The Forsyte Saga

The Forsyte Saga
By John Galsworthy.




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To

my wife

I dedicate the Forsyte Saga

in its entirety,

believing it to be of all my works

the least unworthy of one

without whose encouragement, sympathy,

and criticism

I could never have become even

such a writer as I am.


Preface
The Forsyte Saga was the title originally destined for that part of it which is called The Man of Property; and to adopt it for the collected chronicles of the Forsyte family has indulged the Forsytean tenacity that is in all of us. The word “saga” might be objected to on the ground that it connotes the heroic and that there is little heroism in these pages. But it is used with a suitable irony; and, after all, this long tale, though it may deal with folk in frock coats, furbelows, and a gilt-edged period, is not devoid of the essential heat of conflict. Discounting for the gigantic stature and bloodthirstiness of old days, as they have come down to us in fairytale and legend, the folk of the old sagas were Forsytes, assuredly, in their possessive instincts, and as little proof against the inroads of beauty and