Product Description
This is the story of a man's discovery of his true sexuality. Maurice is born into a privileged way of life, conforming to social conventions, yet he finds himself increasingly attracted to his own sex. Through Clive, a Cambridge friend, and Alec, the gamekeeper, he experiences a sexual awakening. ... Read more

Product Description
This Halcyon Classics eBook collection contains eleven novels and short stories by British writer E.M. Forster.Includes an active table of contents for easy navigation.


Contents:

Where Angels Fear to Tread
The Longest Journey
A Room with a View
Howards End
The Machine Stops
The Story of a Panic
The Other Side of the Hedge
The Celestial Omnibus
Other Kingdom
The Curate's Friend
The Road from Colonus
... Read more

Product Description
An invaluable sourcebook to E. M. Forster's easily most challenging and provocative work, A Passage to India has stirred up debate on such topics as imperialism, modernism, ethnicity, sexuality and symbolism. This Routledge Literary Sourcebook introduces not only the novel but also the key issues which surround it.It offers a contextual and biographical overview, with a chronology, contemporary reviews, key extracts from Forster's relevant essays, books and articles, a summary of the work's critical history, a consideration of film and television adaptations, including the 1984 Oscar-winning film and a guide to further reading. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

More than just a Collection of Critical Approaches
A Passage to India is Forster's most celebrated and most frequently read novel. Published in 1924, the novel has given rise to critical discussion about imperialism, liberalism, modernism, ethnicity, sexuality and the relation of the personal and political. With Forster being one of the chief authors of early twentieth-century English literature, this text is a key text to the modern novel. Therefore, Routledge has decided to publish a sourcebook on the novel in their series of literary sourcebooks, edited by Duncan Wu (Oxford). Peter Childs, the editor of the book, is Principal Lecturer in English at the University of Gloucestershire and well known due to his publications on twentieth-century prose.

The approach of this book is very different to other critical works. It has been designed to provide students with the materials required to begin serious studies of their own. This is reflected in the structure of the book. Section 1, 'Contexts,' provides biographical data in form of an author chronology and contemporary documents relating to the author and his work-every single one of them by Forster himself. The texts are structured in four major groups: 'The English and the British Empire', 'On A Passage to India', 'India' and 'On the Rhythm in Fiction.' Section 2, 'Interpretations,' contains what the most critical books contain: critical approaches to the text. In Childs's book, they are sorted as a history of criticism. This part is divided into three main chapters. The first gives an overview over the critical reception of Forster's novel whereas the second as well as the third are selections of extracts from the most important and influential early and modern criticism. The last part of the second section is dedicated to the stage and film adaptations, but does-alas!-not tell about all and the most recent adaptations. Section 3 is called 'Key Passages.' This is clearly a euphemism for a chapter summary with snippets of the original text. The reason to have these forty-eight pages in the book is simple: They are for the lazy students. They summarize the plot, they give examples for brief presentations; they tell the reader the setting, the point of view-everything which would take the student five minutes having the novel in hand. Furthermore, they tell the reader how to interpret the text. The rest of the book is a short list of recommended editions and further texts, followed by an index.

One can ask for the perfect reader of this book, and one will find none. For the student who really wants to do research on Forster, the references are too few and the critical extracts to short and to various. There is a general lack of in-depth analysis. The editor, so it seems, did neither want to focus on a specific aspect of the novel nor put an emphasis on a specific type of criticism, whether feminist, postcolonial, biographical or structuralist criticism. The idea to provide a book of sources as a basis for discussion is laudable, but it is disavowed by the I-tell-you-how-to-read-this-novel part of the sourcebook. What this sourcebook can do is to give you a general overview over the history and the types of criticism, a timeline of Forster's life and a selection of letters and essays, which can form a contextual frame for the novel. One can recommend Peter Childs's book to teachers who either really want to discuss the novel or have no idea and want to deliver the usual interpretational phrases, and the book is recommendable to people who do not want to read the novel by themselves and have no internet account to find the freely available chapter summaries. Still, the book is well done, very clearly arranged and of a certain academic standard. As first overview for a subsequent authentic research, this well-written book is good choice. ... Read more

Product Description
Originally published in 1912. This volume from the Cornell University Library's print collections was scanned on an APT BookScan and converted to JPG 2000 format by Kirtas Technologies.All titles scanned cover to cover and pages may include marks, notations and other marginalia present in the original volume. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (2)

Most highly recommended
Of all the well-known literary critics of the mid-twentieth century, I would rate Trilling the best, and this book would be a piece of evidence in support of my case.It is trenchant, thoughtful, and, most importantly, makes one want to read Forster all over again.(it is also concise--another of Trilling's great virtues.)If only we had someone like Trilling writing today!

A Cook's Tour by Trilling of E.M. Forster
E.M. FORSTER by Lionel Trilling

When an eminent American scholar and critic takes as subject for a literary analysis a notable English author a reader can expect a tasty feast for the mind.Trilling does notdisappoint.

This brief but erudite book is now over half a century old. It still remains an admirable introduction to E.M. Forster whose fivenovels have become an esteemed part of the western cannon.

"InAmerica Forster has never established a great reputation."Trilling'scomment implies the reason for his study of Forster.And indeed, it isthis work that is credited with correcting that oversight.

LionelTrilling's evaluation meets the criteria for excellent criticism.It isimpartial in that although overall it praises, it notes faults."Thequaint, the facetious and the chatty sink his literary criticism below itsproper level . . . they even touch, though they never actually harm, thefive novels . . . "The second criteria, the enlightenment ofpotential readers as to an author's intentions and techniques, is likewiseamply met.All of Forster's novels are discussed.Many illuminatinginsights are provided.Forster's short stories are summarily treated. Trilling evidently did not consider short fiction Forster's forte.Lastly,a critic should provide in praise as well as admonition comments that mightassist authors to create better works.In this Trilling is at adisadvantage since Forster after the publication of PASSAGE TO INDIA in1924 completely forsook novel writing.Too bad.Trilling is good medicinefor an author.

A caution: the book is aimed at an academic audience. Allusions are made to various other significant authors as in "Forsteris not taken in by his Gino as Santayana is by his analogous Mario . . ."Georges Santayana a prominent American philosopher wrote only onenovel THE LAST PURITAN in which Mario is a key character.A college degreeis not necessarily needed to follow Trilling's discussion.One ought tohave, however, a nodding acquaintance with the peaks that comprise westernliterature's breadth and length. ... Read more

Product Description
Maurice Hall is a young man who grows up confident in his privileged status and well aware of his role in society. Modest and generally conformist, he nevertheless finds himself increasingly attracted to his own sex. Through Clive, whom he encounters at Cambridge, and through Alec, the gamekeeper on Clive's country estate, Maurice gradually experiences a profound emotional and sexual awakening. A tale of passion, bravery and defiance, this intensely personal novel was completed in 1914 but remained unpublished until after Forster's death in 1970. Compellingly honest and beautifully written, it offers a powerful condemnation of the repressive attitudes of British society, and is at once a moving love story and an intimate tale of one man's erotic and political self-discovery. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

An Excellent Piece of Literature
"Maurice" by E.M. Forster is one of my favourite novels. It is so simply and beautifully written and tells a story that all readers will able to relate to in one way or another. A tragic reflection of Forster's own life of closeted homosexuality - the novel itself was written in 1914 when homosexuality was still illegal in Britain and remained unpublished until 1970 - the novel tells the story of Maurice Hall, a young man trying to come to terms with his homosexuality in traditional Edwardian England where his "sort" are arrested for such "crimes". However, when he meets Clive, a fellow student at Cambridge, he realises that he is not alone in his predicament after all. As the events of the story unfold, things become deely sad as Maurice suffers more and more because of a secret that he feels he cannot tell any of his family and friends. The heartwarming ending - which Forster must have hoped for himself as well - is ultimately uplifting and allows the reader to envisage what the future will be like for Maurice themselves.

A Gay Classic Revisited
Written in 1913-1914 E. M. Forster's MAURICE, at his direction, was not published until after his death in 1970 although in the "terminal note" at the end of the novel he says that he changed little of the story over the years. Unless you were a gay man living in 1971 and had been bombarded all your life with how awful homosexuality was, a crime, a sin and a mental illness, you cannot imagine the joy that reading this novel brought since the only person who dies in this novel is Maurice's grandfather. Of course Maurice is beset with self-loathing, fears, depression and loneliness as Edwardian society expected young men who went to Cambridge to marry and repopulate the earth. For instance, when Maurice attempts to discuss his inspeakable problem "of the Oscar Wilde sort," with a family friend Dr. Barry, the physician responded: "'Rubbish, rubbish!'" He further said that the worst thing he could do for Maurice was "discuss it." Maurice is able to rise above or work his way around this non-diagnosis, as well as a trip to a hypnotist to be cured, and have a life with another man.

Some critics say that MAURICE is significant only in a historical context. Let them tell that to the gay teenager who finds this novel in his high school library and reads the beautiful ending, much more possible now than when Forster wrote it. This novel has universal appeal in that Clive, Maurice's first love, takes the easy way out by marrying and having a respectable career (we all know a couple of Clive's), and Maurice, for all his snobbery, grows to understand that love between men can cross class lines. (Forster's biographers note that he had a lover in 1919 who was an Egyptian tram conducter and fell in love with a London policeman in 1930.)

In his fine memoir MISSISSIPPI SISSY Kevin Sessums recalls a conversation with the writer Eudora Welty who made him promise to read Forster's PASSAGE TO INDIA: "'MAURICE is not first-rate Forster, even though I understand the reasons why it would be the only work of his you've read.'" Being in the same boat with Sessums, I cannot disagree or agree with Ms. Welty. I can only say that this is a fine novel indeed. Forster, himself, said in ASPECTS OF THE NOVEL: "The final test for a novel will be our affection for it, as it is the test of friends and of anything else which we cannot define."

By Forster's own definition, he has written a great novel.

A writer at the height of his powers
Like Howards End and The Longest Journey, Maurice belongs to the Novels of England, works which mourned the country's vanishing landscape and celebrated its unique people. Although undoubtedly not one of Forster's greatest novels, Maurice nonethelesss exudes a brilliance of style in every sentence whilst a biting intelligence permeates throughout, far outshining most contemporary works. Written swiftly and without a hitch during one of Forster's most intensely creative periods, the novel affords crucial insight into a writer at the height of his powers. ... Read more

Product Description
Rickie sets out from Cambridge with the intention of writing. In order to marry the beautiful but shallow Agnes, however, he becomes a schoolmaster instead. This abandonment of personal values for those of the world leads him gradually into a living death of conformity and spiritual hypocrisy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The Best Edition of a Great Novel
E M Forster's "Maurice" is a classic of the gay novel but regardless of being a classic it still remains an interesting and engaging work of literature. However, we had to wait almost thirty years for a critical edition but the book seems to have been destined for delays from the moment it was conceived. Although the writer completed the first draft in just a few months by 1913, it took him another 46 years of correcting and amending the text before he decided to leave it alone for another decade in a folder marked "Publishable, but is it worth it?". The novel appeared for the first time in 1971, a year after its author's death. Rather in a hurry to get the last unknown Forster's novel, the editors apparently did not pay sufficient attention to variants of the text. Still the edition remained in print for another twenty-eight years before this corrected edition finally appeared on the market.
An average reader may find this volume a bit too much to handle - over fifty pages of detailed introduction and almost a hundred pages of textual notes. Still the text of the novel is worth the money (just as the introduction) even if the extended notes (the editors apparently decided against publishing a separate volume of "Manuscripts" as they did in case of "A Passage to India" and two other novels) are addressed only to few specialists.
A perfect gift for anybody interested in history of gay literature or Forster. Even if they already have a copy of "Maurice" this is so much more than another reprint they will be happy to have it. ... Read more

Product Description
In this Readers' Guide, Betty Jay considers the establishment of Forster's reputation and the various attempts of critics to decipher the complex codes that are a feature of his novel. Successive chapters focus on debates around Forster's liberal-humanism, with essays from F. R. Leavis, Lionel Trilling and Malcolm Bradbury; on the indeterminacy and ambiguity of the text, with extracts from essays by Gillian Beer, Robert Barratt, Wendy Moffat and Jo-Ann Hoeppner Moran; and on the sexual politics of Forster's work, with writings from Elaine Showalter, Frances L. Restuccia and Eve Dawkins Poll. The Guide concludes with essays from Jeffrey Meyers and Jenny Sharpe, who read A Passage to Indiain terms of its engagement with British imperialism.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Good book, but a word of caution
A Passage to India is an excellently written book, and a benchmark in the literary age of British Imperialism.It deserves a place on the bookshelf with Great Expectations and The Grapes of Wrath.The symbols are rich, deep, and thought provoking, and Forster provides a realistic storyline and a timeless classic.

However, a word of caution.A Passage to India is an excellent book, but not an excellent story.If you don't like deciphering symbols and "reading between the lines," and instead prefer a page-turning plot that produces sweaty fingers and a rapid heart rate, this book isn't for you.An excellent story with a similar setting and similar circumstances is Burmese Days, by George Orwell, which takes place in Burma under the imperialist regime of the British Empire.

Fine Characterization of British India, But Dated and Not Much of a Story
Set in the fictional northern India city of Chandrapore, E.M. Forster's 'Passage to India', widely regarded as an early 20th century classic, tells the tale of the troubled interactions between British India and the country's Indian inhabitants. Forster's message seems to be that the white British and the native Indians should not have tried to interact socially outside of the accepted forms because it always ended badly for all concerned.

Rating this book is difficult. On the one hand, the characters are exceptionally well drawn as is life in British India (especially the British side). And the theme is undoubtedly largely correct that when British tried to befriend Indians in this colonial setting it usually went badly. At the same time, I found myself disliking the major characters, and particularly found young Dr. Aziz to be annoyingly flighty and over-wrought as he quickly jumped to conclusions over and over again.

The story meanders, to put it kindly, until Part 2 when the 'event' occurs at the also-fictional Marabar Caves and Forster breathes some life into the tale. Yet, while the confusion over what really happened at the caves is the focus of much of the second part of the book and the characters think they know at least what did NOT happen, Forster never does really explore what did in fact happen. And while there is clearly much fallout over the accusations Forster again does not explore how the fallout occurs.

An interesting aspect for the modern reader is the predominance of Muslim characters on the Indian side of the tale. Hindus play only a small role. This detail marks the book as predating the Partition of India that accompanied Indian independence and the establishment of India and Pakistan on the basis of religion. The Partition created millions of refugees flowing to their new country based on their religion and fostered tremendous violence and division. Hindus reasserted authority in India after the partition in place of the Muslims.

If you have an interest in British colonialism, India, or English Literature or all three, by all means read the book. Don't expect a sparkling story to go along with the fine characterizations and be ready for a dated view.

A Must Read, But It's No Ulysses
Forster's novel is a classic. It appears on all "Top 100" lists, for list maniacs, but it is not really all that great. I can certainly think of a good many novels I'd rather read or reread. In the film version the novel's exotic setting springs to life, of course, and that is 99% of the novel's appeal. Otherwise it is a rather dull social drama, which bears remarkable resemblance to the inter-sex squabbles D.H. Lawrence was so good at creating.Americans have a need to be liked that prevents them from going for the jugular in quite the same lacerating way the English can. This novel is really about the disappointment women feel for their hypocritical men: husbands, brothers, and fathers. The ladies saw through the facade of English decency and authors like Lawrence (a woman-hater) and Forster (gay) were on to it. Their men promised to treat the Indians as though they were Englishmen but, of course, they didn't. Nor did they treat their women as ladies. Everybody except white Englishmen were ordered around senselessly and the women recognized the stupidity of it all and the mindless inhumanity of it. This is Forster's subject really, and when they go at it, the men and women sound astonishingly like the characters in "Women In Love." They could be anywhere, nowhere. By putting them in India, Forster created a classic. ... Read more

Product Description
This collection of articles, essays, reviews, and poems, written by the author of A Passage to India, contains such well-known pieces as "Notes on the English Character,'' ''Adrift in India," and "Me, Them and You." Also collected are essays on literary figures whose work Forster especially admired.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

The Final Edition
This critical edition brings back the 1936 collection of essays by E. M. Forster. The collection aimed at representing the variety of Forster's interest and the purpose is fully achieved - we move from commentary on current political situation, literature both classical and contemporary, history of art and numerous subjects that Forster took fancy to from the beginning of the 20th century until mid-1930s.
The critical value of the volume lies in its careful editing - collating British and American edition as well as the surviving manuscripts and supplementing them with notes. There is also a double bonus for the reader. This is the first edition which brings back the essay "Flood in the Office" suppressed in the original edition (and for the publication of which Forster was sued for libel and had to pay £750 fine) and adds one more pageant, "England's Pleasant Land", fairly difficult to access as previously it was published only once in 1940.

My Wood
I've only read this one essay from Abinger Harvest.The essay is "My Wood."I highly encourage everyone to read this essay.Forster reflects on materialism vs ownership in and intriguing and amusing way. The essay is also chock-full of wonderful literary allusions.I took anadvanced writing course at university and one of the assignments was totrack down the sources of these allusions.It was both fun andeducational.Cool stuff. ... Read more

Product Description
A collection that explores the human spirit through a series of fantasy vignettes, including "The Machine Stops," "The Point of It," "Mr. Andrews," "Co-ordination," "The Story of the Siren," and the title story. ... Read more

Product Description
These seventy annotated broadcasts present frequent BBC contributor Forster not only as a literary critic but also as a political activist, an advocate for India, and a wary yet cooperative ally of a colonialist government during World War II. Nearly half the scripts date from 1941 to 1945 and provide an eyewitness account of war. Forster comments on how the arts gallantly survived the blitz--even taking his listeners to the theater as bombing threats loom--and in other cases protests government interference in private life or the limits on free expression caused by the paper shortage. Forster casts a cosmopolitan eye on contemporary literature from Joyce to Steinbeck, enlarges the scope of European art by pairing Austen or Lewis with Indian writers, and offers pointed comments on contemporary literati such as Huxley and Eliot. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Jolly Good Book - or Lots of Jolly Good Books
You don't need to be a Forster fan to delight in his BBC Talks - although a weakness for all things British will help. Perfect for those who enjoy learning more about literature in a rather rambling, unorthodox, un-PC fashion, and positively delightful to dip into on a cold winter's night. Be warned - you will be impelled to read and laugh out loud! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Early sketches - an obligatory reading for any Forsterian scholar
This book was printed in no more than 1000 copies but that is exactly as many potential buyers there were on the market when it first (and probably last) appeared. The only people who could be interested are students and scholars writing on Forster, all the rest may move on to the final version: "A Room with a View". To that small group, however, this little book is a priceless treasure revealing how Forster struggled with his material, how he corrected and rewrote his first novelistic attempt until it became "maybe not the best but the best liked" in his own words. ... Read more

Product Description
Updated and revised in light of current scholarship, this bibliography--originally published with the help of E.M. Forster himself in 1965--now includes two new sections:"Audio--Visual material" and "Manuscripts."In the first of these, Forster's little-known success as a broadcaster is documented and the radio, television, and stage productions of his novels and short stories are detailed, along with radio and television interviews and discussions."Manuscripts" records, among others, the major archive of King's College, Cambridge, and that of the BBC Written Archive Centre and other BBC libraries.New subsections, such as "Reported Speech," have been added to existing sections. ... Read more