“One of the great misfortunes to which great intelligence is subjected is the necessity of comprehending all things, vice and virtue alike.” Balzac-speak for “ignorance is bliss.” #balzactogether
A silent, trusted, self-renewing sentinel. “The tree beneath which he sat seemed not a day older! So young, the little leaves of brownish gold; so old, the whitey-grey-green of its thick rough trunk.” #forsytesaga26
“And yet Annette, as a young girl, when he was hanging about her, had once had a flowery look. Well, she had lost it now!” Soames deflowers her literally and figuratively. #forsytesaga26
“Romantic,” “delicious,” “jolly” - Soames is vexed by the language of the next generation. #forsytesaga26
“A family feud? It’s like the Bible, or Mark Twain—awfully exciting.” Apparently, Twain was very popular among British intellectuals. #forsytesaga26
“Fine Fleur Forsyte” - catchy alliterative title. #forsytesaga26
There are the paintings and then there is Fleur, “This treasured possession of his life.” #forsytesaga26
Jewel of a sentence. “Some hidden jest curved, for a moment, George’s fleshy face, and gloated from his eye.” #forsytesaga26
Amidst the winds of change, trust JG to mention a tree. “only the trees the same—the trees indifferent to the generations and declensions of mankind.” #forsytesaga26
Monkeys, bears and the Devil. Balzac makes a mundane profession come to life. “From this sink seeped away a decoction of ink mingled with the household slops, and that gave the peasants passing by on market-days the idea that the Devil was taking his ablutions inside the house.” #balzactogether
A wink from Balzac setting up the story as “great” and “trivial?” #balzactogether
“This is the silliest stuff that ever I heard.” #midsummernd2026
“It is the wittiest partition that ever I heard discourse, my lord.” #midsummernd2026
“More strange than true. I never may believe These antique fables, nor these fairy toys. Lovers and madmen have such seething brains, Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend More than cool reason comprehends.” #midsummernd2026
The Awakening interlude (beginning of life) is a perfect bookend to the Indian Summer of a Forsyte interlude (end of life). They share themes of beauty, nature and love. In both, Irene is an ethereal presence. #forsytesaga26
“Are you sure That we are awake? It seems to me That yet we sleep, we dream.” #midsummernd2026
“Come, sit thee down upon this flow’ry bed, While I thy amiable cheeks do coy, And stick musk roses in thy sleek smooth head, And kiss thy fair large ears, my gentle joy.” #midsummernd2026
“He had collected her—that was all!” The first four words are cold, the last three icy. Dehumanizing, in the end, just another piece of property. #forsytesaga26
“James lay alone, wonderfully calm, free from shadow and anxiety, with the gravity on his ravaged face which underlies great age, the worn fine gravity of old coins.” Monetary memorial. #forsytesaga26
“He goes before me, and still dares me on; When I come where he calls, then he is gone.” #midsummernd2026
JG having some fun with gothic undertones. “Peering down, he saw a black shape moving, and his heart stood still. What was it? Death? The shape of Death coming from her door? No! only a maid without cap or apron.” “The night was windy and flew on black wings” #forsytesaga26
Materialism made holy. “‘In my Father’s house are many mansions’ was one of Aunt Juley’s favourite sayings—it always comforted her with its suggestion of house property, which had made the fortune of dear Roger.” #forsytesaga26
The end of Queen Victoria’s reign threatens the security of the propertied men. “An era which had canonised hypocrisy, so that to seem to be respectable was to be.” #forsytesaga26
Soames’ wifely requirements: “exhibit,” “satisfaction of my senses,” “perpetuation of myself” Sentimentalism be damned! #forsytesaga26
“Here comes my messenger.—How now, mad spirit? What night-rule now about this haunted grove?” #midsummernd2026
Having so little self awareness, Soames thinks of his life as “upside down” twice in this chapter. #forsytesaga26