The White Monkey is fourth in the Forsyte series of novels. The nine novels which make up The Forsyte Chronicles -- one of the most popular and enduring works of 20th century literature -- chronicle the ebbing social power of the commercial upper-middle class Forsyte family between 1886 and 1920. Galsworthy's masterly narrative examines not only their fortunes but also the wider developments within society, particularly the changing position of women. The author has drawn a fascinating and accurately detailed picture of the British propertied class Often incorrectly called The Forsyte Saga - the nine novel sequence properly known as The Forsyte Chronicles contains three trilogies - of which the first trilogy is The Forsyte Saga (The Man of Property - In Chancery - To Let). The second trilogy, A Modern Comedy (The White Monkey - The Silver Spoon - Swan Song) is followed by the third and concluding trilogy, End of the Chapter (Maid in Waiting - Flowering Wilderness - One More River). John Galsworthy (1867-1933) devoted virtually his entire professional career to creating a fictional but entirely representative family of propertied Victorians- the Forsytes. He made their lives and times- loves and losses- fortunes and deaths so real that readers accused him of including as characters in his drama real individuals whom they knew. He was the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1932.
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John Galsworthy (1867–1933) was a celebrated writer and dramatist, and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1932.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The second trilogy begins.,
By frumiousb "frumiousb" (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (TOP 500 REVIEWER)
This review is from: The White Monkey (The Forsyte Chronicles, Book 4) (Mass Market Paperback)
This trilogy (A Modern Comedy) opens with the focus on Fleur, the daughter of the man of property, Soames. When we last saw Fleur in To Let, she was marrying the wealthy and feckless Michael Mont after having been disappointed in love.
As this book opens, Fleur is just shy of her two year wedding anniversary and she has recently discovered that Wilfred Desert, a good friend of Michael, has become too fond of her. She hates to lose Wilfred as a friend and social acquaintance, and she thinks that since she does not feel real love for either of them, she might as well see what Wilfred has to offer. Meanwhile, Michael develops into a Don Quixote character, getting dragged into helping everyone who asks him for help and becoming involved in oddball politics. The book spends the rest of its time resolving the triangle, and moves Fleur through this transition period into the next phase of her life. The White Monkey of the title is a valuable Chinese painting given to the couple by Soames. The painting repels and fascinates whoever sees it, and represents the juncture of the collecting efforts of both Soames and Fleur. The second trilogy has often been criticized for being less realistic in its characters than the first. Wilford in particular has been said to be exaggerated and inaccurate. I tend to think that these criticisms miss the point. Galsworthy is not so much interested in realistic characters as he is again examining changing morals, this time with the new elements that the postwar generation introduces. Fleur and her oddly passionless nature make her an ideal foil for the examination of relationships from the female point of view. The loyal Mrs. Bicket is a wonderful contrast for somehow managing moral correctness in her marriage despite behaviour that is externally much worse. One of the delightful things for me is that Soames himself is partially rehabilitated in this book, as the character traits that made him so awful in his relationship with Irene here lead him to do the correct thing in business. In contrast to the more critical views, I found the characters well drawn and fascinating in their intricate moral dance. The book is bound with "A Silent Wooing", a coda that fills us in on what is happening with Jon in the new world, providing a hint for what The Silver Spoon will bring us in the next trilogy entry.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Consorting with iconoclasm,
This review is from: The Forsyte Saga: The White Monkey (Paperback)
Most people think of John Galsworthy's "Forsyte Saga" as ending after its third book, with the dissolving of Fleur and Jon's romance.
But the story doesn't actually stop there -- the focus just shifts to another generation, in the rebellious bloom of the Roaring 20s. And while "The White Monkey" dallies too long with interior decor and the internal feuds of London's chic young set, it takes some important steps for the increasingly passionless Fleur Forsyte, and rekindling the problems of her past. Fleur and her husband Michael are about to celebrate their second anniversary. Their home is a picture of modern multicultural chic, and Fleur is determined to find "nice things, and interesting people; I like seeing everything that's new and worth while, or seems so at the moment." But Fleur's increasingly passionless outlook causes some problems when a friend of her husband's, the cynical and artistic Wilfred, confesses that he's in love with her. Meanwhile her husband Michael becomes involved in various people's troubles, including a young man desperate to take his young wife to Australia, and unaware of the unconventional means she's using to get money for their journey. As the older Forsytes continue to die off -- resulting in Soames giving Fleur a bizarre picture of a white monkey -- Michael's world begins to fall apart. He first learns of Wilfred's love for Fleur -- and then for the past love affair between Fleur and Jon, which relegated him to a mere consolation prize. The Mont marriage seems to be in trouble, but may be saved by an unexpected -- and long-awaited -- twist for them. While the first "Forsyte Saga" trilogy was steeped in the flavour of the dying Victorian age, the second trilogy opens with a distinctly twentieth-century bang -- especially since Fleur is now away from the elder Forsytes and their unchanging ways. There are still hints of the older generation's culture -- usually from Soames, his distant French wife Annette or Old Mont -- but that's not what dominates "The White Monkey." Galsworthy's writing is still possessed of dignity, mild humor, and an undercurrent of social commentary -- in this case, a subplot about the impoverished Bicket and his sickly wife. But he also links into the trendy, fast-paced life of the Bright Young Things of the time, and the rapid and unexpected shifts in art, literature, architecture, social mores -- as well as the lingering burns from the first World War. As he chronicles these, he also takes some well-deserved jabs at them ("look at the way they all write books of reminiscence about each other!"). If there's a problem, it's that Galsworthy dallies too long with the decor of the Monts' house and social meanderings -- it feels too lightweight and plotless. Fortunately it gets back on track when Michael discovers Fleur's past -- and possible present -- romances. And the story is filled with a strange kind of poetry ("seven men in black coats filed in, and with little bows took their seats behind the quills") that gives importance to even small gestures and expressions. Fleur is a very different creature than the one whose fiery first love was quashed so suddenly -- she seems passionless, drifting, and only interested in acquiring social and artistic prominence. Even the men who worship her don't seem to touch her as much as her dog, and she can't seem to feel anything stronger than a mild fondness for them. That's a shame because Michael is an adorable, faithful little guy who tries to do the best thing for everybody, while Wilfred is a rather stereotypical Angry Young Artist. And Bicket and his wife Vic offer a marital struggle to parallel Michael and Fleur's -- a nude modeling job done out of pure love and hope for the future, but fosters distrust between the hardworking young man and his sickly wife. The ongoing tale of the Forsytes wrenches its focus from the elder generation to the younger, and while the "The White Monkey" lacks passion and drive in the first half, it regains its footing later on.
5.0 out of 5 stars
~be the monkey?~,
By
This review is from: The Forsyte Saga: The White Monkey (Paperback)
While the "initial" Forsyte Saga ends after its third book (To Let, 1921), with the dissolving of Fleur and Jon's romance, Galsworthy continued the series and in 1924 wrote The White Monkey which shifts attention onto the relations of the new generation. Here we still meet Soames (and learn a touch about Jon and his mother, Irene, in the interlude that follows), but the main focus of the fourth book of the Forsyte Saga (and the first one in the Modern Comedy series) is on Fleur, her husband Michael and the passions and rush to live of the generation of the Roaring 20-es.Fleur is "collecting" the curious types of her level of the society; she longs for passion and yet is "French enough" to evaluate her life in cool head and heart. Finally, she decides to become a mother: two years have passed since her marriage to Michael and Soames was getting worried that she might get too involved into "white monkey ways" of the "literary types" surrounding her. Parallel plots of lives of less privileged members of the society give the full picture of the UK in the beginning of the 20th century. The book is filled with exquisite social satire in the image of the White Monkey that became a "symbol" of the generation, which "eats oranges", enjoys the moment and does not think about the meaning and purpose of it all, but the pleasure gained here and now. The allegory of the civilization is striking and seems to be written about us, the generation of the 21st century. Perhaps, the Wheel of Fortune has done a full circle and we are on the same spot all over again: not in a hurry to start families, looking for pleasures of the moment, not relying on the trusted values. I do not have the English original of the book, but to translate from Russian, we "talk too much; too much and too quick! Due to it, they (current generation) is to loose interest to all in life, soon, very soon. They suck out the life and trow the orange peel away..." Reading Galsworthy series one dives into the society and the mood of the era author writes about, even such moments as the wide popularity of Freud's work and the growing fondness of affirmations: Fleur thinks that the baby in her womb "becomes more and more a boy!", Soames repeats that he is calm, Annet became so "relaxed" that put on excess weight. Just think that soon to be 100 years since, and we still repeat that "every day in every way I become better and better!" Isn't it the "prove" of "running on one spot"?... So, what does the generation of the Roaring 20-es - and we - put our faith in? I agree with Soames' son in law, Michael,(translated from Russian): "Oh, it isn't true that there is nothing outside of a man that would touch him in earnest: there is, damn it, there is! Feelings are not dead; faith and hope are not vanished. Perhaps, they are just changing the skins, becoming butterflies freeing from their cocoons. It is possible that hope, feelings, faith have hidden themselves: but they exist in in Old Forsyte and in him, Michael, too." Victoria Evangelina Belyavskaya
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