Educated at Harrow and New College, Oxford, Galsworthy began practising law in 1890 with the intention of specialising in maritime law. He took a sea journey to gain some insight into this area and met Joseph Conrad, who became a life-long friend. No doubt influenced by Conrad, and also finding law not to his liking, he turned to writing. He published his first work, From the Four Winds, a collection of short stories in 1897 and his first novel, Jocelyn, in 1898 under the pseudonym of "John Sinjohn". In 1904, and published under his real name, The Island Pharisees appeared and was well-received. In 1906, he began a series of novels starting with The Man of Property which would become known as the Forsyte Saga, his record of the Forsyte family from Victorian times through the war years. The saga included Indian Summer of a Forsyte (1918), Awakening (1920), In Chancery (1920), To Let (1921), and A Modern Comedy (1929); which contained The White Monkey (1924), The Silver Spoon (1926) and Swan Song (1928). Other novels by which Galsworthy is known are The Country House (1907), Fraternity (1909) and The Patrician (1911). Galsworthy also wrote a number of plays. |