Monday, November 30, 2009

AUTHOR'S ALLEY........ E.M. FORSTER

Don't forget to enter the Vonnegut 'Look At The Birdie' give away.  It's a great chance to read a great author! Just follow the link on the sidebar, become a follower of 'One Hundred Books', scroll down post and enter a comment! Easy Easy!!

Currently I'm reading A Passage to India (#25 on the list)  and Howard's End (#38) by E.M. (Edward Morgan) Forster. I have not done this kind of thing before.....said the little lamb.....No, I mean reading two books at the same time! Get your mind out of the gutter! But I'm giving it a whirl to do a bit of comparative reading.  So far I am way more into Howard's End, but we'll see what happens.
 E.M. Forster was born January 1, 1879 and lived to a ripe old age dying June 7, 1970.  His father died when he was young and he lived with his mother, in London, until her death in the 1940's.  He won countless awards for his writing and turned down a knightship in 1949 (probably due to England's Imperialistic policies).  After reading several different small bios and factoids on Forster, the preeminent feature of his life and writing seems to have been making a stand against Imperialism, racism, homophobia, and sexism.  He did this by having the characters in his novels embody different elements that would clash to reveal an inner truth about human nature and enlightenment.  
His last novel A Passage To India is drawn from his time spent there in the 1920's where it is believed he had an on-going relationship with an Indian man.  I'm sure the injustice of Imperialism and racism was cause for his spot lightening the English attitude toward Indians in their own country.  Also on the top 100 list is A Room With A View (#79). 


2 comments:

Cara Powers said...

I love EM Forster. I thing A Passage to India is the only one I haven't read. I forced my parents to watch Howard's End a few weeks ago. They didn't get it. I don't think they were paying attention.

SocrMom78 said...

Hello! I really like your blog and will post your site on mine. I have not made it to any of the Forster books yet but will definitely be making my way back here when I do! Great blog!

Pam