E. M. Forster

A Stanford University Press classic.

Two novels examining Edwardian English society tell of the dilemma of Lucy Honeychurch who must decide whether to follow her heart or to follow the expectations of her snobbish guardians, and recounts the conflicts between the wealthy Wilcox family and th

A chance acquaintance brings together the prosperous bourgeois Wilcox family and the clever, cultured, and idealistic Schlegel sisters. As clear-eyed Margaret develops a friendship with Mrs. Wilcox, the impetuous Helen brings into their midst a young bank clerk named Leonard Bast, who lives at the edge of poverty and ruin. When Mrs. Wilcox dies, her family discovers that she wants to leave her country home, Howards End, to Margaret. Thus Forster sets in motion a chain of events that will entangle three different families and brilliantly portrays their aspirations for personal and social harmony.

In a scathing indictment of British imperialism, Forster's once controversial novel portrays two Englishwomen who experience misunderstanding and cultural conflict after they travel to India

Essays that applaud democracy's toleration of individual freedom and self-criticism and deplore its encouragement of mediocrity: "We may still contrive to raise three cheers for democracy, although at present she only deserves two."

E. M. Forster's guide sparkles with wit and insight for contemporary writers and readers. With lively language and excerpts from well-known classics, Forster (author of A Passage to India, Howards End, and A Room With a View) takes on the seven elements vital to a novel: story, people, plot, fantasy, prophecy, pattern, and rhythm. He not only defines and explains such terms as "round" versus "flat" characters (and why both are needed for an effective novel), but also provides examples of writing from such literary greats as Dickens and Austen. Forster's original commentary illuminates and entertains without lapsing into complicated, scholarly rhetoric, coming together in a key volume on writing."Forster's casual and wittily acute guidance...transmutes the dull stuff of He-Said and She-Said into characters, stories, and intimations of truth."--Harper's

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.