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Fraternity
A satire of middle class complacency and artistic aspiration follows a bohemian love triangle
232 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1909
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61 people want to read
About the author
John Galsworthy
2,463 books476 followersLiterary career of English novelist and playwright John Galsworthy, who used John Sinjohn as a pseudonym, spanned the Victorian, Edwardian and Georgian eras.
In addition to his prolific literary status, Galsworthy was also a renowned social activist. He was an outspoken advocate for the women's suffrage movement, prison reform and animal rights. Galsworthy was the president of PEN, an organization that sought to promote international cooperation through literature.
John Galsworthy was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1932 "for his distinguished art of narration which takes its highest form in The Forsyte Saga."
In addition to his prolific literary status, Galsworthy was also a renowned social activist. He was an outspoken advocate for the women's suffrage movement, prison reform and animal rights. Galsworthy was the president of PEN, an organization that sought to promote international cooperation through literature.
John Galsworthy was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1932 "for his distinguished art of narration which takes its highest form in The Forsyte Saga."
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 5, 2016
Galsworthy does not cease to amaze. This work is perhaps more amazing in some ways, even when compared to his most famous Forsyte series.
Fraternity begins almost as an afterthought of a yawn, with a small gathering of various persona at an English uppercaste but not quite aristocrat family, two couples where two sisters are married to two brothers and the father of the sisters lives with one of the couples, while the other has a daughter almost engaged to a cousin on her mother's side who is serious about helping the poor. The father, Stone, is writing a book titled Universal Brotherhood of Man, and is dead serious about the whole thought of how humanity is a fraternity. And then the other half he has included not quite explicitly emerges to be a serious omission in terms of thought.
Stone is living with the daughter who is an artist and proud and sensitive - and has lost love of her life, her husband, by expecting much and not letting him know but wait, and baffle him. She is a painter and the young model she used lately needs help, employment, guidance, and more. So the young model is set up as a help for Stone's project to help him copy his fresh works everyday. She lives renting a room in proximity with the seamstress who is employed by the sisters, and the brutish husband of the seamstress begins to be proprietory about the model, and his dark brooding about her occupation in the family and possible connection with the husband of the artist is the beginning of the trouble.
In a society where decency is above all, progressive thought conflicts with old tradition and fraternity of humanity is not in accord with castes where a low caste poor young woman could only be a servant of one sort or another to an upper caste male. The gentleman is sympathetic, and would rather help the young woman, since she has no other guardian, but he fails to see the various complications such innocent help sets in motion - her dependence on him, his being attracted, the jealousy of the poor brute married to the seamstress, the disturbing of balance in his marriage, and more.
Galsworthy takes it to critical planes with some home truths via the young daughter of the family visiting the poor in company of her suitor, and a couple of small and not so small events. Before one knows it is all at a critical stage, and one wonders how it could have come so far with such decent people merely being sympathetic to poor. Decency of people involved does not help any, however, when it comes to it - what does help is the old tradition, caste, where a gentleman may not consort with a woman of low caste. He is not acting on tradition however, he has instincts too finicky, and there is no other way of defining them than in terms of what is called caste.
Much told and many questions but all in the almost impressionistic tradition of words painting a Monet in literature, where one sees only a gentle mist and not much of strong lines, but a picture of a society in churning of times where empire is graduating to a commonwealth of republics and caste is giving way, with tragedies of dire sort in the turmoil depicted with force that hit one and one wonders how the mist overlaying could have hidden it all so - and that is Galsworthy.
Monday, March 23, 2015.
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September 17, 2016
Weird book, psychologically intense. The character of the model is intriguing. The well-meaning but naive kids remind me a bit of those today.
September 10, 2022
Fraternity is the second book in the trilogy known as Worshipful Society.I haven’t researched this set of books, but it isn’t nearly as well thought of as Galsworthy’s Forsyth Saga, and after reading two books from this trilogy, I still don’t know what the connection between the books might be. I didn’t recognize any recurring character, so perhaps the linkage is thematic around social issues of divorce, class differences and so on.
As with The Country House, the first of the trilogy, I was drawn in fairly early on. Galsworthy can write long descriptions and lengthy paragraphs with the best of them, but he doesn’t tend to spend half a page describing how someone is dressed or other details. He balances physical descriptions with characters’ thoughts and he likes to show the thoughts of animals, most often dogs. Or at least what they might think if they could have such rational thoughts.
Class differences are highlighted in this book much as divorce was in the first of the trilogy (The Country House), both as regard the treatment and suffering of the poor, and in the conflicts of romance between the classes.
There are two young family members, Thyme and Martin, who seem more modern than the rest of the characters, but I must say that a minor character really made the story come alive for me. Her name is MAry and she is also young. She only appears in a few pages, but she is a scene stealer in my mind. She is witty and spunky and has a modern feel to her. I am glad she appeared late in the book, for I would have missed her if she passed in and out of the plot early on. I think she reminds me of females characters I have created in my own novels, and it makes me wish there was a book with her as the main character.
But never mind; she was a flaming comet flashing across the country sky, so I must let her go and wait to see what the third book in the series holds for me.
As with The Country House, the first of the trilogy, I was drawn in fairly early on. Galsworthy can write long descriptions and lengthy paragraphs with the best of them, but he doesn’t tend to spend half a page describing how someone is dressed or other details. He balances physical descriptions with characters’ thoughts and he likes to show the thoughts of animals, most often dogs. Or at least what they might think if they could have such rational thoughts.
Class differences are highlighted in this book much as divorce was in the first of the trilogy (The Country House), both as regard the treatment and suffering of the poor, and in the conflicts of romance between the classes.
There are two young family members, Thyme and Martin, who seem more modern than the rest of the characters, but I must say that a minor character really made the story come alive for me. Her name is MAry and she is also young. She only appears in a few pages, but she is a scene stealer in my mind. She is witty and spunky and has a modern feel to her. I am glad she appeared late in the book, for I would have missed her if she passed in and out of the plot early on. I think she reminds me of females characters I have created in my own novels, and it makes me wish there was a book with her as the main character.
But never mind; she was a flaming comet flashing across the country sky, so I must let her go and wait to see what the third book in the series holds for me.
February 29, 2012
It's no "Forsyte Saga" and more difficult to read. The theme of the "classes" is here again. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone(like I do Forsyte); but I'm not sorry I read it myself.
Read
November 7, 2013Couldn't get past page 22,,, I just couldn't get into it.
July 29, 2021
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Fraternity
by John Galsworthy
.......................................................................
.......................................................................
Galsworthy does not cease to amaze. This work is perhaps more amazing in some ways, even when compared to his most famous Forsyte series.
Fraternity begins almost as an afterthought of a yawn, with a small gathering of various persona at an English uppercaste but not quite aristocrat family, two couples where two sisters are married to two brothers and the father of the sisters lives with one of the couples, while the other has a daughter almost engaged to a cousin on her mother's side who is serious about helping the poor. The father, Stone, is writing a book titled Universal Brotherhood of Man, and is dead serious about the whole thought of how humanity is a fraternity. And then the other half he has included not quite explicitly emerges to be a serious omission in terms of thought.
Stone is living with the daughter who is an artist and proud and sensitive - and has lost love of her life, her husband, by expecting much and not letting him know but wait, and baffle him. She is a painter and the young model she used lately needs help, employment, guidance, and more. So the young model is set up as a help for Stone's project to help him copy his fresh works everyday. She lives renting a room in proximity with the seamstress who is employed by the sisters, and the brutish husband of the seamstress begins to be proprietory about the model, and his dark brooding about her occupation in the family and possible connection with the husband of the artist is the beginning of the trouble.
In a society where decency is above all, progressive thought conflicts with old tradition and fraternity of humanity is not in accord with castes where a low caste poor young woman could only be a servant of one sort or another to an upper caste male. The gentleman is sympathetic, and would rather help the young woman, since she has no other guardian, but he fails to see the various complications such innocent help sets in motion - her dependence on him, his being attracted, the jealousy of the poor brute married to the seamstress, the disturbing of balance in his marriage, and more.
Galsworthy takes it to critical planes with some home truths via the young daughter of the family visiting the poor in company of her suitor, and a couple of small and not so small events. Before one knows it is all at a critical stage, and one wonders how it could have come so far with such decent people merely being sympathetic to poor. Decency of people involved does not help any, however, when it comes to it - what does help is the old tradition, caste, where a gentleman may not consort with a woman of low caste. He is not acting on tradition however, he has instincts too finicky, and there is no other way of defining them than in terms of what is called caste.
Much told and many questions but all in the almost impressionistic tradition of words painting a Monet in literature, where one sees only a gentle mist and not much of strong lines, but a picture of a society in churning of times where empire is graduating to a commonwealth of republics and caste is giving way, with tragedies of dire sort in the turmoil depicted with force that hit one and one wonders how the mist overlaying could have hidden it all so - and that is Galsworthy.
.......................................................................
.......................................................................
Monday, March 23, 2015
.......................................................................
.......................................................................
.......................................................................
Fraternity
by John Galsworthy
.......................................................................
.......................................................................
Galsworthy does not cease to amaze. This work is perhaps more amazing in some ways, even when compared to his most famous Forsyte series.
Fraternity begins almost as an afterthought of a yawn, with a small gathering of various persona at an English uppercaste but not quite aristocrat family, two couples where two sisters are married to two brothers and the father of the sisters lives with one of the couples, while the other has a daughter almost engaged to a cousin on her mother's side who is serious about helping the poor. The father, Stone, is writing a book titled Universal Brotherhood of Man, and is dead serious about the whole thought of how humanity is a fraternity. And then the other half he has included not quite explicitly emerges to be a serious omission in terms of thought.
Stone is living with the daughter who is an artist and proud and sensitive - and has lost love of her life, her husband, by expecting much and not letting him know but wait, and baffle him. She is a painter and the young model she used lately needs help, employment, guidance, and more. So the young model is set up as a help for Stone's project to help him copy his fresh works everyday. She lives renting a room in proximity with the seamstress who is employed by the sisters, and the brutish husband of the seamstress begins to be proprietory about the model, and his dark brooding about her occupation in the family and possible connection with the husband of the artist is the beginning of the trouble.
In a society where decency is above all, progressive thought conflicts with old tradition and fraternity of humanity is not in accord with castes where a low caste poor young woman could only be a servant of one sort or another to an upper caste male. The gentleman is sympathetic, and would rather help the young woman, since she has no other guardian, but he fails to see the various complications such innocent help sets in motion - her dependence on him, his being attracted, the jealousy of the poor brute married to the seamstress, the disturbing of balance in his marriage, and more.
Galsworthy takes it to critical planes with some home truths via the young daughter of the family visiting the poor in company of her suitor, and a couple of small and not so small events. Before one knows it is all at a critical stage, and one wonders how it could have come so far with such decent people merely being sympathetic to poor. Decency of people involved does not help any, however, when it comes to it - what does help is the old tradition, caste, where a gentleman may not consort with a woman of low caste. He is not acting on tradition however, he has instincts too finicky, and there is no other way of defining them than in terms of what is called caste.
Much told and many questions but all in the almost impressionistic tradition of words painting a Monet in literature, where one sees only a gentle mist and not much of strong lines, but a picture of a society in churning of times where empire is graduating to a commonwealth of republics and caste is giving way, with tragedies of dire sort in the turmoil depicted with force that hit one and one wonders how the mist overlaying could have hidden it all so - and that is Galsworthy.
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Monday, March 23, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews