Profile of John Galsworthy on Famous Like Me

John Galsworthy (August 14, 1867 – January 31, 1933) was an English novelist and playwright. Notable works include The Forsyte Saga (1906 - 1921) and its sequels, A Modern Comedy and End of the Chapter. He won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1932.

Born at Kingston Hill in Surrey, England into an established wealthy family, Galsworthy attended Harrow and New College, Oxford, training as a barrister. However, he soon began to put his writing first, especially after forming a friendship with Joseph Conrad. His first play, The Silver Box (1906) became a success, and he followed it up with The Man of Property (1906), the first in the Forsyte trilogy. This remains by far his best-known work, but in his lifetime he published several other novels, including The Island Pharisees (1904) and many plays, the best known of which include Strife (1909) and The Skin Game (1920). Much of Galsworthy's work contains social commentary, focusing especially on the British class system. The depiction of a woman in an unhappy marriage furnishes another recurring theme in his work.

He was the first president of the International PEN.

John Galsworthy died from a brain tumour.

Adaptations

The Forsyte Saga has been filmed several times:

• That Forsyte Woman (1949), dir. by Compton Bennett
• BBC television drama (1967), dir. by James Cellan Jones, David Giles, starring Eric Porter, Nyree Dawn Porter, Kenneth More, Susan Hampshire, Joseph O'Conor, adaptor Lennox Philips and others, 26 parts
• Granada television drama (2002), dir. by Christopher Menaul, starring Gina McKee, Damian Lewis, Rupert Graves, Colin Redgrave, 13 parts.

The Skin Game was adapted and directed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1931. It starred VC France, Helen Haye, Jill Esmond, Edmund Gwenn, John Longden but is not considered among Hitchcock's best. Escape was filmed in 1930 and 1948. The latter was directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, starring Rex Harrison, Peggy Cummings, William Hartnell. The screenplay was by Philip Dunne.

Selected works

• From The Four Winds, 1897 (as John Sinjohn)
• Jocelyn, 1898 (as John Sinjohn)
• Villa Rubein, 1900 (as John Sinjohn) - Punainen huvila
• A Man Of Devon, 1901 (as John Sinjohn)
• The Island Pharisees, 1904
• The Silver Box, 1906
• The Forsyte Saga, 1906-21
  • The Man Of Property, 1906
  • In Chancery, 1920
  • Awakening, 1920
  • To Let, 1921
• The Country House, 1907
• A Commentary, 1908
• Fraternity, 1909
• The Silver Box, 1909
• A Justification For The Censorship Of Plays, 1909
• Strife, 1909
• Fraternity, 1909
• Joy, 1909
• Justice, 1910
• A Motley, 1910
• The Spirit Of Punishment, 1910
• Horses In Mines, 1910
• The Patrician, 1911
• The Little Dream, 1911
• The Pigeon, 1912
• The Eldest Son, 1912
• Moods, Songs, And Doggerels, 1912
• For Love Of Beasts, 1912
• The Inn Of Tranquillity, 1912
• The Dark Flower, 1913
• The Fugitive, 1913
• The Mob, 1914
• The Freelands, 1915
• The Little Man, 1915
• A Bit's Love, 1915
• A Sheaf, 1916
• Beyond, 1917
• Five Tales, 1918
• A Saint's Progress, 1919
• Addresses In America, 1912
• The Foundations, 1920
• In Chancery, 1920
• Awakening, 1920
• The Skin Game, 1920
• To Let, 1920
• A Family Man, 1922
• The Little Man, 1922
• Loyalties, 1922
• Windows, 1922
• Captures, 1923
• Abracadabra, 1924
• The Forest, 1924
• Old English, 1924
• The Show, 1925
• Escape, 1926
• Verses New And Old, 1926
• Castles In Spain, 1927
• A Modern Comedy, 1924-1928
  • The White Monkey, 1924
  • The Silver Spoon, 1926
  • Swan Song, 1928
• Two Forsyte Interludes, 1927
• The Manaton Edition, 1923-26 (collection, 30 vols.)
• Exiled, 1929
• The Roof, 1929
• On Forsyte Change, 1930
• Two Essays On Conrad, 1930
• Soames And The Flag, 1930
• The Creation Of Character In Literature, 1931
• Maid In Waiting, 1931
• Forty Poems, 1932
• Flowering Wilderness, 1932
• Over The River, 1933
• Autobiographical Letters Of Galsworthy: A Correspondence With Frank Harris, 1933
• The Grove Edition, 1927-34 (collection, 27 Vols.)
• Collected Poems, 1934
• End Of The Chapter, 1934 (Trilogy)
• Punch And Go, 1935
• The Life And Letters, 1935
• The Winter Garden, 1935
• Forsytes, Pendyces And Others, 1935
• End Of The Chapter, 1935
• Selected Short Stories, 1935
• Glimpses And Reflections, 1937
• Galsworthy's Letters To Leon Lion, 1968
• Letters From John Galsworthy 1900-1932, 1970

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