which best
suits his growth. It is th~ great fertilizer,
the quiet fertilizer of people's imagination.
The following statement explains his second reason for
the novel's great influence:
•• • the novel, supplies revelation in, I
think the most secret, thorough, and subtle
form--revelation browsed upon, brooded over,
soaked up into the fibre of the mind and con-
science. I believe the novel to be a more
powerful dissolvent and reformer than even
the play, because it is so much more slowly,
secretly, and thoroughly digested; it has
changed the currents of judgment in fman's
mind before he even suspects • • . • 4

40 John Galsworthy, Candelabra" pp. 17-18.

41 H. [Link], The Life and Letters of John Qa~­
worthy, pp. 719-20.'
 CHAPTER II

RESPONSIBILITIES OF Trill ARTIST

Sinoe John Galsworthy believed that it has been the

Arts whioh have oivilized mankind down through the ages, he
had very definite ideas about the responsibilities of Art
and Authorshipo He believed that art should now oonsoiously
exert every effort to inspire future oonduot espeoially in
times of sooial ohange. The following quotation expresses
Galsworthy's great faith in art"s oivilizing influenoe:
The oontemplation of beautiful visions,
emotions, thoughts, and dreams, expressed
beautifully in words, stone, metal paint,
and music, has slowly, generation by gen-
eration, uplifted man and mollified his taste.
. • • Even the uplifting part of religion
is but 'the expression of exalted feeling •
. • • Beauty, alone, in the largest sense of
the word--the yearning for it tpe contempla-
tion of it--civilized mankind. 42 .
That Galsworthy felt a keen responsibility for influ-
encing the ohaotio intelleotual oonditions of his era is ex-
pressed'in the foreword to Hudson's Green Mansions:
His work (W. H. Hudson's), is a vision of
natural beauty and of human life as it might
be, quickened and [Link] by the sun and the
wind and the rain, and by fellowship with all
other forms of life--the truest vision now
given to us, who are more in want of it than

42 John C;alsworthy, Candelabra, (Castles In Spain),

pp. 110-1.
 21
any generation has ever been. 4 3
Galsworthy felt almost to physioal pain the apparent
laok of sooial responsibility for the future of the present
generations in their blind gropings for new modes of be-
havior in a world of revolt against the injustioes of the
traditional mores.
The generation whioh oame in when Queen
Viotoria went out, through new ideas about
the treatment of ohildren, beoause of new
modes of looomotion, and owing to the great
war, haB deoided £hat everything requires
re-valuation. And, since there is, seem-
ingly, very little future before property,
and less before life, it is detenuined to
live now or never, without bothering about
the the fate of such offspring as it may
ohance to have. Not that the present gen-
eration is less fond of ohildren. . . • --
but when everything is keyed to suoh a pitoh
of unoertanity, to seoure the future at the
expense of the present no longer seems worth
while.44
Galsworthy saw, also, the failure of modern art to
form ,new designs for living.
Pm not sure that much, if any, hidden
relation exists between the extravaganoes
of modern artistio expression and the ex-
travaganoes of modern oonduot • . • • Oon-
duct, on the other hand is, I think, a-
mong the young mostly :'ddJotated by new
ideas of hygiene, and is really a physioal
business. 4 'J

4~. John Gals~vorthy, Castles In Spain (Green Mansions,

Foreword), p. 158.
i ',' .

44 John Galsworthy, A Modern Comedy, Preface, [Link]-

viiL
4:5 H. V. lVIarrot, The..Life ans-Letters of John Galsworthy,
p .605 0
 22
.
In these times of great change Galsworthy thought it the
duty of art to furnish the proper patterns of thought a-
round which mankind could rally, and by point of direction
evolve a more just and beautiful mode of life. Accordin~ly,

Galsworthy thought the artist was dutybound to write when-

ever he felt such a strong inspirational urge of "moulding
what came after him. ff 46
Galsworthy admits of only two worthy purposes in art--
ltthose of romance and revelation. 7147 Homance, he says, is
written for pleasure and pictures life as it might be; re-
velation pictures life as it is in such a way that just
criticism will lead to the formation of new modes of behavior.
Galsworthy thought that i~ is the responsibility of every
artist to decide definitely just what his purpose is to be
and then to write according to the dictates of that purpose~

Having decided upon his mission in life, the artist, then,

must publish only the works which will, in his opinion, best
accomplish the most for hlliuanity. If his purpose is delight--
then he must entertain and picture life as it could be in
truth--if his purpose is revelation, then, he must strive for
truth and facts regardless of the whimsical desires of humanity.

46 Ibid., p.' 714.

47 John Galsworthy, Candelabra, (Faith of a Novelist),
pp. 31-2.
 23
.
In short an artist must be true to him tltemperamental an-
tecedent motive ll48 before publishing anything.
Writers--not merely spinners of yarns to
pocket pennies--require to be moved before
they can write; some match must strike against
the surface of their hearts or eyes. As a
rule it is the unexpected, the peculiar, the
so to saY--dramatic, that moves them, or it
is something that violates their sense of
proportion, or sets free the emotions of love,
of admiration, of anger, or of pity. And
when a writer is moved by the dark things of
life, rather than by the bright and heroic,
it means v,ery likely that he lives secretly
in a world where things that are lovely and
admirable seem natural, and things that are
cruel and dark seem abnormal and therefore
catch his eye, so that he is powerfully moved
to paint pictures of them, and express his
feelings about them, and give the impression
that only such exist.
The position, as you see, is a little iron-
ical. But this is the point: a writer needs
fuel for his fire, and is unable to dictate
to his nature the kind of fuel that fire re-
quires.49
Galsworthy says that:
Unless a man has lived and felt and exper-
ienced and generally found out what life me~ns,
he has nothing to say that's worth hearing.)O
Galsworthy thought that a writer without clear vis-
ion could never be classed as an artist.
But for the purposes of Art there are no
such things as truths of Nature, apart from

48 Loco c.i t.

49 Marrot, ~. cit., pp. 732-3.

50 -
;,
Ibid.,
-
p. 776.
 24
the individual vision of the artist. Seer and
things seen, inextricably involved one with the
other, form the texture of any masterpiece.
And such subtle intermingling of seer with
things seen /1s the outcome only of long and in-
tricate brooding, a process nb~ too favored by
modern life, yet without which we achieve little
but a fluent chaos, of clever insignificant im-
pressions, a kind of glorified journalismo 5l
An author then, should decide whether he is to be a Roman-
ticist or a Realist.
In order to accomplish his goal Galsworthy was con-
vinced that no author should publish too soon. He should
serve an author's apprenticeship. An author, in Galsworthy's
opinion, should impose upon himself a schooling course in
practical experience before he publishes.
Authors serve nD apprenticeship, have no
school, have no examination, obtain no stan-
dard, have no diplomas, need not study, and
have no requirements. • . • We time them,
not to the key of: 'Is it good? but to the
key of: Will it pay?'
Here and there among us is a genius • • • •
B'ut those who do not publish until they can
express and do not express until they have
something worth expressing, are so rare that
they can be counted on the fingers of three
or four hands •
• • . And since we cannot train ourselves
except by writing, let us write, and burn
what we write; then we shall stop 'writing or
produce what we need not burnl For as things
are now, without compass, without snap, we
set out into twilight forests of fiction;
without path, wlthout track--and we never

51 John Galsworthy, Candelabra, .2J2. cit., p. 235.

 25
emerge~52

Again, Galsworthy emphasizes the necessity for much

study before pu~lishing.

It is like that too for the novelist who

pastures in the fields of human life. No
patterns, no theories guide his efforts. He
must discover. He must forge for himself
out of lifets raw material the design which
suit so 53 .
The fact that Galsworthy 'realized tha t he himself
had published too soon probably accounts for his insistence
upon a period of apprenticeship for authors. In a list of
Ifmorals it for authors Galsworthy says this about himself:
flThe fifth moral is that to begin too young
is a mistake. Live first, write afterwardso
I had seen, unself-conscioulsy, a good deal of
life before I began too young. The spiritually
stressful years of my life came between then
and 1904. That is Why The Island Pharisees and
The Man of PropertYhad~n crescendo, so much
more neplli than f'6.6 earller books. 11 5Lj-
In discussing his first story, Dick Denverts Idea,
he says,
You can tell how much of it can be traced
to the inspiration of Bret Hart and how much
to the influence of Rudyard Kipling. . . 0

In those days I [Link] one single literary

52 John Galsworthy, The Inn of Tranquillity (Wanted,

SchOoling), .£E .oi t~, pp. 215-9-.--
53 John Galsworthy, Candelabra, Ope cito, p. 154.
54 Marrot, Ope cit., pp. 136-7.
 26
friend except J~seph Oonrado 55
About his second book Jocelyn, published in 1898,
H. V. Marrot, hiB biographer says,
But at this point we find clearly visible
one of the lines along which his gifts were
to develop, for the preoccupation with
"chagrin d'amour" which we shall notice
again and again is alr~ady a motive of his
work; and Jocelyn (the heroine). is the pro-
totype of a number of similar but more COill-
pletely evolved figures such as Gyp in Be-
yond. However, though one side of his de-
velopment is already laid down, of the
other--the ironic~l--there are not many
traces. 56
Jocelyn was printed in 1898 and Beyond in 1917. It
took all of those intervening years for Galsworthy to develop
completely !!chagrin d'amour n theme. .As evidence of his own
apprenticeship Galsworthy says,
nIn two years I wrote nine tales. They
had every fault. Kiplingesque, crudely ex-
pressed, extravagant in theme, deficient in
feeling, devoid of philosophy with the ex-
ception of one or two perhaps, they had no
t'emperament. ,,57
.As still more evidence of his long apprenticeship let
us examine the history of Villa Rubein, the first novel pub-
lished as John Galsworthy~ This novel was first published ln
1900, but was revised three times before the final publication

55 [Link]. , p. 131-
56 Ibid. , p. 114.
57 Ibid. , p. 135.
,
 27
in 1908.
I proceeded with the four short-long
stories which are now bound up with Villa
Rubein. • . • b~t they too had to be
severely dressed down before they were
reissued with Villa Rubein years later
. • • but even this thrice written book
wasn't written. It underwent a thorough
Spring cleaning before it assumed its
final form in 1908.58
The Man of Property was Galsworthy's most successful
novel. Before he accomplished this success he had written
The Island Pharisees and revised it twice. According to his
bi bliography59 The JVIanQ! Property was revised three times
in 1907, 1911, and ip 1915. Galsworthy says this about his
early pUblications.
In 1906, therefore, before The Man of
Property had appeared I had written eleven
years •. The Man of Propertz had taken near-
ly three years, but it was written. bO
And so the evidence of apprenticeship grows as on~ ex-
amines the works of John Galsworthy. The Man of Property,
which finally developed into his great masterpiece,The
ForsyteSaga, was composed over a period of years from 1906
to 1921. During these years it was rewritten and revised
many times; some forms of it never having even heen published,

58 Loc. cit.'
59 Sheila Ke:tye.."Smith, John Galsworthy, (New York:
Henry HoJ.t & 00., 1916) ,pp. '.:n5-7.
60 Marrot, op.'ci t., p. 136.
.
j',' ""
memorial edition of 1933 oontained many revisions.
In a letter Galsworthy set down a list of rules for
authors whioh he lists as TTmorals". This terminology evident-
ly indioates that a writer who disobeys the rules has artis-
tioally sinned in Galsworthy's opinion. These rules or
"moralsfl, oompletely SlIm up the need for a long period of
praotioe neoessary for artistio suooess in literature. The
list follows:
"The morals of this are nbt easy. The first
moral is that some writers at least are not born.
The seoond moral is that, suoh writers need
either an independent inoome, or another job
while they are learning to write. The third
moral is tha t he who is de termined to I1'Nri te!l
and has the grit to see the job through, oan
ltget there Tl in time. The fourth moral is that
the writer who steadily goes his way never
writes to fulfill the demands of pUblio, pub-
lishers, or editor, is the writer who oomes off
best in the end. The fifth moral is that to be-
gin too young is a mistake. Live first, write
afterwards. I- had seen, unself-oonsoiously, a
good deal of life before I began too young.
The spiritually stressful years of my life oame
between then and 1904. That is why The Island
[Link] and The ~,Ia£ of Property had in ores-
oendo, so muoh more depth than the earlier
books. The sixth £tlo1 al is tha t a would-be
1

writer oan probably get muoh inspiration and

help. from one or two masters, but in general,
little good,andxnore harm from the rest. Eaoh
would-be wrtier*ill feel inspired aooording to
his temperament, will derive instruotion aocord-
ingtohis needs, from some older living master
aldn to him in spirit. And as his wings grow
stronger under that inspiration, he will shake

6~,, Ibid., p~ 174.

 29
of any tendency to imitate. 62
Galsworthy, in his essay Six Novelists in Profile, pays
tribute to Turgehev for the inspiration of his own apprentice-
ship. "I, at least, aoknowledge a great debt. To him and to
De Maupassant I served that spiritual and technical appren-
tioeship which every young writer serves.,,63
. With a tWinkle in his eye Galsworthy says, Hlane indeed
was a deep dark youth, an apprenticeship cheered on by some
driving quality within me, and by a belief that I would some
day be a real writer.n64

Following is a letter to an aspiring young writer Which

excellently sums up Galsworthy's ideas about apprenticeship:
I think my advice to you would be: Don't
be in a hurry to get into print. Unless a man
has lived and felt and experienced and general-
ly found out what life means, he has nothing to
say that's worth hearing. Writers generally begin
too young, and very few who begin very young
oome to anything.
Now, as to style: Style is simply the clear,
short expression of things seen originally, and
of strongly individual feelings. Praotice
setting down what you see and feel as shortly
and olearly as you can. If you describe a tree
or haystaok, try and make others see it as you
personally see it; it's your vision of it and
feeling about it which will make it of value.
Live with animals, trees, birds, hills and the

62 ~bid., p. 136-7.

63 John Galsworthy, Candelabra, (Six Novelists in

ProfilE3), op..cit., p. 1.39.

.
64,J'v1arrot,,££.cit., p. 132 .
 30
see as muoh as you reasonably oan. Talk to,
and watoh the lives of sinlple people. Distrust
all arty groups, and, if you mix with them do
it with your tongue a little in your oheek.
It sounds trite, but read the Bible, Shake-
speare, and W. H. Hudson, the Nature-writer.
Learn Frenoh well and read Prosper Merime'e and
Maupassant (say three years henoe); their eoon-
omy of words and olearness is wonderful. Read
Anatole France, also three years hence. Read
Russian Turgenev not for his style, beoause it
suffers in translation, but for the way he sees
human life, and oonstruots his stories. Read
Walter Pater and Stevenson, but beware of their
tendenoy to preoiosity. Read Diokens and Samuel
Butler. Praotioe verse writing; it helps toward
good prose style. Take it as a rule that anything
you write must be interesting sentence by sentenoe.
Of modern poetry read Masefield and Sassoon. But
if you really want to be a writer who oounts,
alongside all this live a normal life 'with some
normal oocupation for some years after you oome
to man's estate. See the vilorkaday world as it is
before you give others your vision of it or any-
thing else. O )

Thus Galsworthy feels that true art should publish only

masterpieces. He thought that 8 great lJlany successful oontem-
porary authors had so prostituted real art to the desire for
monetary reward as well as to publisher and the publio's
approbation that they had failed in two important responsibi-
lities. First, in their desire to satisfy the publio's in~

sistenoe upon "happy-endings ll they were casting aside Art's

Opportunity as an evolutionary directive of thought in a needy
world. He felt it the duty of all sincere authors to do some-
thing about the bales of false and flimsy reading materials

65 Ibid. . lJ. 776.

t. ".______.... ,
,
 31
whioh were found in the bookstalls. To him, the true artist
would picture life as it is. Seoond, he olaimed that for
the sake of monetary reward this type of journalism thrives
and was directly responsible for the oontinued mental oon~

fusion and vaouity whioh oharaoterized the age. GalsVilorthy

felt this responsibility so keenly that he wrote a very oon-
vinoing essay on the need for "soh061ing."
It is a twilight forest in whioh we writers
of fiotion wander, and once in a way, . . •
Why the light is sb dim; why there is so much
bad and false fiotion; why the demand for it
is so great. Living in a world where demand
creates supply, we writers of fiction furnish
the exception to this rule • • • We must lay
0

the blame where it clearly should be laid, on

ourselves. We, ourselves g~eate the demand
for bad and false fiction. b
The artist, then, must have the mental and moral
courage of his plan of action to produce only those things
which will bring him to his desired goal in writing. 67 He
must Rlan this regardless of fear or favor, depending only
upon his artistic technique for attracting the eye of the
public. Masterpieces are born only by oareful planning.
Galsworthy's plan of a masterpiece seems to have four equally
important characteristics. First, an author must have an
infinite truth as the central idea for his life's work.

66 John Galsworthy, The Inn of TranquIlity, 52l2.. oit.,

pp. 215:-9 .•

67 John Galsworthy, Ga,hdEllabra, (Novelist's iUlegory),

£B. cit., pp •. 171-2.
,,
..
'
 32
Around this eternal 'idea he must devise an orderly plan for
its development. This gradual development must engender in
the reader a genuine desire for the aooeptanoe of the propos-
ed opinion. This desire must bring about, at the author"s
insistence, a change in living modes leading, he hopes, to
more aesthetic forms of sooial interaotion in future life.
Galsworthy's masterpieoe of novels 1s developed aooording
to this plan.

nCethru!H said"the Prince. 19 Let it be your

dutyhenoeforthto walk with your lanthorn up 68
and down this street all night and every night."

68 John Galsworthy, The Inn of rrranquilli ty, .QQ. oi to,

p~ 11'3.
 GALSWORTHY I S MASTERPIECE DESIGN

Maid In Waiting - 1931

The White Monkey - 1924

The Freelands - 1915

Man of Property - 1906

to
C\l
0'
.-I
VILLA RUBEIN - 1900
R
0'
I
.-I
gp I HAPPINESS
0
CI) of-'
Q)
H

! 0
E-i THE ISLAND PHARISEES - 1904

Fraternity - 1908

In Chancery - 1920

Silver Spoon - 1925

Two Interludes - 1927

The Forsyte Saga - 1932

Nobel Prize- 1932

,,
 CHAPTER III

JOHN GALSWORTBY'S THEORY OF THE CHARlICTTIaUSTICS OF

THE ]\~jI,STJliRPIJWE

John Galsworthy's idea of a work of art was very muoh

akin to that of Henry James. James felt that an artist's
individual works should blend and fit together into a single
pattern of thought as the colors and threads are woven meti-
culously into the design of a beautiful carpet. j~nd, just
as an individual studies the entire carpet in seeking its
pattern, so does one study an artist's lifetime production in
order to capture and understand his all-pervasive theme in
writing. Galsworthy held a similar conception. He thought
that any work of art was slowly and painstakingly developed
around an eternal truth--an idea of importance to all of the
human race--as a puzzle is pieced together into an har-
monious whole. He believed that in a true masterpiece this
central theme must pervade every single artistio effort of
the artist as well as contribute to the growth of the theme.
This general thesis is thereby intensified with each new pro-
duction. This gradual development of one great idea lends a
steadfastness of purpose to an author's labors which Galsworthy
labels as its "rhythmic vitality.n69

69 John Ga1sworthy, Candelabra, op. cit., pp. 17-18.

 3.5
.
Such vitality Galsworthy held 8S inseparable from a
work of art. In his essay called Vague Thoughts on Art 70
Galsworthy says that this rhythmic vitality leads to the per-
fection of the infinite thought and is therefore absolut~ly

necessary to the work of art. Galsworthy, also says that

the perfection of this rhytlliuic vitality around the central
theme brings about harmony, proportion, and balance to the
entire artistic effort. By harmony he meBns the adjustment
of the parts to one another so as to form a connected whole;
by proportion he means that the ~rtist will make the parts
suitable to each other, and by balance he means that the
theme will give the artist a steadiness of mind with which
to accomplish his purpose in wri ting. 'Ni thout his infinite
idea with which to amalgamate his great plan no author can
be considered an artisto
. . . its essence--that which makes it a work of art--
i~ the presence of the mysterious Quality called 'life';
and the conditions of 'life' are: a sufficient relation
of part to Whole, and a sufficient flavouring of the
artist's temperament. For only these elements give to 7
a piece of work the essential novelty of a living thing. 1

The Theme, then, of a masterpiece to Galsworthy was

a IIlOSt important and necessary development. Its careful
development necessitated the arduous apprenticeship which

70 [Link].

71 Ibid., p. 152.
 36
Galsworthy insists every author serve. To Galsworthythe
theme of a masterpiece consisted of the temperamental re-
actions of the author toward the practioes in life whioh
prevented the accomplishment of his central idea. As we 'have
seen in Ohapter I, Galsworthy thought that all men unoon-
soiously desire happiness. His experienoes in life brought
him to the conclusion that certain ancient thought cTystalli-
zations within the sections of society imposed innumerable
harsh and ugly forms Of interaotion which prevented human
happiness. Galsworthy sought to relax these behavior pat-
terns by means of sharp satire. The core idea, then, of
Galsworthy's masterpiece is happiness. His theme is the ex-
tinction of all thought patterns whioh are barriers to that
idea. As Galsworthy expresses it in his explanation of the
critical [Link] of The Patricians his theme is his tempera-
mental reactions to all forms of unpleasant behavior
The critical essence • . • consists in an opposi-
tion of authority and dry high-caste life . . . with
the emotionalism and dislike of barriers inherent in
one half of my temperament. 72

Into the design of his masterpiece Galsworthy first

set down in two volumes his objections to certain practioes
of his day which interfered with happiness. His first novel.

72 Marrpt, op ~ oi t., p. 303.

Villa Hubein became ",ta kind of long awakening to the home
truths of social existence and national character. .
And the book, after all, became but an introduction to all
those following novels which depict--somewhat satirically--
the various sections of English 'Society' with a more or
less capital ·sf 73
. Villa Rubein presented the irritations of life from
the artist's point of view. In this novel Galsworthy says,
!tOne starts in life with some notion of the ideal [happiness].
A man must do the best there is 'in him. If he has to suffer--
let him suffer. tl74

In this volume he presents the artis~s great pro-

blem.
'Aht Doctor--if I don't paint what the public
likes, I starve; all the same I'm going to paint
in my own way, and in the end I shall oome out on
top.,75

In the following quotations he emphasizes the need for

sincerity in the novelist:
You mean that if it does not matter enough, one
had better not do it at 1311'-'6 I don't know if you
are right--I think you are. (

73 Ibid., p. 152.

74 John Galsworthy, Villa Rubein (New York: G.P. Put-

nam'sSbns, The Knickerbooker Press, 1908) p. 4.
75 b' d ·
~., p• 3
.•
76 11d.,
b· .p. l3.
 38
Here, he insists on truth in liferature.
'By Heavens!' said Harz, striking one hand
into the other, 'if more truth were spoken
there would not be so many shams. • • • Work
is what matter§ and to try and see the beauty
in the world."17
A trifle later, he continues the idea.

It's only that he hates shams and can't

bear meanness; and it is mean to cover up
dislike~ and pretend tha t you a"gree with
people. '/8

In this Quotation he scores the worldly evaluation

of art.
If I were the finest painter in the world,
he wouldn't think anything of me for it, I'm
afraid; but if I could show him handfuls of
big cheQues for bad Qictures I had painted,
he would respect me. r9
Following are other ideas which Galsworthy wished to
establish:
Grime is but the hallmark of strong individuality~

A sane community never yet asked a man to

tread upon his self-respect. If I get my
fingers skinned over my marriage, which I
undertook at my own risk, what's the community
to do with it? And as to rights, it'd be a
deuced sight better for us all if there wasn't
such a fuss about 'em.
Societyt What is Society--a few men in
good coats? What has it done for me?

77 Ibid. , p. '53.
78 Ibid. , p. 55.
79 Ibid., p. 78.
 39
'Only fools,'~' he said, 'take things for
granted. As for discipline, what do you
aristocrats, or you bourgeois know of dis-
cipline? Have you ever been hungry? Have
you ever had/your soul down on its back?'
I'm proud to come straight from the soil--
I wouldn't have it different; but they are
the people, everything's narrow with them--
they only understahd what they can see and
touch.
Yes, it drives me mad even now to think of
people fatted with prosperity, sneering and
holding up their hands at poor devils who
have suffered ten times more than the most
those soft animal~ could bear. I'm older;
I've lived--I;kn@w things cannot be put right
by violence--nothing will put things right,
but doesn't stop my feeling. 80 .
This quotation seems to StUll up Mr. Harz's [GalSworthY]
ideas with a stamp of temperamentalism:
Mr. Harz is an artist of unusual ability;
a little rash perhaps, but that is a matter
of his temperament. 81
Galsworthy's second novel, The Island Pharisees, seems
to enlarge upon his general theme. A general note from his

note-book about The Patricians makes this statement of its

purpose:
The Patricians finishes the series of novels
that began With The Island Pharisees, whose
statement of a temperamentar-polnt of view has
now been worked out in critica18~eview of the
four sections of society • . • •

80 Ibid., pp. 80, 86, 96, 98, 107, 112.

81
Ibid., p. 279.
82 QQ. cit., p. 285.
 40
In the preface of this novel Galsworthy clearly sug-
gests that English society drop ancient forms of behavior
and thought and strive to make them consonant with human hap-
piness ..
The Institutions of this country, like the
institutions of all other countries are but
half-truths; they are the working daily cloth-
ing of the nation; no more the body's perman-
ent dress than is a baby's frock. Slowly but
surely they wear out, or are outgrown; and in
their fashion they are always thirty years at
least behind the fashions of those spirits who
are concerned with what shall take their place.
The conditions that dictate our education, the
distribution of our property, our uarriage laws,
amusements, worship, prisons, and all other
things, change imperceptibly from hour to hour;
the moulds containing them, being inelastic, do
not change, but hold on to the point of burst-
ing, and then are hastily, often CllIDlsily, en-
larged. The ninety desiring peace and comfort
for their spirit, the ninety of the well-warm-
ed beds will have it that the fashions need not
change, but morality is fixed, that all is or-
del"ed:and immutable, that everyone will always
marry, plan, and worship in the way that they
themselves are marrying, playing, and worship-
ping. They have no speculation, and they hate
with a deep hatred those who speculate with
thought • . • --the other ten--chafed by all
things that are, desirous ever of new forms
and moulds, hate in their turn the comfortable
ninety. . . • But now and then--ahl very
seldom--we find ourselves so near that thing
which has no breadth, the middle line, that
we can watch th~~ both, and positively smile
to see the fun. ~
In a letter to Edward Garnett, his publisher, written
in 1902 concerning The Island Pharisees Gals"Worthy made this

83 John Galsworthy, The Island Pharisees, .2.."2- cit.,

pp. vi-viii.
 41
statement as to what he thought this no:Vel should do:
With regard to chapter iii where you feel
the break in continuity, I deliberately don't
want to discard it for it seems to me that it
strikes early and plainly, too plainly perhaps,
the note of the under the harrow multitudes
which is intended to be heard throughout my
theme, and without which the note of th safe
and complacent is deprived of its echo. S4
In The Island Pharisees, its~lf, he ironically sug-
gests the changes needed in social relations in order to
inaugurate a more beautiful future. The two characters of
the novel, Shelton and Ferrand, apparently speak for Galsworthy
as to his aim in writing his novels in this quotation.
"Oomplacency! II repeated Shel ton, 'fdo you
call that a great quality?"
"I should rather say, monsieur, a great
defect in what is always a great people.
You are. certainly the most highly-civilized
nation on the earth; you suffer a little from
the fact. If I were an English preacher my
desire would be to prick the heart of your
complacency. "85
After a long tirade of open criticism of the arts and
amusements of the day, Galsworthy swns it all up with this
satirical barb: ffHow would the world go rowld, how could
Society exist, without common-sense, practical ability, and'
the la ck of syrupa thy t !1 86

84 Edward Garnett, Letters From John GalswortQI, (New

York: Oharles Scribner's Sons, 19~ p. 44.
85 John Galsworthy, The Island Pharisees, ££.cit., p. 10.
86 Ibid. , p. 37.
.
,
,
 42
After a long "discussion of, the t'reatment of Women both'
as prostitutes and as unhappy wives, Galsworthy conments in
this cutting fashion: "Society has an excellent eye for the
helpless--it never treads on people unless they're really
down. tf And a little later he adds to the COllmen t in this
mood, 7t • the more Christian the nation, the less it has
to do with the Christian spirit."8~ Later, in the novel, as
Galsworthy airs his views on morality with a minister he
makes this comment through Shelton, his character mouth-
piece: 1l1Nha t I hate, If said Shelton, !lis the way we men de-
cide what women shall bear, and then call them immoral, de-
cadent, or what you will, if they don't fall in with our
views. n88

In order to bring out the fallacy of the lTopen mindl1

in education Galsworthy has a college professor speak these
words in discussing a novel of the day: lfI really don't
care,f! said he, "to know what a woman feels when she is go-
ing to the dogs; it doesn't interest me. n89
Also, in this novel, he has Shelton [his mouthpiec~
express this reaction upon witnessing a policeman arresting'
a prostitute:

87 IblCl.,
. ' pp.' 131 an,d 145 •
88Tbid.,p.163.
89 IbiQ., p. 167.

",
 43
The cold certainty of law and order uphold-
ing the strong, treading underfoot the weak,
the smug front of meanness that only the pur-
est spirits may attack seemed to be facing
him. • . •
'One or the other of us,' he reflected, 'we
make these women wha~ they are. And When we've
made them, we can't do without them; we don't
want to; but we give them no proper homes, so
that they're reduced to prowl the streets and
then--we run them in. Eal that's good--that's
excellentl We run them inl Arid here we sit and
carp. But what do we do? Nothingl Our system
is the most highly moral known. We get the be-
nefit without soiling even the hem of our phy-
lacteries--the wornen are the only ones that
suffer. And why shouldn't they--inferior things~'90
In his effort to awaken a sympathetic attitude toward
the drudges in this the world, the following quotation is an
example of his treatment in The Island Pharisees~

It suddenly came home to him that life for

three quarters of the world meant physical ex-
haustion every day, without a possibility of
alternative, and that as soon as, for some
cause beyond control, they failed thus to ex-
haust themselves, they were reduced to beg or
starve. And then we who don't know the meaning
of the word exhaustion, call them 'idle scamps',
he said aloud.91
111so, in this volume Galsworthy makes a statement
Which explains the mood in which his book was conceived and
why he felt the need to write in opposition to the mean-
nesses in the world. HEe was in that hypersensitive and ner'7
vous ~tate favorable for recording currents foreign to itself.

90 Ibiel. , p . 185 •
91 Ibid. , p. 155.
Things he had never before noticed now"had profound effect
on him, • n92

Galsworthy pictured the absurd cruelties of conven-

tions which in his opinion caused untold misery to unfor~

tunate people. He tried to show people in general that very

often circumstances control infractions of convention not
unholy desires; and that many virtuous ones would react to
like circumstances in identically the same way if faced with
them. He wished his novel to show that modern circumstances
call for a different type of conventional judgment than is
present in the traditional mores. He wished to excite just
such thought. In the novel he has a young Frenoh man, Ferrand,
speak for him in this way:
trYes," said the young foreigner as if reading
all his thoughts, \'Iwhat's oalled virtue is near-
ly always only luok. • • • Ahl La, Oonventaons?
Have them by all means--but don't look like pea-
oooks beoause you are preserving them; it is but
oowardioe and luok, my friends--but oowardioe and
luokl\.)j

And upon witnessing some older women moving away from

an unfortunate and penniless girl who had accepted her trans-
portation from Shelton, the foreigner says, t1--they take gO'od
care not to let their garments touch her. They are virtuous
women. How fine a thing is virtue, sirl And finer to know

92 Ibid., p. 212.

93 John Galsworthy, The Island Pharisees, p. 13.

 45
you have it, especia"lly when you are never likely to be tempt-
ed. 1I94
In such a manner Galsworthy :rresented his suggestions
for changes in thought and manners of living in order to in-
crease human happiness. His first two volumes, then, are
mere expressions of these temperamental reactions to society
in general. They were word paintings of manners Which, in
life, he wished were different. He was simply outlining for
his public the points Df his attack on society, and endeavor-
ing to formulate his means to happiness. These IITemperamen-
tal Novels tt were shortly succeeded by a group of four novels
in which he specifically assaults four different classes of
society in an effort to crack their assumed class-conscious-
ness in [Link] of self-consciousness and human sympathy for
all people. In an essay called Literature and Life Galsworthy
said, OOnly one who experiments out of the necessities of his
theme· will create that which will last. n95
Also in an essay Six Novelists In Pro1flile Galsworthy
stateB the importance of the theme in this way:
Art when it has life and meaning, comes
from an artist possessed by his theme. The
rest is just exercise in teChnique, which
helps artists to render the greater impUlses

94---
Ibido, p. 9.
95 Johri Galsworthy, Oandelabra, p. 277.
 46
when they oome too seldomo 96
However, in Galsworthy we find this exercise in teohnique
exoeedingly well developed.

This is Galsworthy's version of the universal pla.n

in a masterpieoe. By his plan he means the development
pieoe by pieoe of eaoh single viewpoint needed to round out
or perfeot his infinite idea into a oomplete masterpieoe of
thought patterns, producing, when his life's work is fin-
ished, a oompletely new design for aesthetio living or, at
least, beautiful aotion. These 'individual works are so de-
signed that the artist hopes they will fit one by one into
his great idea with perfect harmony as well as effioiently
awaken the reader to the importanoe of the oentral theme.
The author .also hopes that the works will produce a mounting
crest of emotion toward a change of attitudes of mind and
manners of living so strong that when the final design for
ethical action presents itself in his work the reader will
be in an emotional ferment to mend his ways for a kindlier
mode of life.
Art,' even the art of the novel, has always
been the SUbject of a tug-of-war between two
schools of thought--the school that demands
o·f it a revels tion or criticism of life, and
the school that asks of it nothing but plea-
s~~e~~giving invention. Both schools, how-
ever, in the heat of their struggle for the
possession of art tend to forget that, whether

96,
,
. - - p. 14~.
Ibid.,
.
 47
a work of art be critical and revealing, or a
-bit of decorative invention, its essence--that
which makes it a work of art--is the presence
of the mysterious quality called 'life'. And
the conditions of 'life' are: a sufficient
relation of part to whole, and a sufficient
flavoring of the artist's temperament. For
only these elements give to a piece of work
the essential novelty of a living thing • • • •
Whether, then, the picture be painted in seem-
ing aloofness, or whether the novelist's self
swoops onto and off the oanvas really doesn't
matter so much, for creative po"wer and foro~7
of expression are the only real essentials.
In his essay Faith of a Novelist Galsworthy gives one
his idea of how preoisely the artist arranges this scheme. of
works.

But for the purposes of Art there are no

suoh things as truths of Nature, apart from
the individual vision of the artist. Seer
and things seen, inextrioably involved one
With the other, form the texture of any mas-
terpieo~. And suoh subtle intermingling of
seer with things seen is the outcome only of
long and intricate brooding, a process not
too favored by modern life, yet without whioh
we aohievelittle but a fluent chaos of clever
insignifioant impressions, a kinfi of glorified
j o ur nalism. 98

In Six Novelists In Profile Galsworthy expresses the

responsibility a novelist acoepts for his plan"
Using the stuff .of real life for the purposes
of his art a great novelist can, by the light he
throws, forward the organio growth of human
sooiety, and colour the ethios of his time. He

97 John Galsworthy, Candelabra, QQ. cit., p. 152.

98 Ibid., p. 235.
 48
need not be con~cipus rebel. He n~ed see widelY,
~eel deeply, and be able to mould what he has
seen or felt into that which has a new and signi-
ficant life of its own • • • • It is like that too
for the novelist who postures in the fields of
human life. No patterns, no theories guide his
efforts. He must discover. He must forge for
himself out ~9 lif$'s raw material the design
which suits.

Galsworthy's remark about plot in Some Platitudes Oon-

cerni~ Drama seems to form a basis for his great plan too.
UA good plot is that sure edifice which slowly rises out of

the interplay of circumstance on temperament, and tempera-

ment on circumstance, wi thin the- enclosing 8 tmosphere of an
idea. nlOO

These two novels, Villa ~~beig and The Island Phari-

sees, which vjere the expression of his temperamentEtl theme
were GalswQrthy's first step in his universal plan of a mas-
terpiece. His second step consisted of an elaboration of his
criticism of the national character by means of the specific
unhappy crystallizations of thought which characterized the
four sections of upper-class society. His first novel in
this section of his plan satirized the unhappiness of greed as
displayed by the "sense of property" in Boames Forsyte. ThIs
novel called The Man of Property finally grevr int a the epitome

99 Ibid., p • 154.

100
GalsworthY,The Inn of Tranquillity, SE. cit., p. 193.

,
.
 4,9
of Galsworthy's masterpiece idea, The Forsyte Saga.
"I originally called 'The Man of Property' by
this name, and had no intention of continuing thnt
book with sequels. Some three years, however, after
it was published I became haunted by the notion of
Old Jolyon's Indian Sunmler which ultimately got it-
self written in the spring of 1917. Not until one
Sunday in July, 1918, did the full scheme of devel-
opment come to me. And almost at once I began 'In
Ohancery' whiSh, • was not finished till Novem-
ber 4, 1919. 1 1
Incidentally, The Indian Summer of a Forsyte is an
arresting wordpainting_ of the beauty of life devoid of the
tfsense of [Link] It is the picture of Galsworthy's ideal
life.
Returning, now, to the discussion of The Man of Proper-
~ and Galsworthy's other l701ass!1 novels it might be said here
that these four novels helve the earmarks of 8 search for style
as well as development of theme. By that is meant that e30h
of the four novels exposes different degrees o~ sublety in its
symbo~ism. For example, in Fraternity the symbolism is so
s tarl\:ly obvious tha t i t is boring. Mr. Stone, the syGbol of
authorship, is rather ridiculous. Miltoul1, The Patrioian is
rather too obvious, also, for interest. The squire, ond the
minister of The Oountry House are a trifle too exaggerCited to
be effeotive. Hovvever, in The lI!Ian of Property, Galsworthy's
most successful novel, his rather dramatic use of symbolism

101 John Ga1sworthy, The Forsyte Saga, (Prefaoe by Ada

GalsworthY)'Memorial Edition:-TNew York ana-London: Oharles
Soribner's Sons, 1933), p. vii.
 50
is both effective arid exceedingly subtle. ;30ames Forsyte is
a gifted man of affairs, but Galsworthy very adroitly produces
the effect that Soames is secretly yearning for something of
which he is not aware. He has it within his grasp but catinot
forget his sense of possession--and beauty cannot be possessed.
Irene, the wife, is vaguely portrayed as forever out of his
grasping 1' each. In limning the fig'ure of Soames thus against
the beautiful figure of Irene (as a figure is limned ag8inst
a backdrop on the stege) Galsworthy accomplishes an effect of
sympathy for Soames in his unconscious quest of happiness.
He typifies mankind's unconscious desire for happiness whioh
is Galsworthy's oore idea. Galsworthy's style is very effec-
tive.

[Link] Man of Property Galsworthy attempts to arouse

repugnanoe for the cruE1lties oaused by the !?Sense of property.1T
The following quotation from In Chancery from The Forsyte Saga
expresses the characteristics of this olass whioh Galsworthy
hoped to change:
It was as if he were boxed up with hundreds of
thousands of his oountrymen whioh had always been
to hirurevolting, something whioh he knew to be ex-
tremelynatural and yet which seemed to him inex-
plioable--their intense belief in contracts and
vested rights, their complacent sense of virtue in
. theexaotion of those rights. Here beside him in
the cab was the very embodiment, the oorporeal' sum
as it were, of the possessive instinot--his own
kinsman tool It was uncanny, and intolerable! But
there's something more in it than that! he thought
with a siok feeling. The dog, they say, returns to
his vomit. The sight of her has re-awakened some-
 51
thing. Beauty! The devil's in it!102
Soames's inhibited sense of beauty when aroused always
oaused him trouble and unhappiness. And with all his olever-
ness Soames never beoame aware of the means to his primary
desire--happiness--Hunoapturable save by a devotion whioh
thinks not of self. nl03
Soames life figure of Investment--refused their
res tles s sounds [The Wa ters 01:' change] . • . He
might wish and wish and nevefo~et it--the beauty
and the loving in the world. I-

Next Galsworthy endeavored to a waken the Squirearo)J.y

to their exoessive provinoial bigotry. In the prefeoe to
this seoond novel of olass satire Galsworthy says,
The constant endeavor of his (GalsworthY'~ pen has
merely been to show Sooiety that it has had luok; and
if, those who have had luok behaved as if they knew
it, the, chances of revolu,~ion would sink to zero . . . .1 0 5
In the salJle prefaoe Gals'Worthy speaks of The Country
House and its kindred novels, and explains their intentions
as follows:
The Country HOllse and its kindred novels, whether
works of art or no, can hardly be challenged for not
being oritioisms of life. They are tragi-oomedies
whioh, treating ironically of oharaoter and manners,
made but a dubious appeal to Anglo-Saxons though in
speech the least expansive and most ironic in the

102
Ibid., (In Chancery), p. 459.
103 Ibid.; (To Let), p. 915.
104 Ibid., p. 921.
105
" Galsworthy, The Country House, Ope cit., Preface.
 52
.
world, are conservative and sentimental at heart,
and little inclined to brook disturbance of cher-
ished images. lOb

Galsworthy's satirical S~uirels creed from The Country

House seems to sum up the characteristics of this group
which were repellent to Galsworthy's temperament.
I believe in my father, and his father, and his
father's father, the makers anq keepers of my es-
tate; and I believe in myself and my son and my
son's son. And I believe that we have made the
country, and shall keep the country what it is.
And I believe in the Public Schools, and especi-
ally the Public School that I was at. And I be-
lieve in my social e~uals and the country house, _
and in things as they are, forever and ever. Amen.107
The third allied novel Fraternity soored the oultured
class for the utter sterility of their knowledge. Through
this novel Galsworthy hoped to inspire this group to forget
class-consoiousness and inaugurate more ethical conduct.
KnOWledge unaccompanied by action to Galsworthy is only a
static influence on progress rather than the dynamic force
it sh'ould be .
. . • one sees how the human mind, by its habit
of continual crystallizattons, had destroyed all the
meaning of the process. Witness for example, that
sterile phenomenon, the pagoda of caste. 1DS
Galsworthy, very pointedly, in Fraternity, indicates
the reason for the Intelligensia's failure to lead in

106 Loo • .21:1.

107 Ibid., p. 194.

108 Galsworthy, Fraternity, 9.l2.. [Link]., p. 24.

 5)
social change.
In social effort, as in the physical processes of
Nature, there had ever been a single fertilizing a-
gent--the mysterious and wonderful attraotion known
as Love. To this--that merging of one being in an-
other--had been due all the progressive varianoe of
form, known by man .under the name of life. It was
this merger, this mysterious, unoonsoious Love, whioh
waslaoking. . . • They were full of reason, oon-
soience, horror, full of impatienoe, oontempt, re-
volt, but they did not love the masses of their fel-
low men • • . • man had yet to wait for his delirious
impulse to Universal Brotherhood, and the forgetful-
ness of Self. l09
Galsworthy brings Fraternity to a olose upon a
wailing note:
My brain is olouded. Great Universe! I oannot
disoover to my brothers that they are one. I am
not worthy to stay here. Let me pass into you, [pea thJ
and die. 110
The last critioal novel of the sooial thread in his
masterpieoe was oalled The Patrician. In this novel Gals-
worthy hoped tD convinoe the aristooracy that it was neces-
sary tha t they relax their 11 sense of power. tt Galsworthy
expresses the idea in these words:
~ • • that the main tendency of aristooraoy is to
stereotype and dry the poetry out of life, to shri-
vel a little the faculty for love, by exaggerating
the faoulty for command.
The book attempts to symbolize the struggle between
Love and Foroe or Power; and the struggle between

109
Ibid .• ; pp. 121-122.
110 Ibid., p.3 8 5.
 54
Liberty and [Link]

In this satirical pioture of Lady Casterley, the symbolic

character of cu'istocrecy, one can see just iNhet GalsVJorthy
means by crystallization of ideas.
Lady CasterlJy let fEJII the hElnd which held the
letter. Safe? Yes, he was safe! He had done the
right thing--the natural thing. And in time he would
be happy! He would rise now tQ that pinna ole [parlia-
ment] she had dreamed for him, ever since he was a
tiny thing, ever since his lIttle thin brown hand
had clasped hers in their wonderings amonrl~ the
flowers, and the furniture of tall rooms.
The Patricians completed the heavy threod of satire
engendered by his temperamental novels in the pattern of his
masterpiece. The following quotation reiterates, someWhat,
his aim in writing them.
The novelist, then, if he deals with Society, and
has any thing of the critic in him will unconsciously
be something of a satirist. . . . To him each section
of Society~professionals and plutocrats, the ~uire­
archy, the intellectual, the aristocrats--each will
have its weakpoint, its doom; the negative, so to
speak of its virtues. 113
In Galsworthy's own words one finds that he thinks
that he has finished at least one phase of his plan. He
ind:j..cates, however, that more is to come from his pen which
involved a spiritual change of ideas.

111
Marrot, Ope cit., (.A diary note on a visit to
Fortihgal) pp.285-286.-
112 John Galsworthy ,.The Pa tr,!cian . (New Yorlc Charles
Scribner's Sons, 1911), p. 393.

1~3 Galsworthy, Candelabra, p. 240.

 Heaven knows · that this book is far short of what
I would have it; how far the shDrtoomings of it are
the result of my aooidentally finishing with a long
job of four olass novels, whioh I have a little out-
grown or beovme tired of, the result in faot of a
spiritual ohange, rather than anything more remedi-
able. 114
Galsworthy's lIspiritual ohange!! did not involve any
deviation from his inspirational idea or his universal plan
idea. He still sought happiness, and his following novels
all stressed the need for love and sympathy in all hLUrran
relationships. His lIspiritual ohange H merely involved a
ohange in mood in his novels from the satirioal painting of
unethioal behavior to the lyrioal presentation of aesthetio
behavior in praotioe. Hmvever, while Galsworthy was gather-
ingsteam for the mood and thread of his aesthetio behavior
patterns, he introduoed the first of his love novels whioh
form the woof of his pattern. These love novels definitely
belong to the whole soheme beoause they, too, plead for
under's tanding, sympa thy, and aes thetio delioaoy of j udgmen t s
in the problems of human passion. These novels of hillnan
affeotion very effeotively gather up the four oorners of
Galsworthy's design and support its theme as hLUrran passion
supports life itself.
Eublished in 1913, The Dark Flower began a series of

114 Garnett, op. oit., p. 192.

four novels in which· Galsworthy makes an appeal for more
understanding and kindlier critioism in matters oonoerning
love, sex, and mar1 iage.
1
In the handling of this Question
his satire is smoother; and, perhaps, more oonvinoing th~n

in his former works. His teohnique in this novel impresses

one as delicately beautiful end more mature than anything
Galswo~thy had done before. Its theme is for an understand-
ing of man's passion at all three stages of predoluinancy.
Galsworthy thinks that an enlightened understanding of these
natural processes would bring greater happiness in life for
everyone. In a letter to Sir A. Quiller-Couoh Galsworthy
disous ses The Dark Flovver:
And first I vvant to say thct I did not intend lily
book to be anything but a study (I hoped a true and
deep one) of Passion--that blind force which sWBeps
us out of the dark and turns us pretty well 8S it
will. . • • I did not think it an unworthy thing . . •
--to try and paint Passion in terms of its spirit
rather than as so many have painted it, in terms of
the flesh; especially in a land whose life and Art
seem in a sort of perpetual conspiracy to blur and
sentimentalize ~~l the true values of the greatest
foroe in life. l
Galsworthy knew that people understood, from their
own experiences, that human beings under the atmosphere of
sex reaoted quite sentimentally and often detrimentally to
themselves; yet, they excused in themselves, the very things
whioh they criticized unkindly in others. This irked

115 .......•.. ' .'

,IbId., pp. 381-384.
 5.7
Galsworthy's sense of justice because of the unhappy conse-
quences to those involved; and, so, he wrote to promote under-
standing and tolerance in the sex relations. In Faith of a
Novelist he states this purpose clearly:
And yet to write grossly of sex, to labour in a
story the physical side of love is to err aestheti-
cally. • ~ . But the atmosphere and psychology of
passion are other matters; and .the trackless maze
in which the average reader wanders where his feel-
ings are concerned is none the worse for a night-
light or two. In every artist, moreover, who is
not a freak there is a sensibility to the scent and
colour of the dar~ flower, to its fascination and
fates lurking within its lure which demands a vent. 116
Near the close of The Dark Flowe£ itself, Galsworthy
gives his idea of how all cases of sex or love should affect
other people. In a soliloquy of Lerman's, the hero of the
triad of stories, Galsworthy manages gently but deftly to re-
mind all readers that problems of this kind are really none
of their affair.
Yet, all this time, he had a feeling that, since
he alone knew all the circilllstances, he alone was
entitled to blame or excuse himself. The glib judg-
ments that moralists would pass upon his conduct
could be nothing but the imbecilities of smug and
pharaisaic fools--of those not under this drugging
spell--of such as h~~7not blood enough perhaps every
to fall beneath it.
In his closing remarks about this novel Galsworthy

·116
Galsworthy, Candela bra, op. ~i t., p. 2Lf-l.

117 John Galsworthy, The Dark Flower. (New York:

Charles Scribn9r's Sons, 191)""f; p~ 28r--
 in point-blank fashion pleads for an understanding Of man's
po1ygamous nature by openly admitting the truth of such a
charge. He says'it like this:
That was the tragedy--it was all sunk and rooted
in the very nature of a man. . • • Man and woman--
they both wanted youth again; she, that she might
give it all to him; he, because it would help him
toward eomething--new! Just thst world of differ-
ence. llCS
The second love and marriage novel which he called
Beyond, and published jn 1917, concerned itself with the
psychology of a woman's love. Here, also, he makes a strong
case for understanding of a woman's errrotions and mistakes.
It is an appeal for more elastic marriage arrangements in
cases of mistaken emotions because, as he shown in his novels,
people of imagination and feeling will go beyond convention
when they love sincerely anyway. In Beyond he writes this
:~
, I:
,I about Gyp, the heroine:
,i , Besides, by her very birth she was outside the
i). fold of society, her love beyond the love of t~£Re
!
within it--just as her father's love had been. ~
When people love sincerely, Galsworthy explains,
their feelings as follows, and insists that they should have
their happiness:
Now she had given, she would give with both hands--
beyond measure--beyond! -- as he himself, as her mother

118
Ibid., PP.' 298-299.

119 John Galsworthy, Beyond, (New York: Charles

cribner~,s Sons, 1917), p. h75'6:"---
 59
had given. 120

Galsworthy felt that women--especially beautiful

women--very often make mistakes because they really do not
understand their emotions. This quotation explains Gyp's
l.?eYOndJ mistake:
She was fairly caught in the web of her foolish
and pres wupt ious mis take! • . •. Dis illusi orunent is
not welcome to a woman's heart; . . . Her great de-
dication--her scheme of life! She had been going to
save Fiorsen from himself! It was laughable.121 .
. . . more and more from her sense that, instead
of saving him she was as it were, Du?hing him down-
hill--ironical nemesis for venity.122
Continuing his love novels at intervals Galsworthy
published his third one in 1919. It was called Saint's Pro-
gress. In this novel he made an effort to justify the psy-
chological reactions of the young under the pressures of both
war and love. In this novel, also, he combined his appeal
for youth's right to love, with an effort to awaken the church
to its intellectual decadence in all moral jUdgments. He
said this about Christianity:
I think, • . • that Christianity is what you do,
not what you think or say. And I don't believe
people can be Christians when they act like others--

120
Ibid., p. 332.

_.
121 Ib{d:,' pp. 1237

122
Ibid., p. 203.
 6.0
Imean'l~~en they join together to judge and hurt
people. -

In Saint's Progress Galsworthl states the essence

of his theme quite often. FollowinS are a few of the short-
er quot3tions. The first seeIIIS to express the rules for eth-
ieal character .
. The one thing is to hate tyranny And cruelty, and
protect everything that's weak and lonely. It's all
that's left to make lif8 worth livinG, whep all the
packs of all the world are out for blood. 124
Again he says, [Link] is the holy thing. tl12 5
In this quotation he speaks for the artist. "My mis-
tress, mademoiselle, is not a thing of flesh. It is my
art. . The tongue and the pen vdll rule them. tt 126
This quotation is his criticism of the church, "to
be alive, ahd yet not living enough to feel reality . . •
Would that not be well said of the church in these days!n127
In this passage Galsworthy pleads for the thesis of the
entire novel: "Is it not natural that Youth about to die should
yearn for pleasure, for love, for union, before death. n128

123 John Galsworthy, Saint's Progress. (New York:

Charles Scribner's Sons, 1919) p.164.
124 Ibid ., p . 176 .
125 Ibid. , p. 181 .
126 Ibid. , p. 237.
127 Ibid. ,
;:'"

12'8
- p. 239.

Ibid. , p. 238.
 61
In the last year of his life, 1933, Galsworthy pub-,
lished the novel which completed his love motive in his
masterpiece design. This was the novel, One More River. In
this novel he again discussed sex problems in the marriage
relation. He brought the sadist problem up for an airing.
His ansvver was, lfWha t 's wan ted is the slogan: 'Fresh a ir and
exercise for good instincts' .,,129

This novel furnished the answer to the marriage problem o

Dinny, the heroine, marries not for passionate love, but for
mutual respect and affection. This is Galsworthy's picture
of the ideal basis for marriage. This quotation from One

I ]\ITore River very succinctly explains desire for ethical be-

havior. "Character's our way of showing the desire for per-
fection. Nursing the best that's in one. n1 30

So it is that an artist drudges on through his intri-

cate planning, striving always for a synchronization of ideas
to satisfy his urge for truth and beauty.
Truth and Beauty are a hard quest, but what else
is there worth seeking? Absorption in that quest
brings the novelist his re~ard--unconsciousness of
self, and the feeling that he plays his part as best
hemay.131
. .. .... .......... . . .....
• • • because a writer's business is to get values

i,.':C

jc . 129 John Galsworthy, One More River (New York:

Charle's Scribner's Sons, 193'3T:" p. 102.
1.30
Ibid., p. 112.

13.1 Galsworthy, Candelabra, ££.. ci!., p. 245.

 at least averagely right, to see keenly, to feel
and think deeply, and to expre~3S [Link] clearly than
other people what we see pnd feel and think. l 32
Because the artist feels that his theme is of such
great importance, he plans very carefully to get the proper
emotional reaction to each work. We have already seen that
Galsworthy feels as if it is through the fusion of strong
mental vibration that vitality is produced by art. This,
then must be planned perfectly. Galsworthy says,
When he, [the artist] IBs so selected and arrAnged
his material as to drive hom~ the essential signifi-
cance of his theme, and pressed out from human nature
the last ounce of its resistance to Fate he has done
his job, • . • 133

When Galsworthy wrote the words nand pressed out from hWi18n
nature the last ounce of its resistance to Fate," he had
left the re~der of his novels, he hoped, with an aroused emo-
I
I
'i
tion for action and speculating on just what to do about it
, i

all.
In such speculation abides the artist's fondest de-
i
~, . 'I

, i", sires. All the art at his command has thus far been prodi-
i,
,i'
i 1
gally spent in arousing this tlimpersonal emotion. 1t From this
feeling Galsworthy hopes will come a new conception of lifeo
Such emotion is aroused by the presence of "flower of
Author. 1I

132 Ibid., p. 279.

133 -Ibid
-.-- .,'
.. .. ,.-,.,-
p. 243..
 63
. . • be it either positive or negative finality
are only the temperamental atmosphere created by
'Flower of Author.' Flowers of author is the scent,
colour, and form which the author uses to affect the
senses of the spirit • . r • Even flower of author is
fact in a sort of way.13~

This great emotion is the sMltotal of an artist's

I aspiration. It is the reward 'which his temi.')erament craves.
I
The greBter the artist, the more subtle will be this emo-
I tional response to his brain chiid. To the degree that an
artist has aroused thi,s emotional drive so far has he sue.,..
I ceeded. As much as the reader is moved by his sympathetic
response to the author's main purpose, so, also, will be the
measure of the reader's reaction. The artist hopes that
through the reader's self-consciousness will come the desired
; better-life~to-be. "But art of any kind is based on emotion,
Ii
Ii
i
!..• ji and can only be duly apprehended through emotional faculties.
, ~

:1;
i Letting these atrophy, and adopting the posture of [Link]
: I,
, Ii
I j
" become deaf and dum.b to art's true appeal. "135
i'
I.
This great emotion which has been passed from author
1. 1
::·ilIi
to reader as a result of his long and assiduous planning is
I'
, I'
:l' the gi~t of the artist to ordinary humanity and to posterity,
I
because it will, no doubt, at some time effect a modified be-
havior pattern which is the author's fondest aspiration.

134
Galsworthy~ The Inn of ~ranquillity, op. cit.
pp.205-6 .•

135 Ibid., p. 204.

 ,.
64
I would maintain, however, that such finality is
hot confined to positively discovering the true con-
clusion of premises laid down; but that it may distill
gradually negatively from the whole work in a moral
discovery, a~ it were, of author. In other words,
tha t, permea tion by an essential point of vievv, by ,
emanation of author, may so unify ~nd vitalize a work,
as to give it all the finality thst need be required
of Art. For the finality that is re~uisite to Art, be
it positive 01' Iuegative, is not the finality of dOGma,
nor the finality of fact, it is ever the finality of
feelin6--of a spiritual light, .subtly gleaned by the
spectator out of that queer luminous haze which one
man's nature must ever be to others.136

But this emotion must be an "impersonal emotiontt--entirely

free from the reader's personal wants or desires--it must
be an intellectual confirmation in the reader's mind of
the artist's convictions as a practical ppttern of beauti-
ful behavior in all social intercourse.
It is the artist's ultimate desire that his art will
somehow develop, here and there, araidst his readers a disciple
to his great idea. For example, Galsworthy's character,.
Dinny, Cherrill, in Maid in Waiting, Floweri~ Wilderness, and
One More River embodies Galsworthy's ideal characteristics of
aesthetic behavior. Galsworthy says,
And the greatest Art is that which excites the
greatest impersonal emo'tion in an hypothetical per-
fect human being. 1 37

In order that his readers should have an exact picture'

136 Loc. cit.

137 Galsworthy, Oande1abra,.£12.. cit., pp. 17-'18.

 !

65
or, perhaps, it should be called pattern, of ethical char-
acter to emulate Galsworthy began to spin the final thread
of solution novels for his masterpiece. As we have seen,
he had stated his problem in his first two novels; he had
satirized the class of society completely in the class novels;
now, he wrote four novels in which he pictures ethic 1 char-
acter for us very distinctly. In these novels his technique
changes also. Here he limns his ideal characters a,gainst a
vague background of ugly troubles. His first novel of this
kind liThe Freelands lY (1915) is a' picture of ideal rural life
posed against the problems of bigoted landlordism.
Galsworthy sugeests that the landlords consult their
consciences a little more thoroughly and allow the conclusions
to guide decisions in the "land" question. He words it very
subtly ¢

There's a sort of metronome inside us--wonderful,

self-adjusting little machine, most delic te bit of
mechanism in the world--people 0811 it consoienoe--
that records the proper beat Q~ our tempos. I guess
that's all we have to go by.l)
In this novel the land problems are presented against the pio-
ture of life as it might be on a return-to-the-land basis.
In the book he contrasts the tyrannies of landlordism and the
llnhappiness of farmer's unions in open rebellion, against the
Tod and Kirsteen Fre'elands' small farm happiness. They are

138
Galsworthy, The Freeland~, 3£. cit., p. 87.
 66
living the type of life which Galsworthy thinks is perfection.
Thus, it seems, that with The Freelands John Galsworthy
became aware of the fact that an authdr' vlras duty-bound, not
only to criticize life but to offer a substitute pattern of
social behavior, and that his time was at hand. The fact
that The Man of Pro£erty was his most successful novel and The
[Link] was "his lowest selling novellll39 mey account for
Galsworthy's return to the Forsytes for the production of his
most finished work, The Forsyte Saga.
In this masterpiece we become most acutely aware of
his theory in writing. Again and 6gain, he pictures the soul-
starved unhappiness of Soames because of his ultra-materialism
which he does not Qnderstand, and then Galsworthy brings to
the foreground the peauteous Interludes of ~Ihe Indian ?illillner
and Awakening. Both are, indeed, provooative argilll1Snts for
Galsworthy's ethical code. At the olose of this produotion
we have Young Jolyon and Irene's serene happiness vividly
limned against Soames' utter loneliness. Galsworthy, it seems,
also considered this trilogy as representative of his completed
purpose. In a letter to H. Granville Barker he expresses
h~s enthusiasm for this work:
I vms delighted to have your letter of Deo. 27;
and to think that you enjoyed In Chancery. I think
the July Sunday at VVingstone in 1918, when it

139.QJ2.. oit., pp 045 5-456.

t ..
 67
suddenly came 'to me thet I could GO on with my For-
sytes, and complete their history in two more vol-
wues with a link between, was the happiest day of
my writing life. And on 'the Whole, The Forsyte
Saga, when published in one volume contaIning-the
Man of Property, ~ Indian_§wnmer of ..§. For~:::yte,
In Chancery ,Awal(enl~, and !$. Let, will be my
passport, however difficult It may be to get, is
vised, for the shores of permanence. 1 40

VVhile Galsworthy was completing his two grea t trilo-

gies, The Forsyte Saga, and the ~od~ Comedy he was also
developing the character of Dinny Cherrill, his work-paint-
."
ing of aesthetic character. The development of Dinny's char-
Bcter was the inspira tion for his fin,31 three novels. They
were called l!Ta id in Wai tin~, Flo1Jvering :2ildo£nes fj, end One
More River. Tha t tTDinnylT was Galsworthy's ic1eEJl charac ter
is proved by Sir Laurence Mont, Galsworthy's mouthpiece in
the Novel, 'Maid in ~\Taiting. Sir Laurence Mont wishes 'to paint
"Dinny" as the ideal English lady.
You cotitain the answer to the riddle of the Eng-
15sh lady and I collect the essential difference
between national cUltures. 141

Dinny Cherrill lives an ethical life based on COllliuon

sense and a sympathetic and helpfUl attitude to a series of
dire and diverse experienoes. This short quotation from
M£id in Waitigg seems to prove that GalsworthyTs purpose is
still a change of attitudes! T'you believe then in the

140 Ibid. ,p. 497.

141 John Galsworthy, Maid in Waiting, (New York;

Charles [Link]'sSons,193~p. 109.
 68
[Link] on of an at ti tUde of life ra ther than in blood. n142,
In this novel he again makes an appeal for kinder
treatment toward women.
'They say [Link] are the equal of men now,' the girl
went on, 'but they· aren't, you know. There wasn't a
girl at my place that wasn't scared of the boss. Where
the money is, there's the power. .And all the magis-
trates, and judges and clergy are his) and all the
generals. They've got the whiJ3, you see, and yet
they can't do nothin' without us; and if I was Woman
as a whole, I'd show 'em.,143

In Flowerin& Wilderness Galsworthy satirizes English

outmoded codes of honor in foreign countries. He delineates
the unhappiness such foolish codes cause for no good pur-
pose. Dinny says, "But for tradition, would Wilfred mind
being thought yellow?n144

Andagain she says, lTBut we do despise beauty, Uncle.

We connect it with softness and immorality.n145
Throughout all her troubles and personal tribUlations,
Dinny preserves a helpful and sympathetic attitude toward all
people and a Huiet dignity for her own affairs.
Galsworthy says,
We save our old furniture, we have our oult--

142 Ibid., p. 156.

143 Galsworthy, Maid in Waiting, Ope oit., p. 178.
144 John Galsworthy, Flowering VVilderness (New York:
Charles Scribner's Sons, 193~p. 257.
145 Ibid., p. 274.
 and a strong one--of 'antiques,' and not even the
most go-ahead modern thought objects to that. Why
not the same throughout our social life? 'The old
order changeth'--Yes, but we ought to be able to
preserve bea~ty and dignity, and the sense of ser-
vice, andmanners. 1 46

Thus it is that Galsworthy thinks the artist controls

evolution, never by vi6~ent action, but rather, he controls
J ',., , .' ,." .'

all social change by a;:s$~~.p,ei.i;:Ltti"teJ,l~'b'tual leadership of

social thought. In his bW.t('w6rd~:::(~$1$W~G:rtihY expressed his
, , " ,. .). ~ .. j J )., .' j.'

opinion of the importance of an artist's work.

To alter a line of actio~ is nothing like so impor-
tant as to alter or enlarge a point of view over life,
a mood of living. Such enlargement is only attained
by those temperamental expressions which we know as
works of art and not as treatises in fiction form. 14 7

146 John Galsworthy, One More River. (New York:

Charles Scribner's Sons, 193~ p:-J6-.---

147 H. v. Ma~rot, The Life and Letters of John Gals-

worthy, Ope cil., pp. 719-720-.----
 71
BIBLIOGRAPHY

A. BOOKS

Galsworthy, John, Villa Rubein. New York: G. P. Putnam's

Sons, (The Knickerbocker Press), 1908. 299 pp.
Galsworthy, John, The Island Pharisees Revised Edition;
0

New York and London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1908. 317 pp.

Galsworthy, John, The Forsyte Saga. Memorial Edition; New
York; Charles Scribner's Sons, 1933. 920 pp.
Galsworthy, John, TheOountry House. New York: Charles
Scribner's Sons, 1907. 328 pp.
Galsworthy, John, Fraternit~. New York and London: G. P.
Putnam's Sons, 1909. 3 6 pp.
Galsworthy, John, The Patrician. New York: Oharles Scribner's
Sons, 1911. 3~pp.
Galsworthy, John, The Dark Flower. New York: Oharles
. Scribner's Sons, 1913. 316 pp.
Galsworthy, John, Beyond. New York: Oharles Scribner's Sons,
, 1917. 4$9 pp.
Galsworthy, John, Saint's Progress. New York: Oharles
Soribner's Sons, 1919. 404 ppo
Galsworthy, John,! Modern Comedy. New York: Oharles
Scribner's Sons, 1929. 798 pp.
Galsworthy, John, Maid In Waiting. New York: Charles
. Scribner's Sons, 1931. 362 pp.
Gal sworthy , John,FloweringWilderness. New York: Oharles
Scribner's Sons, 1932. 320 pp.
Galsworthy,.John, One More River. New York: Oharles
S·cribner's Sons, 19"3'3:" 365 pp.
G-alsworthy, John, TheFreelands~ New York: Oharles Scribner's
Saris, 1915. 412 pp •
.Galsworthy, John, The Burning Spear. New York: Charles
Scribner's Sons, 1923. 251 pp.
 72
B. ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES

Galsworthy, John, The Inn of Tranquillity. London: William

Heineman, 1912. 2~pp. Studies and Essays.
Galsworthy, John, Candelabra. New York: Charles Scribner's
Sons, 1933. Selected Essays and Addresses. 311 pp.
Galsworthy, John, Addresses In America. New York: Charles
Scribner's Sons, 19190 109 pp.
Galsworthy, John, Castles In Spain and OtherScreeds. New
York: Charles Scribners Sons, 1927. 253 pp.
Galsworthy, John, A Sheaf, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons
1916. 393 Pp.- .
Galsworthy, John, Another Sheaf~ New York: Charles Scribner's
Sons, 1919. 336 pp.

C. BOOKS (CRITICISM)

Kaye-Smith, Sheila, John GalsworthY9 New York: Henry Holt

and Company, 191b:--123 pp. Bibliography to 1915 and
Criticism o
Marrot, Harold Vincent, The Life and Letters of John Gals-
worthy. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1936-=---S18 pp ..
Daiches, David, The Novel and the:ModernWorld. Chicage:
The University of Chicago Press, 1939. 224 pp.

D. SHORT STORIES

Galsworthy, John, Five Tales. New York: Charles Scribner's

Sons, 1919. 3so-pp.
Galsworthy, John, Captures. New York: Charles Scribner's
Sons, 1924. 305 ppo
Galsworthy, John, On Forsy~e Change. New York: Charles
Scribner's Sons, 1930. 2B5 pp.
 73
E. LETTERS

Garnett, Edward, editor,Letters From John Galsworthy 1900-

1932. New ~ork: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1934. 255pp.
Reynolds, Mrs. M. E., Memories of John Galsworthy. New York:
Frederick A. Stokes Company, no date. 128 pp.