E.M. Forster is regarded as one of the leading English writers of the twentieth century. He is best-known for five novels, including Where Angels Fear to Tread, A Room with a View and Howard's End.
Forster's writing themes often deal with secular humanism and sexuality. Aside from novels, he also wrote essays, short stories and literary criticism, and lectured on literature at Cambridge University, where he finally settled as a teacher.
Early Years of E.M. Forster
Edward Morgan (E.M.) Forster was born on January 1, 1879, in Dorset Square, London. He was only a year old when his father, an architect, died. He hated his school days but was happy at Cambridge University, where he became a member of The Apostles, an intellectual debating society. Soon he became linked to the Bloomsbury Group, whose members, including Virginia Woolf and her sister Vanessa Bell, were writers and artists in revolt against old-fashioned ideas.
As a young man Forster travelled the continent with his mother and later, paid two long visits to India. After returning from India, he completed his last novel, A Passage to India. His early novel Maurice has a homosexual theme.
Forster the Novelist
His first novel, Where Angels Fear to Tread, was published when he was 26. It was followed by The Longest Journey, A Room with a View and Howard's End, all published before he was 32. Howard's End deals with the clash between two families, one interested in art and literature, and the other only in business. It established his reputation as a great novelist. Written much earlier, sometime 1913 or 1914, it was not published until after his death.
A Passage to India
A Passage to India, Forster's best-known novel came out in 1924 when he was 45. It is also his most translated novel, winning him the 'James Tait Black Memorial Prize' for fiction. A Passage to India is a vivid account of India under British rule, the clash between Hindus and Muslims, and the problems arising from the Hindu caste system class divisions. Forster stopped writing novels at the age of 45, and produced little more fiction intended only for a small circle of friends.
Final Years
In 1969 he was made a member of the Order of Merit. The following year, Forster died in Coventry on June 7, 1970 at the age of 91.
Works by E.M. Forster
- Where Angels Fear to Tread, 1905
- The Longest Journey, 1907
- A Room with a View, 1908
- Howard's End, 1910
- The Celestial Omnibus, short story, 1911
- Alexandria: a History and a Guide, 1922
- A Passage to India, 1924
- Eternal Moment and Other Stories, short story, 1928
- Abinger Harvest, 1936
- England's Pleasant Land, 1940
- Maurice, 1971 (written, 1914, published after he died)
Sources:
Cambridge Guide to Literature in English by Ian Ousby (1993)
Larousse Dictionary of Writers, edited by Rosemary Goring (1994)
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