John Galsworthy's greatest achievement was undoubtedly his creation in fiction of an essentially English family of the comfortable middle-class in the later Victorian years. He wrote many books with this background, but outstanding "The Forsyte Saga", which tells of the Forsyte family over several generations. It is undoubtedly one of the most widely read novels of this century and among the six best-known narratives in the English language.
It is an open secret that Galsworthy drew upon his own memories of family life to achieve the rich, authentic atmosphere which has made "The Forsyte Saga" accepted throughout the world as the most masterly interpretation in all fiction of the British life and character of the period.
Indeed, a we-known critic once said "To have read 'The Forsyte Saga' is to have imbibed a liberal education not only in letters but in life," and he well described the author by saying "The charm of Galsworthy is that he walks so closely with life. He is a neither a dreaming idealist nor a vulgar realist."
[...]