books are novels of manners, think Jane Austen; there is little
action, but much discussion. Forster never consented to having
his novels made into movies, fearful of how they would be adapted
to the screen. Yet after his death in 1970, 5 of his novels have
been brought to life on the screen. (And beautifully done, like a
Ralph Lauren set - Ivory Merchant did Forster proud!) "Thus,
today Forster is known for his novels by a movie going generation.
In his lifetime his novels were critically acclaimed but never
overly popular with the reading public.
E.M. Forster never received the Nobel Prize in Literature. Joseph Epstein in Commentary, calculated that
fifteen years after Forster's death, the author missed out on the Nobel Prize "no fewer than thirty or
forty times," between the publication of A Passage to India, and is death at age 91 in 1970. This absence "put
him in a select little club," according to Epstein, "Tolstoy, Henry James, Chekhov and Proust being among
its most distinguished members."
At age 8, Forster's Great Aunt Marianne Thorton, died leaving him 8,000 pounds; allowing him to pursue
an education and write without worrying about supporting himself. Thank you Great Aunt Marianne! It was
a tutor at Cambridge that planted the seed that he might like to write. Forster stated in an interview (with
David Jones for LIstener), "At one time my tutor suggested to me that I might write....and I being very
diffident was delighted at this remark and thought, after all why shouldn't I write? And I did." After
graduation from Cambridge in 1901, Forster traveled through Europe with his mother. It was during a trip
to Florence that he overheard gossip about an Englishwoman; this was the beginning thread to writing
his first published novel, Where Angels Fear to Tread.
Did you know....
Virginia Woolf described him as "timid as a mouse."
And
Forster was interested in music and was an accomplished amateur pianist.
And
Is known for having said: "Only connect the prose and the passion and both will be exalted, and human love
will be seen at its height."
Book Discussion for E.M. Forster's A Room with a View" will be February 4th at 10 AM. In addition, we begin the voting process for books to be discussed for our 2016-2017 Discussion Year. I will post further information on Thursday!