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EDWARD MORGAN FOSTER (1879-1970) - Coggle Diagram
EDWARD MORGAN FOSTER (1879-1970)
LIFE
He was born in London, and he was brought up by his mother and great-aunt
sent to some strict schools, he then went to Cambridge, where he became a honorary fellow of King's College
he lived for a time in Italy, background of his first and third novel
1912 he went to India for the first time, where he began to work on his masterpiece
A passage to India
He died in 1970 and his last novel was published the following year
WORKS
1905
Where angels fear to tread
set in Italy, about the differences between the strictness og English upper-middle-class conventions and Italian more relaxed way of life
1907
The longest journey
his most autobiographical novel about English life
1908
A room with a view
1910
Howards End
1924
A passage to India
1927
Aspects of the novel
lectures on modern aesthetics
2 books of collected essays
1971 (posthumous)
Maurice
a novel about homosexuality completed in 1910 but not published because at that time it was still regarded as a criminal offence
MAIN FEATURES
he bridges the late Victorian period and the early modern period
writer of comedy of manners
plot and omniscient narrator derived from the Victorian tradition
optimism about the future questioned through IRONY
characters in conflict with their own societies and cultures
talent for self-scrutiny
A PASSAGE TO INDIA
PLOT
The novel is set in the fictional Indian town of Chandrapore, divided into an old Indian quarter and the British Civil station. The city magistrate
Ronny Heaslop
is engaged to
Miss Adela Quested
, who visits India with Ronny's mother,
Mrs Moore
.
Mrs Moore becomes friend of a Muslim doctor,
Aziz
, and invites him to visit the Marabar Caves. During the visit, Mrs Moore suffers a nervous breakdown and suggests that Aziz and Adela should continue the exploration without her.
When Adela emerges from the caves accuses Aziz of physical assault.
Cyril Fielding
, the local headmaster, sides with the Indians because he thinks Aziz is innocent. Mrs Moore shows no understanding for the victim (she will die during her voyage back to England).
During the trial Adela, in a state of nervous collapse, declares she has made a mistake and is rejected by her own people, except for Fielding. Aziz is released.
2 years later, Aziz has moved to a Hindu State, he hates English people and he has heard that Fielding married Adela after the trial. When they meet, Aziz finds out that Fielding has married Stella Moore, Mrs Moore's daughter from her second marriage.
Aziz tells Fielding that once the English are out of India, they will be able to be friends again, but not immediately because the time is not yet ripe for such a friendship
MARABAR CAVES
inspired by the Barabar Caves visited by Forster in 1913
traumatic for both Mrs Moore and Adela, they represent 'the womb of the universe' in Hindu mythology
they represent the subconscious (Adela realises she doesn't love Ronny)
the echo in the cave, symbol of nature's benevolence in literary tradition, is dehumanised by Forster
MODERNISM
Indian landscape presented as vast and indifferent
The author enters the consciousness of the characters
free indirect style to record Adela's thoughts
BUT he doesn't adopt innovations, movements into mind, unconventional chronology
THEMES
issue of connection
desire to overcome social and racial differences
personal relationships and the need for tolerance
the dissolution of British dominion over India
Kipling's 'white man's burden' is portrayed as a set of imperialistic policies of discrimination, where Ronny is distant expression of bureaucracy and Aziz represents the development of an Indian national consciousness
text: two cultures trying to communicate
Adela, Aziz and Mrs Moore invited at a tea by Mr Fielding with Professor Godbole, a Brahman Hindu
STRUCTURE
divided into
Caves
work
Temple
love
Mosque
knowledge
STYLE
the point of view shifts from character to character
pervasive use of negative forms
omniscient narrator
named after Walt Whitman's poem celebrating the opening of the Suez Canal as a bridge between Europe and India