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| - The Forsyte Saga is a series by English novelist John Galsworthy, detailing three (arguably four) generations of an upper-middle-class Victorian family from the 1880s through to the mid-1920s. The nouveau riche Forsytes are chiefly concerned with property, wealth and the family, though it is their obsession with property that is the underlying theme of the saga. Property comes in many forms, and the character of Soames Forsyte loses almost every form of property that his kind values — first his beautiful wife Irene abandons him (with good reason), then he is forced to sell the house he commissioned as a way of isolating her; finally, his chance of having a son is extinguished forever when his second wife, Annette, gives birth to a daughter after a difficult labour and can no longer bear ch
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| abstract
| - The Forsyte Saga is a series by English novelist John Galsworthy, detailing three (arguably four) generations of an upper-middle-class Victorian family from the 1880s through to the mid-1920s. The nouveau riche Forsytes are chiefly concerned with property, wealth and the family, though it is their obsession with property that is the underlying theme of the saga. Property comes in many forms, and the character of Soames Forsyte loses almost every form of property that his kind values — first his beautiful wife Irene abandons him (with good reason), then he is forced to sell the house he commissioned as a way of isolating her; finally, his chance of having a son is extinguished forever when his second wife, Annette, gives birth to a daughter after a difficult labour and can no longer bear children — thus even his name is taken out of his hands, as no one will bear it once he dies. Therefore Soames, and many other Forsytes, are forced to learn to let go — not only of property, but also of grudging feelings and the past. The saga is an example of the decrease of moral lessons being pressed onto the reader, as all characters have shades of grey and can be assigned motivations for even the most selfish of their actions. Soames, for example, commits the most despicable act in the book, and yet the reader can still sympathise with his character. The books spawned two British television serials. The first version starred Eric Porter, Nyree Dawn Porter, and Kenneth More. It was broadcast in 1967 to great acclaim, and drew in 18 million viewers every Sunday when it was repeated a year later. The second adaptation starred Damian Lewis as Soames and first aired in 2002. There is also a 1949 film, That Forsyte Woman, starring Errol Flynn and Janet Leigh. And in case anyone's interested, there was also a 1990 BBC Radio dramatisation.
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