登陆注册
5227100000003

第3章 PREFACE:(2)

Men are, in fact, quite unable to control their own inventions; they at best develop adaptability to the new conditions those inventions create.

But this long tale is no scientific study of a period; it is rather an intimate incarnation of the disturbance that Beauty effects in the lives of men.

The figure of Irene, never, as the reader may possibly have observed, present, except through the senses of other characters, is a concretion of disturbing Beauty impinging on a possessive world.

One has noticed that readers, as they wade on through the salt waters of the Saga, are inclined more and more to pity Soames, and to think that in doing so they are in revolt against the mood of his creator. Far from it! He, too, pities Soames, the tragedy of whose life is the very simple, uncontrollable tragedy of being unlovable, without quite a thick enough skin to be thoroughly unconscious of the fact. Not even Fleur loves Soames as he feels he ought to be loved. But in pitying Soames, readers incline, perhaps, to animus against Irene: After all, they think, he wasn't a bad fellow, it wasn't his fault; she ought to have forgiven him, and so on!

And, taking sides, they lose perception of the simple truth, which underlies the whole story, that where sex attraction is utterly and definitely lacking in one partner to a union, no amount of pity, or reason, or duty, or what not, can overcome a repulsion implicit in Nature. Whether it ought to, or no, is beside the point; because in fact it never does. And where Irene seems hard and cruel, as in the Bois de Boulogne, or the Goupenor Gallery, she is but wisely realistic--knowing that the least concession is the inch which precedes the impossible, the repulsive ell.

A criticism one might pass on the last phase of the Saga is the complaint that Irene and Jolyon those rebels against property-- claim spiritual property in their son Jon. But it would be hypercriticism, as the tale is told. No father and mother could have let the boy marry Fleur without knowledge of the facts; and the facts determine Jon, not the persuasion of his parents.

Moreover, Jolyon's persuasion is not on his own account, but on Irene's, and Irene's persuasion becomes a reiterated: "Don't think of me, think of yourself!" That Jon, knowing the facts, can realise his mother's feelings, will hardly with justice be held proof that she is, after all, a Forsyte.

But though the impingement of Beauty and the claims of Freedom on a possessive world are the main prepossessions of the Forsyte Saga, it cannot be absolved from the charge of embalming the upper-middle class. As the old Egyptians placed around their mummies the necessaries of a future existence, so I have endeavoured to lay beside the, figures of Aunts Ann and Juley and Hester, of Timothy and Swithin, of Old Jolyon and James, and of their sons, that which shall guarantee them a little life here- after, a little balm in the hurried Gilead of a dissolving "Progress."

If the upper-middle class, with other classes, is destined to "move on" into amorphism, here, pickled in these pages, it lies under glass for strollers in the wide and ill-arranged museum of Letters. Here it rests, preserved in its own juice: The Sense of Property.

1922.

THE MAN OF PROPERTY by JOHN GALSWORTHY

"........ You will answer The slaves are ours ....."

-Merchant of Venice.

TO EDWARD GARNETT

同类推荐
  • 澎湖台湾纪略

    澎湖台湾纪略

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 温公日记

    温公日记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • Kansas Women in Literature

    Kansas Women in Literature

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 台案汇录戊集

    台案汇录戊集

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 遁甲演义

    遁甲演义

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 总裁小逃妻

    总裁小逃妻

    一场算计的复仇计划,他化身为狼,她是入了陷阱的倔强小绵羊。一场交易,一份卖身契,一出戏,她成为他身边的女人。她的倔强让自己一次次受伤,她的心在恶狼偶尔的温柔丢失。一场大火,最好的伙伴生死不明,最亲的父亲离去,她消失无影无踪。五年后,盛大的颁奖礼上,她接过他手中象征荣誉的奖颁,风情万种,“弈少,好久不见。”他倾身上前,将她纳入怀中,“你是谁?”“你猜。”她在他耳畔吐气吩兰,转而推开他,一个豪丽的转身,将他抛在身后。当狼不再只剩下野性,当羊不再温顺,一场爱的较量,精彩展开。
  • 桥声

    桥声

    陆成安与其他赶在春节前返乡的人一样,踏上了归家的路途。他本不想回家,父亲的一通电话却带来了母亲的噩耗,使他不得不作出这个决定。可回到家后的陆成安发现,一切变化都出乎他的意料,物是人非的背后,有太多隐秘不清的东西正在窥视着他。无数个陌生人走进他的生活,有太多他不知道的和当时无法触及的秘密,正向他席卷而来。孤独、无助、迷惘、无能为力,生活裹挟着他,正朝着未知的方向疾驰而去……生活就像是一座人来人往的桥,它承载着来往的路人的命运与悲喜,唯独发不出属于自己的声音……
  • 天哪!谁是她孩子的爸

    天哪!谁是她孩子的爸

    面对化验结果,她目瞪口呆,她怎么怀孕了?孩子的爸究竟是谁?他?他?还是他?金湖湾的别墅内一缕阳光透过窗户照进屋内,两个衣衫不整的男女紧密地抱在一起,疯狂地撕扯着彼此的束缚。天啊!明知道结局无望,却为何如此难舍难分。好友的新房内好友的请求,欣然前往进行调解,没想到噩运降临,好友的老公,竟然对她霸王硬上弓,强行占有了她。天啊!她做梦也没想到,他居然是一只对她垂涎已久的恶狼。自家的婚房内他和她醉眼朦胧,倒在了洒满玫瑰花瓣的婚床上,面对他深情的眼眸,她迷失了自己。天啊!明明说好是假结婚,却为何假戏真做,入了洞房。在短短的时期内,在不同的情形之下,她先后同三个男人发生了关系,她真的无法断定,谁是她孩子的爸?**********推荐好友紫雨飘零的文文古代文:《靠!谁被她吃了?》现代文《阿爹,是恶狼!》*************推荐步步的新文《冷总裁的【多面】妻》***简介:三个外表、性格迥异的女人,在不同的情形下出现在同一个男人的生活中,让他心醉,让他发狂。他如此冷情,为何同时喜欢上三个女人?她,戴着一副大大的黑框眼镜,穿着一件上下一样粗的、洗得发白的连衣裙,扎着两条长辫,要多土有多土,活脱脱一个“丑女林无敌”的模样。如果“丑”也就罢了,偏偏她还是一个自闭的女人,害怕同陌生人接触,特别是男人。她无才又无貌,十足十没人要的“丑”女。她,身材高挑丰满,一头微卷的金色长发随意披散在肩上。细如凝脂的肌肤,迷朦的大眼睛,挺俏的鼻子,红润饱满的樱桃小口。浑身上下,名牌服饰穿在身上,尽显她的妩媚性感。她不但是美女,而且还是个才女,才色双具。她,一身黑衣,一副墨镜,冷艳的面容,紧抿的双唇,浑身上下散发着死亡的气息,让人无法接近。她是一个冰美人,她的身份特殊而神秘,令男人望而生畏。谁也不会想到,这三个女人竟然是。。。
  • 父亲的墓志铭(原创经典作品)

    父亲的墓志铭(原创经典作品)

    善读精品美文,拾取久违的感动;体悟百味人生,感受成长的快乐。阅读其间,时而在惊险悬疑的案件中悚然而惊,时而为体察入微的真情潸然泪下,时而又涌动着想针砭时弊的激情……掩卷而思,人性的美丑,世事的善恶,人生际遇的变幻无常不禁让人感慨万千。
  • 问问熊先生

    问问熊先生

    丹尼,一个懂事的男孩子,他一直想给妈妈找到一份完美的生日礼物。他四处打探,先后碰到了母鸡、鹅、山羊、绵羊,请求他们给妈妈送出一份生日礼物,但他们所说的礼物妈妈都已经有了。在奶牛的提议下,他找到了熊先生,正是熊先生告诉了丹尼一个秘密,帮他送了一份让妈妈特惊喜的生日礼物!
  • 爱你误入歧途

    爱你误入歧途

    十一月三十日,月末的最后一天。每每到了这一天,许歆都会变得格外的紧张,她的心里既有一丝期盼,又夹杂着些许的害怕。--情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 心理医生

    心理医生

    这是一个变革的年代,我们每一个人都已切身感受到社会的急剧变化,随着经济、文化、价值多元化等因素的日新月异,我们面临的心理问题也越来越突出,诸如人际关系障碍、夫妻关系不和、亲子关系紧张、性变态、抑郁、焦虑、嫉妒、自私、自卑、猜疑、易怒等等问题,越来越严酷地摆在我们面前,把我们折磨得痛苦不堪,而这些问题的症结,都与心理异常和人格障碍有关。如果不及早发现和调治这些心理问题,不仅损害自己的生理健康,还会影响个人正常的健康发展,最终给家庭、社会造成不良影响。
  • 霸控生死

    霸控生死

    不生即死,不死即生。地球?异界?那个才是真正的世界?重生!希望!史上最强崇拜系统,任我飞翔。
  • 异世争雄

    异世争雄

    看一个修真者来到异界,携带者众多武器,从而走上争霸的道路……
  • Jiggle Shots