John Galsworthy's major literary achievement was the Forsyte Chronicles, a family epic consisting of two novel trilogies as well as several short stories. The Chronicles satirize upper-middle-class and upper-class British society in the Edwardian age and the immediate post-World War I period. Galsworthy was also a major dramatist, whose social dramas were very popular in his lifetime and are still performed. A compassionate reformer, he campaigned against long prison terms, abusive treatment of prisoners, class discrimination, injustice, anti-Semitism, and the intransigence of capitalists and labor union leaders.
In his novels John Galsworthy portrayed traditional “English” values: honorable behavior, love of the …
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