Galsworthy's Irony
Danes 4 GALSWORTHY’S reputation is in the trough these days. His period is too close to be interestingly oldfashioned, like Trollope’s; and no writer for the American little reviews has yet found a significant pattern of images or of Freudian symbols in his books. But, although his plays aren’t often seen now, they still have a rather unexpected life
of their own, as the BBC version of Strite (1YC) showed. The strike issues were simplified, and there was much of the cartoonist’s stylisation in the characters of the opposing leaders. But I found that the pungent dialogue andthe central conflict made the work dramatic in a 1eal sense. And the final ironical point -the acceptance by both sides, after a disastrous strike, of the originally-pro-posed conditions-was tellingly made. The predominance of talk-claimed as one of his weaknesses-made Strife such admirable radio drama, that I wondered whether further adaptations might not touch off a Galsworthy revival. If so, I’m sure Galsworthy’s ironical spirit would find a special piquancy in the fact that the adaptor of this humourless play was that incorrigible jester, Hulbert-
jawed Patrick Campbell.
J.C.
R.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19541119.2.20.5
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 800, 19 November 1954, Page 11
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189Galsworthy's Irony New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 800, 19 November 1954, Page 11
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