Crossing the River - World Literature Classics Collection (Complete Translation)

Author: John Galsworthy (United Kingdom)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-04-01
Features: The Crossing holds a unique position among the works of John Galsworthy, a master of British realist literature. It is the author's last novel and the final part of his last trilogy, The End. It not only upholds the organic structure of the trilogy and the entire "novel cluster" but is also closely related to the themes of this vast "work cluster." At the same time, it can be read as an independent novel concerning the love lives of contemporary women. The style of this work is exceptionally delicate and subtle, with rich and vivid language, ingenious plot construction, and recurring imagery of "rivers" and "crossing," which exhibit clear symbolic characteristics. The book primarily consists of two plotlines: One follows Claire, the daughter of a retired general and a beautiful young wife, who cannot endure her husband's sexual abuse after marriage. She boards a ship from an Eastern colonial home to return to Britain, where she meets a young man named James, who becomes deeply infatuated with her. Upon arriving in Britain, she embarks on a tumultuous divorce lawsuit with her husband, interspersed with the complex emotional relationship between her and James. The other plot revolves around Claire's sister, Dina, who, while helping her sister, faces new trials in love and marriage. Due to her previous emotional setbacks, her new journey of the heart carries a symbolic significance—the vast distance between women's desire for autonomy in love and marriage and the reality of achieving it.