The Cambridge Companion to E. M. Forster
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Review
' … a fascinating register of historical fissures and tensions in Forster criticism and will appeal to a wide readership.' The Review of English Studies
'It is an accessible and detailed treatment of the many themes in Forster's work as well as the contradictions and problems which beset him and which can be traced through his writing.' Reference Reviews
'It is an accessible and detailed treatment of the many themes in Forster's work as well as the contradictions and problems which beset him and which can be traced through his writing.' Reference Reviews
Product Description
This collection of essays, each one by a recognized expert, provides lively and innovative readings of every aspect of Forster's wide-ranging career. It includes substantial chapters dedicated to his two major novels, Howards End and A Passage to India, and further chapters focus on A Room With a View and Maurice. Forster's connections with the values of Bloomsbury and the lure of Greece and Italy in his work are assessed, as is his vexed relationship with Modernism. Other essays investigate his role as a literary critic, the status of his work within the genres of the novel and the short story, his treatment of sexuality and his attitude to and representation of women. This was the most comprehensive study of Forster's work to be published for many years, providing an invaluable source of comment on and insight into his writings.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A new volume on EMF, the product of a group of renowned scholars is bound to raise expectations. Unfortunately, this volume does not live up to them.
It has all the faults of a collective enterprise. The editor apparently did not have the stamina to control the volume beyond establishing (fairly rational) general frame. It is true that judging by the list of contents you have here everything you need. The articles, however, are of rather uneven quality. Some of them do not offer much beyond stating the obvious ("Filmed Forster" as well as chapters on specific novels), some reflect the authors personal agendas without moving to the alleged subject matter ("Forster's life and life writing" offers almost no information on his biography...) while some show interesting lack of interest in modern Forsterian criticism ("Forsterian sexuality" - footnotes are very telling, it seems that the author desperately wanted to discover everything by himself probably because he failed to do his research).
Strangely many of the articles share one common element - the authors seem uncertain why actually they should be writing about Forster at all. The words "Forster's career as a novelist was spectacularly lopsided" open the Introduction and somehow this seems to be the key issue for the whole volume. Does it really matter? Wouldn't it be better to start from a quote from David Lodge - "EMF is one of the three most important native English novelists of the 20th century"?
Consequent authors concentrate on the question "Why did EMF dry up as a novelist?" so much that they seem to miss that we don't want to read about the books he never wrote or short stories he chose to destroy. There really is enough to Forster to keep him interesting and (yes!) powerful writer over eighty years after he chose to give up writing novels. Apparently, not enough for majority of the renowned authors involved.
One last thing - I could not decide who is supposed to be the target audience of the volume. There are too few new things to make the volume interesting for a seasoned Forsterian as myself and too many well-known facts are missing to make it a valuable read for someone new to a field.
Anyway, there is quite a lot of good books about EMF and quite a few bad ones. This one is somewhere in the middle of the range. If you feel like reading it you may as well wait till your university library buys one. Paying for a copy with your own money is a waste.
It has all the faults of a collective enterprise. The editor apparently did not have the stamina to control the volume beyond establishing (fairly rational) general frame. It is true that judging by the list of contents you have here everything you need. The articles, however, are of rather uneven quality. Some of them do not offer much beyond stating the obvious ("Filmed Forster" as well as chapters on specific novels), some reflect the authors personal agendas without moving to the alleged subject matter ("Forster's life and life writing" offers almost no information on his biography...) while some show interesting lack of interest in modern Forsterian criticism ("Forsterian sexuality" - footnotes are very telling, it seems that the author desperately wanted to discover everything by himself probably because he failed to do his research).
Strangely many of the articles share one common element - the authors seem uncertain why actually they should be writing about Forster at all. The words "Forster's career as a novelist was spectacularly lopsided" open the Introduction and somehow this seems to be the key issue for the whole volume. Does it really matter? Wouldn't it be better to start from a quote from David Lodge - "EMF is one of the three most important native English novelists of the 20th century"?
Consequent authors concentrate on the question "Why did EMF dry up as a novelist?" so much that they seem to miss that we don't want to read about the books he never wrote or short stories he chose to destroy. There really is enough to Forster to keep him interesting and (yes!) powerful writer over eighty years after he chose to give up writing novels. Apparently, not enough for majority of the renowned authors involved.
One last thing - I could not decide who is supposed to be the target audience of the volume. There are too few new things to make the volume interesting for a seasoned Forsterian as myself and too many well-known facts are missing to make it a valuable read for someone new to a field.
Anyway, there is quite a lot of good books about EMF and quite a few bad ones. This one is somewhere in the middle of the range. If you feel like reading it you may as well wait till your university library buys one. Paying for a copy with your own money is a waste.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
1 review
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
So Why Are You Writing About Him?
7 May 2008
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
A new volume on EMF, the product of a group of renowned scholars is bound to raise expectations. Unfortunately, this volume does not live up to them.
It has all the faults of a collective enterprise. The editor apparently did not have the stamina to control the volume beyond establishing (fairly rational) general frame. It is true that judging by the list of contents you have here everything you need. The articles, however, are of rather uneven quality. Some of them do not offer much beyond stating the obvious ("Filmed Forster" as well as chapters on specific novels), some reflect the authors personal agendas without moving to the alleged subject matter ("Forster's life and life writing" offers almost no information on his biography...) while some show interesting lack of interest in modern Forsterian criticism ("Forsterian sexuality" - footnotes are very telling, it seems that the author desperately wanted to discover everything by himself probably because he failed to do his research).
Strangely many of the articles share one common element - the authors seem uncertain why actually they should be writing about Forster at all. The words "Forster's career as a novelist was spectacularly lopsided" open the Introduction and somehow this seems to be the key issue for the whole volume. Does it really matter? Wouldn't it be better to start from a quote from David Lodge - "EMF is one of the three most important native English novelists of the 20th century"?
Consequent authors concentrate on the question "Why did EMF dry up as a novelist?" so much that they seem to miss that we don't want to read about the books he never wrote or short stories he chose to destroy. There really is enough to Forster to keep him interesting and (yes!) powerful writer over eighty years after he chose to give up writing novels. Apparently, not enough for majority of the renowned authors involved.
One last thing - I could not decide who is supposed to be the target audience of the volume. There are too few new things to make the volume interesting for a seasoned Forsterian as myself and too many well-known facts are missing to make it a valuable read for someone new to a field.
Anyway, there is quite a lot of good books about EMF and quite a few bad ones. This one is somewhere in the middle of the range. If you feel like reading it you may as well wait till your university library buys one. Paying for a copy with your own money is a waste.
It has all the faults of a collective enterprise. The editor apparently did not have the stamina to control the volume beyond establishing (fairly rational) general frame. It is true that judging by the list of contents you have here everything you need. The articles, however, are of rather uneven quality. Some of them do not offer much beyond stating the obvious ("Filmed Forster" as well as chapters on specific novels), some reflect the authors personal agendas without moving to the alleged subject matter ("Forster's life and life writing" offers almost no information on his biography...) while some show interesting lack of interest in modern Forsterian criticism ("Forsterian sexuality" - footnotes are very telling, it seems that the author desperately wanted to discover everything by himself probably because he failed to do his research).
Strangely many of the articles share one common element - the authors seem uncertain why actually they should be writing about Forster at all. The words "Forster's career as a novelist was spectacularly lopsided" open the Introduction and somehow this seems to be the key issue for the whole volume. Does it really matter? Wouldn't it be better to start from a quote from David Lodge - "EMF is one of the three most important native English novelists of the 20th century"?
Consequent authors concentrate on the question "Why did EMF dry up as a novelist?" so much that they seem to miss that we don't want to read about the books he never wrote or short stories he chose to destroy. There really is enough to Forster to keep him interesting and (yes!) powerful writer over eighty years after he chose to give up writing novels. Apparently, not enough for majority of the renowned authors involved.
One last thing - I could not decide who is supposed to be the target audience of the volume. There are too few new things to make the volume interesting for a seasoned Forsterian as myself and too many well-known facts are missing to make it a valuable read for someone new to a field.
Anyway, there is quite a lot of good books about EMF and quite a few bad ones. This one is somewhere in the middle of the range. If you feel like reading it you may as well wait till your university library buys one. Paying for a copy with your own money is a waste.
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