Galsworthy's Dilemma In A Transformative Era

Galsworthy,who won the Nobel Prize in 1932,has been considered as an outstanding novelist and playwright.In the field of Galsworthy study,scholars focused around the characters,themes and artistic techniques of the book,nevertheless,a cultural interpretation based on close reading of the text remains insufficient.With the application of Williamsian theories of “Culture Materialism”,this paper intends to make a tentative study on the theme of dilemma in Galsworthy's The Forsyte Saga,arguing that Galsworthy,stamped with the bourgeois “the structure of feeling”,presents a paradoxical attitude which is a mixture of contempt,reliance,resistance and compromise towards the upper-middle class and the Victorian era.In so doing,this paper will conclude that Galsworthy,a perplexed intellectual,who hovers between preserving tradition and embracing the new,tries to redefine his cultural identity in a time of turmoil.The thesis consists of three chapters: The first chapter focuses on the aesthetic taste gap between Bosinney,Irene and the Forsytes,and indicates that the tragedy between Boisnney and Irene springs from the paradoxical attitude towards the upper-middle class of Galsworthy.The second chapter analyzes changes in basic necessities of life that appeared at the turn of the century,and highlights the ambivalent attitude of young Jolyon(a prototype that was created based on Galsworthy)towards the rapidly changing era.The last chapter emphasizes Galsworthy's approbatory degree of predominant social values,which reveals his confusion and contradictions towards the transformation era.