"A Man of Property"

One reason the old literary masters are masters is because their works are timeless. Timeless in terms, not only of a gripping tale well told, but also of a relevance that speaks to the present time. Even though we consider our times unique in some way or another we can read a writer of a previous century and find a vivid description of our own .

Such a writer was John Galesworthy (1867-1933). Yes, I know. I should have become intimately acquainted with him years ago. I could blame the small print in my college English Lit text and the few lines it accorded this very significant author but that would be giving myself a pass I don't deserve. I even ignored the PBS series a few years ago that featured The Forsyt Saga which is some of Galesworthy's finest writing.

So now I make this wonderful discovery by way of A Man of Property, the first in the Saga series. I found in this novel characters that were drawn so well that I was drawn into their lives and experiences set in England just before the turn of the century. They too were struggling with shifting moral standards, changing tastes and economic values of a society in which they thought ought to be stable and fixed.

The title denotes the issue that shapes the plot. Property is the guiding principle of the Forsyt's. Not only in real estate but all that a "man" might own which included their women. How that right to property is maintained then becomes a pressing question since other forces are at work to loosen that almost death grip. That conflict is played out in a number of venues. In court rooms, in family gatherings, in husband/wife conversations or silences, in trustee meetings men and women struggle with the question, how can I cling to what I have or keep my place in this shifting scene?

The question of the human relationship to property still remains an urgent one. It is argued and fought out on some of the same stages. Recent studies of the happiness of the wealthy show that even those with the most need estimate that they need at least ten persent more to feel secure. While some of those with wealth have become notable philanthropists others have determined that poverty is not a concern of theirs and since they have made it, everyone else can too. The handling of money and property still creates strains and tensions between husbands and wives and scrambles families.

I am grateful to John Galesworthy for helping me see the universality of this issue so that perhaps I, who have relatively little, can recognize myself as a man of property.