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RECENT GALSWORTHY STUDIES* By Drew B. Pallette (University of Southern California) Within a few months after John Galsworthy's widow, Ada, died in the spring of 1956, Ralph Mottram's biography of the couple, FOR SOME-WE LOVED, was published. This volume of nearly three hundred pages, however, is not a rush job. It is the product of the author's life-long friendship with the Galsworthys, especially Ada; in fact, Mottram undertook it before the first world war, only to be discouraged by the appearance of Sheila Kaye-Sraith·s brief study of Galsworthy in 1916. Mottram's reason for delaying release of his record until after Ada's death is not clear. Possibly he was reluctant to discusa publicly the rather personal material involved, especially the unhappy, illicit love affair that Galsworthy and Ada were forced into before their marriage. He rightly sees that this'agonizing experience was an important factor in Galsworthy's development. Also, for the first time, he emphasizes Ada as an influence on Galsworthy's thought throughout his life, H.V. Marrot, in his LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN GALSWORTHY, written immediately after the author's death, had discreetly outlined the facts of the romance. Ada Cooper had made an unhappy marriage with John Galsworthy's cousin, Arthur Galsworthy . She had turned to young "Jack" and the two became lovers in 1895. Because of his respect for his father, he wished to avoid a family scandal. Therefore , for almost nine years the couple waited, until the elder Galsworthy's death permitted them openly to seek Ada's divorce. Once this ordeal was over, they immediately married. Mottram, whose father had been financial advisor to Ada's family and later Ada, knew her as a young girl in Norwich, met Galsworthy through her, and—judging from the fact that most of the letters quoted in his book are signed by her— continued to maintain his connection with the couple mainly through her. This gives FOR SOME WE LOVED certain advantages. Granted, the double biography is marked by the eulogy which characterizes so many of the works on Galsworthy by men who knew him personally. The impression that Mottram gives of Galsworthy is not much different than we have had. He does stress several neglected though important aspects of Galsworthy's mind—his claustrophobia, his distrust of city life (which Ada enjoyed), his faith in the land, which led to "Foggartism." But the fact that Mottram was associated first with Ada leads him to present a good deal of new material on her. In her own right, she is worth attention. He remembers her as the beautiful daughter of an eccentric Norwich physician and a strong-minded mother, who presented her at one watering place after another. Ada, herself, was of strong fiber underneath her feminine charm—she not only drew attention with her beauty, but shot well, could ride a bucking horse, and played billiards like a man. She had tremendous drive and, I suspect, ambition. As a family friend, Mottram does not undertake to analyze critically the effect the unhappy years of Ada's first marriage had on Galsworthy's writing, * Publication details on works cited in this article may be found in the checklist which follows. Details on unpublished dissertations were reported in EFT, I, 1. but he points out that Ada was an education in women to Galsworthy, and that a number of his more high-spirited and unpredictable heroines owe much to this knowledge. Mottram also suggests—perhaps unconsciously—how she directed Galsworthy 's interests and moulded his concept of himself. The biography offers little critical comment. Mottram wisely assumes that a new generation of readers is not familiar with much of Galsworthy's work (not even with THE MAN OF PROPERTYl) and gives synopses wherever possible. He makes a few critical statements of interest: that Galsworthy was best in depicting old men, that he tended to "shadow" a character in a novel by creating a similar character along side him from another social class. But the critical comment is mainly "appreciation." In fact, the book as a whole is marked by an admiration for the Galsworthys that precludes objective criticism...

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