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The Silver Spoon is the fifth of the nine novels in the Forsyte Chronicles, John Galsworthy's epic story of the moneyed Forsyte family during the decline of the Victorian age. It is part of the second trilogy, called A Modern Comedy, and continues his fascinating study of the British propertied class in a changing society. In this novel, Soames Forsyte's daughter, Fleur, experiences an inherent dissatisfaction with her marriage not unlike her father's, except that in this case it is Fleur show more who loves another. Married to Michael Mont, in line for a barony, Fleur's heart truly belongs to Jon, who is forbidden to her as the son of her father's ex-wife. When the American Francis Wilmot enters the scene bringing news that Jon has married Wilmot's sister, Fleur struggles to be happy and fulfilled, just as her father Soames did. show lessTags
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A continuation of the life of Fleur. The bulk of this seems to revolve around her being insulted, her father defending her and the way that things seem to run out of your control after you've initiated them. It's all ver gentile and upper class, even when the knives are out, they're well heeled knives. I'm not sure that the class, in general, comes out of this very well. Michael, with his efforts to be a good member of parliament (even thought he fears he is not) is probably the one who comes across as the person with whom I had the most sympathy. It's all very nice, but I'm not sure where this is going. I also miss the slightly wider cast of characters in the earlier novels.
The fifth novel in the Forsyte Chronicles centers around Soames' daughter, Fleur, who is still collecting people. At one of her parties, Soames overhears one of her guests insulting his daughter, and quickly calls her a traitor and ushers her out of the house. A lawsuit starts and thinking he is protecting his daughter, Soames pursues it. The result is unhappiness all the way around. Fleur's husband, Michael, is now in Paliament, and trying to convince others of his belief in Foggartism, a theory involving moving "down and outs" to the country, and taking their children away to the colonies at about the age of 14 to give them a chance to make something of themselves before they too are poverty stricken.
I am still enjoying this series show more very much. Galsworthy's picture of society and those born with a silver spoon is really excellent. show less
I am still enjoying this series show more very much. Galsworthy's picture of society and those born with a silver spoon is really excellent. show less
Široce koncipovaný román zachycuje život tří generací rozvětveného patricijského rodu od poklidné éry panování královny Viktorie až do 20. let 20. století. Rodina, z jejíhož středu vyrůstají podnikatelé, právníci a vážení obchodníci, vyznává konvence pohodlného měšťáckého života a jako nejvyšší životní hodnotu uznává vlastnictví peněz a z toho plynoucí moc. Každý pokus o proražení hradby konvencí a tupé měšťácké samolibosti naráží na nepochopení a nekompromisní odsouzení.
This is the second novel in the second trilogy of Galsworthy's Forsythe Saga and this book serves, primarily as a set up for the final volume in the trilogy. Fleur Mont has set herself up as a stylish London hostess, holding literary and musical salons for what were known in the 1920's as the "Bright young Things." Her husband Michael, is now a member of Parliament and consumed with a theory called Fogatism that proposes to solve England's economic problems by emigration to the Dominions.
When Fleur's father, Soames Forsyth, hears one of Fleur's guests, Marjorie Farrow, call her a snob, he calls the offending party out & the result is a lawsuit over defamation of character Considering what goes on today, this all seems rather silly to show more the modern reader. The story is complicated when Jon Forsyth's American brother-in-law arrives at the Mont's on the tail end of his European tour & promptly falls for the offending Marjorie.
This book is primarily worth reading just to fill in the blanks for what will come later, and perhaps, just for an historical look of a time that is now long gone. show less
When Fleur's father, Soames Forsyth, hears one of Fleur's guests, Marjorie Farrow, call her a snob, he calls the offending party out & the result is a lawsuit over defamation of character Considering what goes on today, this all seems rather silly to show more the modern reader. The story is complicated when Jon Forsyth's American brother-in-law arrives at the Mont's on the tail end of his European tour & promptly falls for the offending Marjorie.
This book is primarily worth reading just to fill in the blanks for what will come later, and perhaps, just for an historical look of a time that is now long gone. show less
Spoiled brat goes to court
is coddled, snubbed, learns nothing
oh well, free world trip!
is coddled, snubbed, learns nothing
oh well, free world trip!
Very good condition. Lettered in Gilt on Spine $25
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Author Information
344+ Works 11,769 Members
At age 28, after a gentlemanly education at Harrow and Oxford, and a training at law, Galsworthy settled into simultaneous careers as a novelist and a playwright. The Silver Box, Galsworthy's first successful drama, was staged in 1906, the year he published the first volume of what was to become The Forsyte Saga. His one-word titles - Justice show more (1910), Strife (1909), Loyalties (1922)---suggest the nature of Galsworthy's artistic ambition: to generalize a social indictment, keeping faith with the objective methods of naturalism. In each, Galsworthy favors an austere irony and unresolvable situations, and balanced moral positions are displayed in the cabinetwork of "well-made" playwrighting. Reputed to have led to reforms in its time, his realism today seems contrived to produce aesthetic distance and a sense of resignation that is precisely what contemporary political dramatists strain hardest to avoid. Not surprisingly, critics have come away from revivals with the sense that (especially in his spare language) Galsworthy anticipates Harold Pinter rather than more socially engaged playwrights. Galsworthy wrote novels and plays alternately throughout his life. His masterwork, The Forsyte Saga, begun in 1906 and finished in 1928, and consisting of six separate novels and two linking interludes, is the most famous example of the sequence novel in English literature. It is a study of the property sense, the possessive spirit, in different individuals and generations of English middle-class society. He also completed a second trilogy dealing with the Forsyte family, called A Modern Comedy (1928). His last trilogy, a study of the Charwell family, is called End of the Chapter (1933). Galsworthy's later years brought him many honors, including the presidency of P.E.N. and honorary degrees from Oxford, Cambridge, and several other universities. After World War I, he was offered a knighthood, which he refused. He did, however, accept the Order of Merit in 1929, and in 1932 he was awarded the Nobel Prize. He was, however, too ill to attend the Nobel ceremony and died within two months of receiving the award. Although his posthumous reputation had waned, the centenary of his death, in 1967, brought a re-creation of The Forsyte Saga on British and American television in serial form. Interest in him skyrocketed, and the Forsyte novels again became bestsellers. With new popularity came fresh critical analysis. Pamela Hansford Johnson called The Forsyte Saga "a work of profound social insight and patchy psychological insight" (N.Y. Times). His critical writings include The Inn of Tranquility: Studies and Essays (1911) and Author and Critic. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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- Canonical title
- The Silver Spoon
- Original title
- The Silver Spoon
- Alternate titles
- The Silver Spoon, book two of A Modern Comedy
- Original publication date
- 1926
- Related movies
- The Forsyte Saga (1967 | IMDb)
- Epigraph
- ' But O, the thorns we stand upon!'
The Winter's Tale. - Dedication
- TO John Fortescue
- First words
- The young man, who, at the end of September, 1924, dismounted from a taxicab in South Square, Westminster, was so unobtrusively American that his driver had some hesitation in asking for double his fare.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)“'England, my England!'” thought Michael, “as the poet said.”
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- Members
- 316
- Popularity
- 101,466
- Reviews
- 6
- Rating
- (3.78)
- Languages
- 14 — Danish, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Norwegian (Bokmål), Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 37
- ASINs
- 31
