The Global Purport Of The Book

The Man of Property, by John Galsworthy

Chapter 11

June’s Treat

Dinner began in silence; the women facing one another, and the men.

In silence the soup was finished — excellent, if a little thick; and fish was brought. In silence it was handed.

Bosinney ventured: “It’s the first spring day.”

Irene echoed softly: “Yes — the first spring day.”

“Spring!” said June: “there isn’t a breath of air!” No one replied.

The fish was taken away, a fine fresh sole from Dover. And Bilson brought champagne, a bottle swathed around the neck with white....

Soames said: “You’ll find it dry.”

Cutlets were handed, each pink-frilled about the legs. They were refused by June, and silence fell.

Soames said: “You’d better take a cutlet, June; there’s nothing coming.”

But June again refused, so they were borne away. And then Irene asked: “Phil, have you heard my blackbird?”

Bosinney answered: “Rather — he’s got a hunting-song. As I came round I heard him in the Square.”

“He’s such a darling!”

“Salad, sir?” Spring chicken was removed.

But Soames was speaking: “The asparagus is very poor. Bosinney, glass of sherry with your sweet? June, you’re drinking nothing!”

June said: “You know I never do. Wine’s such horrid stuff!”

An apple charlotte came upon a silver dish, and smilingly Irene said: “The azaleas are so wonderful this year!”

To this Bosinney murmured: “Wonderful! The scent’s extraordinary!”

June said: “How can you like the scent? Sugar, please, Bilson.”

Sugar was handed her, and Soames remarked: “This charlottes good!”

The charlotte was removed. Long silence followed. Irene, beckoning, said: “Take out the azalea, Bilson. Miss June can’t bear the scent.”

“No; let it stay,” said June.

Olives from France, with Russian caviare, were placed on little plates. And Soames remarked: “Why can’t we have the Spanish?” But no one answered.

The olives were removed. Lifting her tumbler June demanded: “Give me some water, please.” Water was given her. A silver tray was brought, with German plums. There was a lengthy pause. In perfect harmony all were eating them.

Bosinney counted up the stones: “This year — next year — some time.”

Irene finished softly: “Never! There was such a glorious sunset. The sky’s all ruby still — so beautiful!”

He answered: “Underneath the dark.”

Their eyes had met, and June cried scornfully: “A London sunset!”

Egyptian cigarettes were handed in a silver box. Soames, taking one, remarked: “What time’s your play begin?”

No one replied, and Turkish coffee followed in enamelled cups.

Irene, smiling quietly, said: “If only....”

“Only what?” said June.

“If only it could always be the spring!”

Brandy was handed; it was pale and old.

Soames said: “Bosinney, better take some brandy.”

Bosinney took a glass; they all arose.

“You want a cab?” asked Soames.

June answered: “No! My cloaks please, Bilson.” Her cloak was brought.

Irene, from the window, murmured: “Such a lovely night! The stars are coming out!”

Soames added: “Well, I hope you’ll both enjoy yourselves.”

From the door June answered: “Thanks. Come, Phil.”

Bosinney cried: “I’m coming.”

Soames smiled a sneering smile, and said: “I wish you luck!”

And at the door Irene watched them go.

Bosinney called: “Good night!”

“Good night!” she answered softly....

 

Venture

1 [intransitive always + adverb/preposition] to go somewhere that could be dangerous:

When darkness fell, he would venture out.

She paused before venturing up the steps to the door.

children who lack the confidence to venture into libraries

2 [transitive] to say or do something in an uncertain way because you are afraid it is wrong or will seem stupid:

'You're on holiday here?' he ventured.

venture to do something

I ventured to ask him what he was writing.

venture an opinion/question/word etc

If we had more information, it would be easier to venture a firm opinion.

Roy ventured a tentative smile.

venture that

I ventured that the experiment was not conclusive.

sole (камбала/палтус/морской язык)

[uncountable and countable] plural sole or soles. A flat fish that is often used for food [↪ lemon sole]:

Dover sole

swathe [transitive usually in passive] literary

to wrap or cover something in something:

women swathed in expensive furs

The moon was swathed in mist.

cutlet [countable] (отбивная)

1 a small flat piece of meat on a bone:

a lamb cutlet

vegetable/nut etc cutlet

British EnglishDFF small pieces of vegetables, nuts etc that are pressed together into a flat piece and cooked

blackbird [countable] (черный дрозд)

a common European and American bird, the male of which is completely black

asparagus [uncountable] (спаржа)

a long thin green vegetable with a point at one end

sherry plural sherries [uncountable and countable]

a pale or dark brown strong wine, originally from Spain

azalea [countable]

a small bush that has large flowers

beckon

1 [intransitive and transitive] to make a signal to someone with your hand, to show that you want them to come towards you or to follow you:

I could see my husband beckoning me.

beckon (to) somebody to do something

She beckoned to the waitress to bring more wine.

beckon somebody forward/over etc

He beckoned us over and introduced us to his wife.

tumbler [countable]

1 a glass with a flat bottom and no handle

tray [countable] (поднос)

1 a flat piece of plastic, metal, or wood, with raised edges, used for carrying things such as plates, food etc:

The waiter brought drinks on a tray.

2 a flat open container with three sides used for holding papers, documents etc on a desk

in tray (=for holding documents you still have to deal with)

out tray (=for holding documents you have dealt with)

3 especially British English a flat open container with four sides used for holding certain things:

a cat litter tray

seed tray (=a tray in which you plant seeds)

scorn [uncountable]

1 the feeling that someone or something is stupid or does not deserve respect [= contempt]

scorn for

He felt scorn for his working-class parents.

with scorn

Rachel looked at me with scorn.

enamel [uncountable] (эмаль)

1 a hard shiny substance that is put onto metal, clay etc for decoration or protection

brandy plural brandies [uncountable and countable]

a strong alcoholic drink made from wine, or a glass of this drink

cloak

1 [countable] a warm piece of clothing like a coat without sleeves that hangs loosely from your shoulders

sneer [intransitive and transitive]

to smile or speak in a very unkind way that shows you have no respect for someone or something:

'Is that your best outfit?' he sneered.

sneer at

She sneered at Tom's musical tastes.

—sneering adjective:

a sneering tone

 

The Author

John Galsworthy (14 August 1867 – 31 January 1933) was an English novelist and playwright. Notable works include The Forsyte Saga (1906–1921) and its sequels, A Modern Comedy and End of the Chapter. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1932.

John Galsworthy was born at Kingston Hill in Surrey, England into an established wealthy family, the son of John and Blanche Bailey (née Bartleet) Galsworthy. His large Kingston upon Thames estate is now the site of three schools: Marymount International, Rokeby Preparatory School and Holy Cross. He attended Harrow and New College, Oxford, training as a barrister, and was called to the bar in 1890. However, he was not keen to begin practising law and instead travelled abroad to look after the family's shipping business. During these travels he met Joseph Conrad, then the first mate of a sailing-ship moored in the harbour of Adelaide, Australia, and the two future novelists became close friends. In 1895 Galsworthy began an affair with Ada Nemesis Pearson Cooper (1864–1956), the wife of his cousin Major Arthur Galsworthy. After her divorce ten years later, they married 23 September 1905 and stayed together until his death in 1933. Prior to their marriage, they would stay clandestinely in a farmhouse called Wingstone in the village of Manaton on Dartmoor, Devon. From 1908 he took out a long lease on part of the building and made it their regular second home until 1923.

From the Four Winds, a collection of short stories, was Galsworthy's first published work in 1897. These and several subsequent works were published under the pen name John Sinjohn, and it would not be until The Island Pharisees (1904) that he would begin publishing under his own name, probably owing to the death of his father. His first play, The Silver Box (1906), became a success, and he followed it up with The Man of Property (1906), the first in the Forsyte trilogy. Although he continued writing both plays and novels, it was as a playwright that he was mainly appreciated at the time. Along with those of other writers of the time, such as George Bernard Shaw, his plays addressed the class system and social issues, two of the best known being Strife (1909) and The Skin Game (1920).

He is now far better known for his novels, particularly The Forsyte Saga, his trilogy about the eponymous family and connected lives. These books, as with many of his other works, deal with social class, upper-middle class lives in particular. Although sympathetic to his characters, he highlights their insular, snobbish, and acquisitive attitudes and their suffocating moral codes. He is viewed as one of the first writers of the Edwardian era who challenged some of the ideals of society depicted in the preceding literature of Victorian England. The depiction of a woman in an unhappy marriage furnishes another recurring theme in his work. The character of Irene in The Forsyte Saga is drawn from Ada Pearson, though her previous marriage was not as miserable as that of the character.

His work is often less convincing when it deals with the changing face of wider British society and how it affected the lower social classes. Through his writings he campaigned for a variety of causes, including prison reform, women's rights, animal welfare, and the opposition of censorship. During World War I he worked in a hospital in France as an orderly after being passed over for military service. He was elected as the first president of the International PEN literary club in 1921, was appointed to the Order of Merit in 1929—after earlier turning down a knighthood—and was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1932. He was too ill to attend the Nobel awards ceremony, and died six weeks later of a stroke.

John Galsworthy lived for the final seven years of his life at Bury in West Sussex. He died from a brain tumour at his London home, Grove Lodge, Hampstead. In accordance with his will he was cremated at Woking with his ashes then being scattered over the South Downs from an aeroplane, but there are also memorials in Highgate 'New' Cemetery and in the cloisters of New College, Oxford (the latter cut and placed in the cloisters by Eric Gill). The popularity of his fiction waned quickly after his death but the hugely successful adaptation of The Forsyte Saga in 1967 renewed interest in his work.

The Global Purport Of The Book

The Forsyte Saga is a series of three novels and two interludes (intervening episodes) published between 1906 and 1921 by John Galsworthy. They chronicle the vicissitudes of the leading members of an upper-middle-class British family. Only a few generations removed from their farmer ancestors, the family members are keenly aware of their status as "new money". The main character, Soames Forsyte, sees himself as a "man of property," by virtue of his ability to accumulate material possessions—but this does not succeed in bringing him pleasure.