Zusammenfassung
Zusammenfassung von Die Forsyte-Saga – Gesamtausgabe
Für wen es gedacht ist
For readers who love family sagas, social detail and humane character study, and anyone drawn to Victorian and Edwardian England, love, property and class conflict.
Worum es in diesem Buch geht
The Forsyte Saga is a cycle of novels and short interludes by John Galsworthy, who died in 1933. It follows one wealthy English family across more than three decades, from the 1880s into the 1920s. The first three novels, The Man of Property, In Chancery and To Let, were gathered as The Forsyte Saga in 1922. Galsworthy added more books later, which carry the family story forward to its later generations.
Galsworthy came from a well-off family himself, and he wrote about that world with close knowledge. He saw how the Victorian upper middle class valued property, safety and respectability above almost everything. His Forsytes buy houses, invest money, make wills and guard their name. Yet the story keeps showing what that guarding costs the people inside the family, especially the women and the young.
In the next fifteen minutes you will meet the main members of the clan, follow the marriage at the heart of the first novel, and see how the quarrel passes to the next generation. You will also hear how the books are built and what they say about ownership and love. Let us begin with the family itself, and with the man who sits at its center.
In dieser Zusammenfassung
- 1The Forsytes Are a Tribe of OwnersFree
- 2Soames Marries Irene and Cannot Hold Her
- 3A House Built for Love Becomes a Quarrel
- 4Old Jolyon Stands Apart from the Clan
- 5The Quarrel Passes to a New Generation
- 6Fleur and Jon Meet Under an Old Shadow
- 7Property Is the Book's Great Theme
- 8Women in the Saga Press Against Their Limits
- 9How Galsworthy Tells the Story
Punkt 1 von 9
The Forsytes Are a Tribe of Owners
The saga opens with a family gathering in the 1880s. The Forsytes have come together at old Jolyon's house in London to celebrate the engagement of his granddaughter June. The family has risen from farming stock to comfortable wealth in a few generations, and it now lives on investments, houses and careful habits.
Galsworthy introduces the brothers one by one. Old Jolyon is the eldest, a tall and dignified man who is fond of his family but has a streak of independence. Swithin is large and vain. James is anxious and always expecting disaster. Timothy is cautious in business and rarely seen. The sisters, including Aunt Ann, Aunt Juley and Aunt Hester, act as keepers of family memory.
What unites them is a sense of property. A Forsyte values what he can hold, count and pass on. Feeling is not forbidden, but it is treated as a risk, something to keep behind closed doors. Galsworthy is gently comic about these habits, yet he does not look down on the people who have them.
The scene also sets up the outsider. June's fiance, Philip Bosinney, is a young architect with artistic ideas and little money. He does not think like a Forsyte, and the family senses it at once. His arrival is the first crack in the wall.
By the end of this opening, a reader knows the clan as a whole and feels its quiet power. Everything that follows is a test of whether that power can hold when love and freedom push against it.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
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Who’s who
- Soames Forsyte
- A wealthy London solicitor and art collector, Soames regards his wife Irene with possessive devotion.
- Irene Forsyte
- Soames's beautiful wife, Irene feels trapped in a loveless marriage and longs for independence.
- Old Jolyon Forsyte
- The wealthy patriarch is Young Jolyon's father and June's grandfather, more sympathetic than many relatives.
- Young Jolyon
- Old Jolyon's estranged son is a thoughtful painter and June's father, living apart from the clan.
- June Forsyte
- Old Jolyon's spirited granddaughter is engaged to Philip Bosinney and fiercely protective of those she loves.
- Philip Bosinney
- June's fiancé is an unconventional young architect whom Soames hires to design a country house.
- Fleur Forsyte
- Soames's clever, determined daughter belongs to the younger generation and feels drawn to Jon.
- Jon Forsyte
- Young Jolyon's gentle, artistic son meets Fleur without understanding the history dividing their parents.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 330,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 22 h
- Listening time36 h 40 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 11 other languages
Questions about Die Forsyte-Saga – Gesamtausgabe
What is The Forsyte Saga about?
It follows the wealthy Forsyte family of London over several decades, from the 1880s into the 1920s. Its main thread is the unhappy marriage of Soames and Irene and how that conflict passes to their children.
Who is Soames Forsyte?
Soames is a London solicitor and the central figure of the saga. He is proud, careful with money and fond of owning fine things, and he struggles to understand a wife who does not love him.
Is The Forsyte Saga a true story?
No, it is fiction. Galsworthy drew on the world of the English upper middle class that he knew from his own background, and he set the books against real events such as the Boer War and the Great War.
What books make up The Forsyte Saga?
The original trilogy is The Man of Property, In Chancery and To Let, joined by short interludes. Galsworthy later wrote further novels about the family.
What is the main message of The Forsyte Saga?
The books suggest that the urge to possess, whether things or people, can destroy love and freedom. Galsworthy also shows the loyalty and care in the family, so the message is not simply one of blame.