The Forsyte Saga
The main character, the solicitor and connoisseur Soames Forsyte, sees himself as a "man of property" by virtue of his ability to accumulate material possessions, but that does not succeed in bringing him pleasure.
The Man of Property, the first book, was adapted in 1949 by Hollywood as That Forsyte Woman, starring Errol Flynn, Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, and Robert Young.
She resists his grasping intentions, and falls in love with the architect Philip Bosinney, who has been engaged by Soames to build the house.
In a short interlude after The Man of Property Galsworthy delves into the newfound friendship between Irene and Old Jolyon Forsyte (June's grandfather, now the owner of the house Soames had built).
The marital discord of both Soames and his sister Winifred is the subject of the second novel (the title refers to the Court of Chancery, which dealt with domestic issues).
By the time his son Jolly dies in the South African War, Irene has developed a strong friendship with Jolyon.
Second cousins Fleur and Jon Forsyte meet and fall in love, ignorant of their parents' past troubles, indiscretions and misdeeds.
Despite her feelings for Jon, Fleur has a very suitable suitor, Michael Mont, heir to a baronetcy, who has fallen in love with her.
The title derives from Soames' reflections as he breaks up the house in which his Uncle Timothy, recently deceased in 1920 at age 101 and the last of the older generation of Forsytes, had lived a recluse, hoarding his life like property.
It was the repeat on Sunday evenings on BBC1 starting on 8 September 1968 that secured the programme's success, with 18 million tuning in for the final episode in 1969.
The first was probably a radio production of The Man of Property in 11 weekly parts commencing 9 December 1945 on the BBC Home Service.
This adaptation starred Leo Genn as Jo, Grizelda Hervey as Irene and Ronald Simpson as Soames.
Another production of the dramatised cycle, which had Rachel Gurney as Irene, Noel Johnson as Young Jolyon and Alan Wheatley as Soames, came soon after the 1967 television series.
It was the most expensive radio drama serial ever broadcast, due to its length and its big-name cast, which included Dirk Bogarde, Diana Quick, Michael Williams and Alan Howard.
The cast was led by Joseph Millson as Soames, Jessica Raine as Fleur, Juliet Aubrey as Irene, Harry Haddon Paton as Bosinney and Ewan Bailey as Young Jolyon.
[5] In 2002, the first two books and the first interlude were adapted by Granada Television for the ITV network, although, like the 1967 production, the miniseries took many liberties with Galsworthy's original work.
The principal characters played by Damian Lewis, Gina McKee, Rupert Graves, and Amanda Root return.
An adaptation of Forsyte Saga for stage will be premiering at London's Park Theatre in October 2024, bringing unheard female voices to the fore.
The two parts were adapted for stage by Shaun Mckenna and Lin Coghlan, starring Fiona Hampton, Joseph Millson, and Flora Spencer-Longhurst.
Duty versus Desire: Young Jolyon was the favourite of the family until he left his wife for his daughter's governess.
A young man comes to him and advises that he has overheard that the Chairman of the Board, Mr Emerson, has been taking commissions to invest in failing stock, losing a considerable amount of the shareholders’ money in the process.
Soames and Lawrence Mont, Michael’s father, attempt to bring this to the attention of the Board but are too late to stop Mr Emerson escaping prosecution.
Soames also visits his cousin George shortly before his death and secures a Chinese painting, the titular ‘White Monkey’.
He attends one of Fleur’s evening parties, and is smitten with Marjorie Ferrar, grand-daughter of the Marquess of Shropshire, and a lively member of a ‘fast set’.
As a result of legal manoevering by Soames, Marjorie’s views on modern morality, including the reading of ‘advanced literature’, are aired in public.
Soames is in the final days of his holiday with Fleur and Michael in Washington when he becomes aware that Jon, Anne and Irene Forsyte are in town and staying at the same hotel.
Anne and Jon decide to stay in England, and buy a farm in Sussex.. Disillusioned with Foggartism, Michael is drawn into a scheme promoted by his uncle, Rev.
Michael visits June Forsyte, who tells him the story of Fleur and Jon’s affair, and something of the tangled family history, which he hadn’t previously known.
Galsworthy states in a foreword that "They have all been written since Swan Song was finished but in place they come between the Saga and the Comedy ..." By way of explanation he writes that "It is hard to part suddenly and finally from those with whom one has lived so long; and these footnotes do really, I think, help to fill in and round out the chronicles of the Forsyte family."
This is why I super-dedicate the whole of it to one without whose instigation, sympathy, interest and criticism, my obscure inner necessity might never have pushed through the mufflement of circumstance and made me a writer – such as I am."
