![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
callmemadam2021 has been a very difficult year for me, which is probably why I sought out books I’d read before. I read an awful lot of series straight through. I hope to deal with those later but will begin with Galsworthy. I read my old omnibus edition, which takes us as far as Fleur’s marriage. I should say straight away that I am pro-Soames and anti-Irene, so if you take the opposite view, you can stop reading now and save yourself annoyance. In his introduction, Galsworthy says that many readers will feel sorry for Soames; indeed, he feels sorry for him himself but that should not make people take a dislike to Irene. Humph.
The story opens with the Forsyte family gathered in all their Victorian splendour and prosperity to celebrate the engagement of June, daughter of Young Jolyon Forsyte, to a penniless architect called Philip Bosinney. Present are Soames Forsyte and his wife Irene. Although there is a large cast of characters, the book is really about Soames and his cousin Young Jolyon, complete opposites in character. The Soames/Irene marriage is unhappy and she begins an affair with Bosinney, which is pretty bad behaviour on both their parts.
Irene eventually leaves Soames and lives alone, abroad. Young Jolyon had previously left his wife and June to run off with the governess and have two very nice children. Typical of his laissez-faire, let-any-chap-do-what-he-wants-to attitude is his failure to confront Bosinney and ask his intentions towards poor June. What a coward. Later, he finds himself a trustee of some money his father, Old Jolyon, has left to Irene. By this time the governess is dead and he marries Irene. They have a son, Jon. Soames wants a son to leave everything to and carry on his name so he marries a practical, hard-headed Frenchwoman. No son though, but a daughter, Fleur, whom Soames comes to adore. It seems inevitable that Jon and Fleur should become star-crossed lovers. Both parents are horrified and Irene’s smothering love for Jon causes him to choose her over Fleur and emigrate to America. On the rebound, Fleur marries a nice man whom she doesn’t love. There are further books, about their relationship.
The trouble with Irene is that she’s an enigma, a sort of essence of femininity and sexual allure. We never know what she thinks because, unlike with Soames or Young Jolyon, there are no interior monologues; she is always seen from the outside. People whose lives were ruined by Irene: Soames Forsyte, June Forsyte, Jon Forsyte, Fleur Forsyte. People who died before their time because of Irene: Philip Bosinney, Old Jolyon Forsyte. She is a dangerous woman. I have always thought that Galsworthy wrote this book in order to justify his own behaviour in marrying his cousin (I think she was?) who had been married to a man rather like Soames.
The story opens with the Forsyte family gathered in all their Victorian splendour and prosperity to celebrate the engagement of June, daughter of Young Jolyon Forsyte, to a penniless architect called Philip Bosinney. Present are Soames Forsyte and his wife Irene. Although there is a large cast of characters, the book is really about Soames and his cousin Young Jolyon, complete opposites in character. The Soames/Irene marriage is unhappy and she begins an affair with Bosinney, which is pretty bad behaviour on both their parts.
Irene eventually leaves Soames and lives alone, abroad. Young Jolyon had previously left his wife and June to run off with the governess and have two very nice children. Typical of his laissez-faire, let-any-chap-do-what-he-wants-to attitude is his failure to confront Bosinney and ask his intentions towards poor June. What a coward. Later, he finds himself a trustee of some money his father, Old Jolyon, has left to Irene. By this time the governess is dead and he marries Irene. They have a son, Jon. Soames wants a son to leave everything to and carry on his name so he marries a practical, hard-headed Frenchwoman. No son though, but a daughter, Fleur, whom Soames comes to adore. It seems inevitable that Jon and Fleur should become star-crossed lovers. Both parents are horrified and Irene’s smothering love for Jon causes him to choose her over Fleur and emigrate to America. On the rebound, Fleur marries a nice man whom she doesn’t love. There are further books, about their relationship.
The trouble with Irene is that she’s an enigma, a sort of essence of femininity and sexual allure. We never know what she thinks because, unlike with Soames or Young Jolyon, there are no interior monologues; she is always seen from the outside. People whose lives were ruined by Irene: Soames Forsyte, June Forsyte, Jon Forsyte, Fleur Forsyte. People who died before their time because of Irene: Philip Bosinney, Old Jolyon Forsyte. She is a dangerous woman. I have always thought that Galsworthy wrote this book in order to justify his own behaviour in marrying his cousin (I think she was?) who had been married to a man rather like Soames.
