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Naturalist Drama And Galsworthy
Abstract
FIFTY YEARS AGO naturalism was the great new movement in the English theater, and John Galsworthy was its dignified prophet. But yesterday's masterpieces have become today's museum-pieces, and Galsworthy's voice is stilled. If he had been a bad dramatist, there would be no critical problem, but his plays have the virtues-serious content, clear structure, interesting characters, brilliant individual scenes-that usually guarantee long life in the theater; some of his scenes, such as that of Falder's isolation in Justice, are as good now as they ever were. As a whole, however, his work has not worn well, and what astonished its first audiences now often seems pallid or melodramatic or naive. My purpose is to suggest that this lack of durability is the fault not of Galsworthy's incompetence but of his strict adherence to naturalist theory.
This chapter provides an appraisal of criticism from Galsworthy’s contemporaries right through to twenty-first-century ones. The chapter explores, in a brief summary, the topic of literature itself through the ages to ascertain literature’s core essence and purpose. It takes into account Galsworthy’s suggestion, made more than once, to democratise education. Instead of relying mostly on academic assessment, which, as has been shown, focuses on aesthetics, the chapter recommends that Galsworthy’s fiction be reassessed more widely. It proposes that seventeen of Galsworthy’s novels, including The Forsyte Saga, be translated to screen to enable viewers around the world to enjoy Galsworthy’s compassionate imaginings of perennial human problems affecting all generations. Mindful that previous chapters have placed Galsworthy’s work in historical contexts, and in relation to problems facing the animal and human world today, the chapter recommends a fresh focus to appreciate his best novels.
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