How to Study an E. M. Forster Novel PDF
Preview How to Study an E. M. Forster Novel
HOW TO STUDY LITERATURE General Editors: John Peck and Martin Coyle HOW TO STUDY AN E. M. FORSTER NOVEL IN THE SAME SERIES How to Study a Novel John Peck Literary Terms and Criticism John Peck and Martin Coyle How to Study a Shakespeare Play John Peck and Martin Coyle How to Begin Studying Literature Nicholas Marsh How to Study a1ane Austen Novel Vivien Jones How to Study a Thomas Hardy Novel John Peck How to Study a D. H. Lawrence Novel Nigel Messenger How to Study a Charles Dickens Novel Keith Selby How to Study a1oseph Conrad Novel Brian Spittles How to Study a Renaissance Play Chris Coles How to Study Modern Drama Kenneth Pickering How to Study a Poet John Peck How to Study Chaucer Rob Pope How to Study Romantic Poetry Paul O'Flinn How to Study Modern Poetry Tony Curtis IN PREPARATION How to Study a 1a mes 1o yce Novel Chris Coles HOW TO STUDY AN E. M. FORSTER NOVEL Nigel Messenger M MACMILLAN ©Nigel Messenger 1991 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provision of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 33-4 Alfred Place, London WC1E 7DP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. First published 1991 Published by MACMILLAN EDUCATION LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world Filmset by Wearside Tradespools, Fulwell, Sunderland British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Messenger, Nigel How to study an E. M. Forster novel. I. Fiction in English. Forster, E. M. (Edward Morgan), 1879-1970-Critical studies I. Title 823.912 ISBN 978-0-333-49155-3 ISBN 978-1-349-10851-0 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-10851-0 To jenny, Marcus, Timothy and Abigail Contents General Editors' preface vii Acknowledgements IX 1 Studying Forster: some ideas to get you started 1 2 The Private Forster: an analysis of Maurice 8 3 The First Italian Novel: Where Angels Fear to Tread 24 4 The Second Italian Novel: A Room with a View 53 5 The First English Novel: The Longest journey 80 6 The Second English Novel: Howards End 109 7 The Indian Novel: A Passage to India 139 8 Writing a Forster Essay 173 Further reading 181 General Editors' preface Everybody who studies literature, either for an examination or simply for pleasure, experiences the same problem: how to understand and respond to the text. As every student of literature knows, it is perfectly possible to read a book over and over again and yet still feel baffled and at a loss as to what to say about it. One answer to this problem, of course, is to accept someone else's view of the text, but how much more rewarding it would be if you could work out your own critical response to any book you choose or are required to study. The aim of this series is to help you develop your critical skills by offering practical advice about how to read, understand and analyse literature. Each volume provides you with a clear method of study so that you can see how to set about tackling texts on your own. While the authors of each volume approach the problem in a different way, every book in the series attempts to provide you with some broad ideas about the kind of texts you are likely to be studying and some broad ideas about how to think about literature; each volume then shows you how to apply these ideas in a way which should help you construct your own analysis and interpretation. Unlike most critical books, there fore, the books in this series do not simply convey someone else's thinking about a text, but encourage you and show you how to think about a text for yourself. Each book is written with an awareness that you are likely to be preparing for an examination, and therefore practical advice is given not only on how to understand and analyse literature, but also on how to organise a written response. Our hope is that, although these books are intended to serve a practical purpose, they may also enrich your enjoyment of literature by making you a more confident reader, alert to the interest and pleasure to be derived from literary texts. John Peck Martin Coyle Acknowledgements I should like to thank my colleagues in the Humanities Depart ment at Oxford Polytechnic for helping me in so many ways, and past students who have shared their readings of Forster with me. In particular I owe a special debt to Charles Smith at the Computer Centre who patiently instructed me in the skills of word-processing. He has made the writing of this book much less arduous than it would otherwise have been. I should also like to express. my gratitude to the general editors of this series. They have been generous with their encouragement, and have supervised this book at every stage with tactful vigilance. 1 Studying Forster: some ideas to get you started Working on a novelist for a course or exam is not the same as reading for simple enjoyment although, hopefully, a good deal of lasting pleasure can be derived from studying fictions as 'literary texts'. Still, whatever other motives a serious author may have, novels are written with entertainment in mind. Novelists don't want to be dreary and dull, and don't set out expecting their work to be put on examination syllabuses, so I think the best way to start is by reading your text through once, carefully but not too solemnly, as you would any other novel, and then try to record your own reading experience as honestly as you can. Studying a book is a rather different process from reading for pleasure because you have to keep at it longer in a systematic way and be prepared to go beyond first impressions - but first impressions are still important. There will always be critics around to tell you what they think but, right from the start, try and get into the argument yourself, however inadequate you may feel, before becoming too influenced by other people's ideas. Let us suppose, then, that you have just finished reading the Forster novel that you have to study; try and make some assessment of the experience you have had by jotting down your first impressions. Do this now before you move on to the next section. What kind of a novelist is E. M. Forster? If your experience of reading Forster has been anything like mine, you may well have finished your chosen text with mixed feelings. On the one hand, you might feel rather reassured. Forster doesn't seem that difficult; indeed, you could be wonder-
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