FORSYTE SAGA Complete
By John Galsworthy
[ED. NOTE: The spelling conforms to the original: "s's" instead of our
"z's"; and "c's" where we would have "s's"; and "...our" in colour
and flavour; many interesting double consonants; etc.]
Contents
PREFACE:
THE MAN OF PROPERTY PART I
CHAPTER I--'AT HOME' AT OLD JOLYON'S CHAPTER II--OLD JOLYON GOES TO THE OPERA CHAPTER III--DINNER AT SWITHIN'S
CHAPTER IV--PROJECTION OF THE HOUSE CHAPTER V--A FORSYTE MENAGE CHAPTER VI--JAMES AT LARGE
CHAPTER VII--OLD JOLYON'S PECCADILLO CHAPTER VIII--PLANS OF THE HOUSE CHAPTER IX--DEATH OF AUNT ANN
PART II
CHAPTER I--PROGRESS OF THE HOUSE CHAPTER II--JUNE'S TREAT
CHAPTER III--DRIVE WITH SWITHIN
CHAPTER IV--JAMES GOES TO SEE FOR HIMSELF
1
CHAPTER V--SOAMES AND BOSINNEY CORRESPOND CHAPTER VI--OLD JOLYON AT THE ZOO
CHAPTER VII--AFTERNOON AT TIMOTHY'S CHAPTER VIII--DANCE AT ROGER'S CHAPTER IX--EVENING AT RICHMOND CHAPTER X--DIAGNOSIS OF A FORSYTE CHAPTER XI--BOSINNEY ON PAROLE CHAPTER XII--JUNE PAYS SOME CALLS
CHAPTER XIII--PERFECTION OF THE HOUSE CHAPTER XIV--SOAMES SITS ON THE STAIRS
PART III
CHAPTER I--MRS. MACANDER'S EVIDENCE CHAPTER II--NIGHT IN THE PARK
CHAPTER III--MEETING AT THE BOTANICAL CHAPTER IV--VOYAGE INTO THE INFERNO CHAPTER V--THE TRIAL
CHAPTER VI--SOAMES BREAKS THE NEWS CHAPTER VII--JUNE'S VICTORY
CHAPTER VIII--BOSINNEY'S DEPARTURE CHAPTER IX--IRENE'S RETURN
THE FORSYTE SAGA--VOLUME II
INDIAN SUMMER OF A FORSYTE I
II III IV
IN CHANCERY
2
PART 1
CHAPTER I--AT TIMOTHY'S
CHAPTER II--EXIT A MAN OF THE WORLD CHAPTER III--SOAMES PREPARES TO TAKE STEPS CHAPTER IV--SOHO
CHAPTER V--JAMES SEES VISIONS
CHAPTER VI--NO-LONGER-YOUNG JOLYON AT HOME CHAPTER VII--THE COLT AND THE FILLY
CHAPTER VIII--JOLYON PROSECUTES TRUSTEESHIP CHAPTER IX--VAL HEARS THE NEWS
CHAPTER X--SOAMES ENTERTAINS THE FUTURE CHAPTER XI--AND VISITS THE PAST
CHAPTER XII--ON FORSYTE 'CHANGE
CHAPTER XIII--JOLYON FINDS OUT WHERE HE IS CHAPTER XIV--SOAMES DISCOVERS WHAT HE WANTS
PART II
CHAPTER I--THE THIRD GENERATION CHAPTER II--SOAMES PUTS IT TO THE TOUCH CHAPTER III--VISIT TO IRENE
CHAPTER IV--WHERE FORSYTES FEAR TO TREAD CHAPTER V--JOLLY SITS IN JUDGMENT
CHAPTER VI--JOLYON IN TWO MINDS CHAPTER VII--DARTIE VERSUS DARTIE CHAPTER VIII--THE CHALLENGE CHAPTER IX--DINNER AT JAMES'
CHAPTER X--DEATH OF THE DOG BALTHASAR CHAPTER XI--TIMOTHY STAYS THE ROT
CHAPTER XII--PROGRESS OF THE CHASE
CHAPTER XIII--'HERE WE ARE AGAIN!'
3
CHAPTER XIV--OUTLANDISH NIGHT
PART III
CHAPTER I--SOAMES IN PARIS CHAPTER II--IN THE WEB CHAPTER III--RICHMOND PARK CHAPTER IV--OVER THE RIVER CHAPTER V--SOAMES ACTS CHAPTER VI--A SUMMER DAY CHAPTER VII--A SUMMER NIGHT CHAPTER VIII--JAMES IN WAITING CHAPTER IX--OUT OF THE WEB CHAPTER X--PASSING OF AN AGE
CHAPTER XI--SUSPENDED ANIMATION CHAPTER XII--BIRTH OF A FORSYTE CHAPTER XIII--JAMES IS TOLD CHAPTER XIV--HIS
AWAKENING TO LET
PART I I.--ENCOUNTER
II.--FINE FLEUR FORSYTE III.--AT ROBIN HILL IV.--THE MAUSOLEUM V.--THE NATIVE HEATH VI.--JON
VII.--FLEUR
VIII.--IDYLL ON GRASS
4
IX. GOYA X.--TRIO XI.--DUET XII.--CAPRICE
PART II
I.--MOTHER AND SON II.--FATHERS AND DAUGHTERS III.--MEETINGS
IV.--IN GREEN STREET V.--PURELY FORSYTE AFFAIRS VI.--SOAMES' PRIVATE LIFE VII.--JUNE TAKES A HAND
VIII.--THE BIT BETWEEN THE TEETH IX.--THE FAT IN THE FIRE X.--DECISION
XI.--TIMOTHY PROPHESIES
PART III
I.--OLD JOLYON WALKS II.--CONFESSION III.--IRENE
IV.--SOAMES COGITATES V.--THE FIXED IDEA VI.--DESPERATE VII.--EMBASSY VIII.--THE DARK TUNE
IX.--UNDER THE OAKTREE
X.--FLEUR'S WEDDING
XI.--THE LAST OF THE OLD FORSYTES
5
Volumes
Volume 1. The Man of Property
Volume 2. Indian Summer of a Forsyte, and In Chancery
Volume 3. Awakening, and To Let
THE MAN OF PROPERTY
TO MY WIFE:
I DEDICATE THE FORSYTE SAGA IN ITS ENTIRETY, BELIEVING IT TO BE OF ALL MY WORKS THE LEAST UNWORTHY OF ONE WITHOUT WHOSE ENCOURAGEMENT, SYMPATHY AND CRITICISM I COULD NEVER HAVE
BECOME EVEN SUCH A WRITER AS I AM.
PREFACE:
"The Forsyte Saga" was the title originally destined for that part of it which is called "The Man of Property"; and to adopt it for the collected chronicles of the Forsyte family has indulged the Forsytean tenacity that is in all of us. The word Saga might be objected to on the ground that it connotes the heroic and that there is little heroism in these pages. But it is used with a suitable irony; and, after all, this long tale, though it may deal with folk in frock coats, furbelows, and a gilt-edged period, is not devoid of the essential heat of conflict. Discounting for the gigantic stature and blood-thirstiness of old days, as they have come down to us in fairy-tale and legend, the folk of the old Sagas were Forsytes, assuredly, in their possessive instincts, and as little proof against the inroads of beauty and passion as Swithin, Soames, or even Young Jolyon. And if heroic figures, in days that never were, seem to startle out from their surroundings in fashion unbecoming to a Forsyte of the Victorian era, we may be sure that tribal instinct was even then the prime force, and that "family" and the sense of home and property counted as they do to this day, for all the recent efforts to "talk them out."
So many people have written and claimed that their families were the originals of the Forsytes that one has been almost encouraged to believe in the typicality of an imagined species. Manners change and modes evolve, and "Timothy's on the Bayswater Road" becomes a nest of the unbelievable in all except essentials; we shall not look upon its like again, nor perhaps on such a one as James or Old Jolyon. And yet the figures of Insurance Societies and the utterances of Judges reassure us daily that our earthly paradise is still
a rich preserve, where the wild raiders, Beauty and Passion, come stealing in, filching security from beneath our noses. As surely as a dog will bark at a brass band, so will the essential Soames in human nature ever rise up uneasily against the dissolution which hovers round the folds of ownership.
"Let the dead Past bury its dead" would be a better saying if the Past ever died. The persistence of the Past is one of those tragi-comic blessings which each new age denies, coming cocksure on to the stage to mouth its claim to a perfect novelty.
But no Age is so new as that! Human Nature, under its changing pretensions and clothes, is and ever will be very much of a Forsyte, and might, after all, be a much worse animal.