Journal article
Galsworthy's Realism: A Revaluation
Modern drama, Vol.34(4), pp.483-493
1991
DOI: 10.1353/mdr.1991.0034
Abstract
The early twentieth-century image of John Galsworthy as a great author seems odd from our historical vantage point. He appears to be unworthy of the voluminous criticism, biographies, and memoirs his life and work inspired. His positive reputation among Edwardian critics was in fact erratic: it surged with the publication of The Man of Property and with the openings of The Silver Box, Strife, and Justice, but even admiring critics acknowledged that these plays far surpassed the bulk of his work, while his detractors found all his work too . conservative aesthetically. On the whole, the critical image of Galsworthy following his death was that of a good man but a superficial artist.. But there was always another image at play in the relationship between Galsworthy and his audience — one that magnified the goodness of the man. Galsworthy enjoyed an enormous popular reputation, which derived as much from his true humanitarianism as from his novels and plays, and which bestowed upon him the stature of a man smiling down upon society, paradoxically placid and scowling, an expression of deep moral anger and absolute impartiality on his face. It was this image that inspired volumes about him, and that proliferated a sense of his work's worthiness. And it is this image that has made it difficult to evaluate his work judiciously.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Galsworthy's Realism: A Revaluation
- Creators
- Art Borreca
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Modern drama, Vol.34(4), pp.483-493
- Publisher
- University of Toronto Press
- DOI
- 10.1353/mdr.1991.0034
- ISSN
- 0026-7694
- eISSN
- 1712-5286
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 1991
- Academic Unit
- Theatre Arts
- Record Identifier
- 9984418887002771
Metrics
1 Record Views