John Galsworthy, whose biography is presented in this article, is an English playwright and novelist of the 19th century. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Biography
John was born in Surrey in 1867. His family was not poor because his father owned a large company, was also a certified lawyer, and his mother was the daughter of a serious industrialist.
John Galsworthy had to follow in his father's footsteps. He studied at the prestigious Harrow School, then went to Oxford University. Among his main hobbies were sports and reading. Galsworthy even became a master of football and cricket. Among literary preferences were Thackeray, Dickens.
After graduation, he did not start legal practice, but went to travel. Formally, this trip was business in nature (family business), but in fact, John Galsworthy simply pretended to be interested in it.
In 1904, his father dies, and John regains complete freedom of action.
In 1921 he founded and became president of the PEN Club.
Soon, Galsworthy began to suffer terrible headaches. Doctors diagnosed a brain tumor. John was unable to attend the Nobel Prize ceremony because of his illness.
He died in 1933 in London. Galsworthy wished to be cremated. His ashes were scattered from an airplane over the top of Bury Hill.
Personal life
John Galsworthy was married, but this marriage was not easy for him. Ada Pearson, his chosen one, was the wife of Arthur Galsworthy's cousin.
John met the pretty Ada at her wedding. And after she believed in his literary talent, she fell in love irrevocably!
The marriage of Ada and Arthur was unhappy. The mutual sympathy of John and the girl was growing. Lovers secretly met for almost ten years, and in 1905 they finally got married.
Ada took care of her husband too much, not letting him out of sight for even a second. This is probably why, at the age of 44, John Galsworthy met the young dancer Margaret. She fell in love immediately, the writer was simply carried away, but when he saw the suffering of his wife, who felt cooling on his part, she broke with Margaret.
Between spouses never again those tremulous feelings that were before. Ada considered her husband a traitor. But his death simply crushed the poor woman.
Until her death, she re-read two poems written for her by John, and remembered her love.
Literary career
A collection of short stories by John Galsworthy was published in 1987. The second publication was the novel "Jocelyn." Then the writer worked under the pseudonym, but everyone knew that it was John Galsworthy. Reviews of his works were somewhat controversial, but not negative, which pleased.
In 1906, the play "Silver Box" was released, which became quite successful. The topics that the writer raised in his works dealt with class relationships, inequality in society. His dramas began to be staged in theaters in London.
Galsworthy has twenty novels, twenty seven plays, three poetry collections, many short stories and essays. But the foremost business of his life was the Forsyte Saga.
"The Forsyte Saga"
The history of the Forsyth family was created from 1906 to 1921. The main theme of the novels is the life of social classes. The author sympathizes with his heroes, but can not help but talk about their snobbery, greed and even immorality. Most of these qualities were characteristic of the upper class of that time.
John Galsworthy, whose photographs were published in all London newspapers after the novels, first cast doubt on the ideals of modern society.
John writes about three generations of the Forsyth family, takes a lot from his personal life and the fate of the people around him.
This monumental work includes the novel The Forsyte Rescue, published in 1901.
This was followed by a series of novels, united under the general title "The Foresight Saga":
- Owner (1906)
- In the loop (1920)
- For rent (1921).
Between them, the interludes of 1918, "The Last Forsyth Summer" and 1920, "Awakening", were perched.
In 1929-1930, Galsworthy published a collection of short stories, "On the Foresight Exchange," and in the preface indicates that without reading the Saga, the meaning will not be clear.
Several times the novels were filmed. One of the best works is the BBC television film (1967), after which the name of John Galsworthy was again heard.
The Hollywood version of 1949 was created by Metro Goldwin Mayer.