Justice

Galsworthy, John, 1867-1933Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.2

Word count: 132K words
Chapters: 14

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971, and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today. Justice by John Galsworthy. Author: Galsworthy, John, 1867-1933. Language: English. Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature. Release Date: Sep 26, 2004

Editor's review

Justice is a social-problem play by Galsworthy centered on justice and morality, focusing on the individual's helplessness before a rigid system. The play is tightly structured, with restrained yet forceful dialogue, and through courtroom and prison scenes shows how social prejudice crushes individual lives. As a public-domain ebook, this edition is released by Project Gutenberg; the text is reliable and easy to search, making it suitable for literature and drama students studying dramatic structure, and for general readers concerned with social justice as an introduction to reading plays. When reading, do not look for plot suspense; instead, pay attention to the tensions among the characters' positions and to how the author uses stage directions to convey a critical awareness. Reading it alongside other plays by Galsworthy or contemporary British social drama will give a fuller sense of his reformist concern.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Students of English and American literature and drama who need to study social-problem play texts
General readers concerned with judicial fairness who enjoy the play form
Researchers who need English-language public-domain books for textual analysis
Self-learners interested in early twentieth-century British social drama

Not a good fit for

Casual fiction readers expecting strong plot and fast-paced narrative
Beginners with limited English reading ability who are unfamiliar with play format
Readers who only want a plot summary and do not wish to read the dialogue closely

Reading tips

First read the whole play to grasp the main line of conflict, then revisit the dialogue details in key courtroom scenes
Mark stage directions while reading and observe how the author uses setting and action to convey criticism
Read alongside other plays by Galsworthy to compare his themes of social concern
After finishing, try to summarize each side's position in a paragraph to test your understanding of the play's tensions

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book a novel or a play?

It is a play, part of Galsworthy's social-problem drama, composed of dialogue and stage directions. It is read differently from a novel: readers need to reconstruct the stage scenes and characters' actions in their minds.

Is the English original difficult for non-native readers?

The dialogue is generally concise, but lines dealing with judicial and moral issues are fairly compressed, so non-native readers may need notes or a dictionary. It is advisable to learn the background of the plot first and then read scene by scene; the difficulty will drop noticeably.

What are the practical features of the Gutenberg edition?

Project Gutenberg provides free electronic texts that are easy to search for keywords and copy quotations, making them suitable for textual analysis. But it is a public-domain ebook and usually has no modern introduction or detailed notes, so readers need to supplement the background information themselves.

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About the author

Galsworthy, John, 1867-1933 Author

John Galsworthy (1867–1933) was a British novelist and playwright known for his detailed portrayal of English social life from the late Victorian period to the early twentieth century. The library holds fifty-six of his works, including novels, serial fiction, and plays. Representative titles include The Forsyte Saga in its complete form and in Volumes I and II, To Let, Strife: A Drama in Three Acts, and Justice. His fiction often centers on family relationships, attitudes toward property, and shifts in social class, written in a restrained and observant style that attends to the interplay between individual psychology and social environment. His plays frequently explore tensions between law, morality, and personal circumstance. Overall, his work combines realistic depth with readability and has had a lasting influence on English literature. Public information is limited, so biographical details are omitted here; this introduction is based mainly on the works held in the library.