Concerning E.M. Forster: EM Forster and His Contemporaries
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"If there is a living British critic of literature as indisputably great as the literature he criticises it's Frank Kermode... still the dominant voice in his profession." (JOHN SUTHERLAND THE TIMES 21.11.09 )
"Like all good criticism, Concerning EM Forster, makes one want to read the books under discussion once more, and it ends on an appropriately affectionate note." (PETER PARKER SUNDAY TIMES - 12.12.09 )
"He is as sharp a reader and as learned as ever. This is a lovely book on a novelist Kermode has lived with and thought about for many decades." (PHILIP HENSHER THE DAILY TELEGRAPH 12.12.09 )
"our greatest living critic." (FERDINAND MOUNT THE SPECTATOR - 19.12.09 )
"Kermode writes with real insight." (COLM TOIBIN THE IRISH TIMES 12.12.09 )
"Like all good criticism, Concerning EM Forster, makes one want to read the books under discussion once more, and it ends on an appropriately affectionate note." (PETER PARKER SUNDAY TIMES - 12.12.09 )
"He is as sharp a reader and as learned as ever. This is a lovely book on a novelist Kermode has lived with and thought about for many decades." (PHILIP HENSHER THE DAILY TELEGRAPH 12.12.09 )
"our greatest living critic." (FERDINAND MOUNT THE SPECTATOR - 19.12.09 )
"Kermode writes with real insight." (COLM TOIBIN THE IRISH TIMES 12.12.09 )
Product Description
Over the past half-century Frank Kermode has established himself as one of the finest literary critics of his generation. When he delivered the Clark Lectures at Cambridge in 2007, he chose as his subject E.M. Forster - eighty years after Forster gave the same series of lectures, which became his ASPECTS OF THE NOVEL. Kermode's lectures form the core of this book: he assesses the influence and meaning of all of Forster's novels as well as his criticism, reflects on his profound musicality (Britten thought Forster the most musical of all writers) and offers a fascinating interpretation of his greatest work, A PASSAGE TO INDIA. The second part of the book takes the form of a causerie, a brilliant and wide-ranging series of loosely organized, interweaving discussions in which Forster is reduced in size, placed in the wider context of his times, and occasionally scolded by Kermode for being not quite the author he would have preferred him to be. Kermode reflects not only on Forster's considerable talent but on the social and personal circumstances that restricted it, on the dizzying changes in English society in the first half of the twentieth century, and the preoccupations and uncertainties of those, like Forster, who found themselves caught between two worlds. Taking Forster as his starting point, Kermode also casts a spotlight on many of his great contemporary writers - Joseph Conrad, Henry James, Virginia Woolf, Arnold Bennett, D.H. Lawrence and H.G. Wells. The product of a lifetime's reading and thinking by one of our most distinguished critics, CONCERNING E.M. FORSTER is both a stimulating and original portrait of E.M. Forster and a unique panorama of twentieth-century English letters.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Aspects of Forster
22 Jan 2010
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Not since Lionel Trilling has such an eminent critic weighed in on EM Forster. The first half of the book consists of the three Clark Lectures Kermode gave at Cambridge, Forster's alma mater, and are clearly meant as formal pieces, each touching upon a different Forsterian topic. The first concerns Forster's series of Clark lectures that were also collected into a book: "Aspects of the Novel". The second explores musicality of Forster, both in his prose (his leitmotifs, strongly influenced by Wagner), his writing about music (the Beethoven in "Howard's End", the opera in "Where Angels Fear to Tread", the piano piece in "A Room With A View") as well as his collaboration with Britten. Finally Kermode touches on what he feels is Forster's masterpiece, "A Passage To India" and how hard he worked to be vague yet believable in order to create the sense of mystery and the unknowable at the heart of that novel.
The second half is a freely flowing (and truth be told at times mildly repetitive) discourse of topics of interest to Kermode about Forster and allows him to be a bit more critical,exploring the strengths as well as the perceived weaknesses (e.g. Forster's condescension to a character such as Leonard Bast). This part is less carefully argued but in a way even richer, as it lets Kermode have free reign over what interests him: Edward Carpenter's influence, the role of Bloomsbury and Forster's relationship with Virginia Woolf, Forster's strengths and limitations as a literary critic, etc.
The whole book is unbelievably stimulating, like having a conversation with an amazingly learned man (which Kermode obviously is) about a writer you both love, even if your own is unstinting and his comes with reservations. Not a page is turned without some insight, some intriguing fact or some well argued opinion to keep you interested. Literary criticism rarely comes this good from start to finish and fans of Forster especially will place this volume alongside their Trilling as work that has become essential to their conversation about this wonderful writer and humane man.
The second half is a freely flowing (and truth be told at times mildly repetitive) discourse of topics of interest to Kermode about Forster and allows him to be a bit more critical,exploring the strengths as well as the perceived weaknesses (e.g. Forster's condescension to a character such as Leonard Bast). This part is less carefully argued but in a way even richer, as it lets Kermode have free reign over what interests him: Edward Carpenter's influence, the role of Bloomsbury and Forster's relationship with Virginia Woolf, Forster's strengths and limitations as a literary critic, etc.
The whole book is unbelievably stimulating, like having a conversation with an amazingly learned man (which Kermode obviously is) about a writer you both love, even if your own is unstinting and his comes with reservations. Not a page is turned without some insight, some intriguing fact or some well argued opinion to keep you interested. Literary criticism rarely comes this good from start to finish and fans of Forster especially will place this volume alongside their Trilling as work that has become essential to their conversation about this wonderful writer and humane man.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Loving E. M. Forster
6 Mar 2010
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
If you are a fan of E. M. Forster, you will enjoy this book. Frank Kermode gives his own critique of Forster's Aspects of a Novel and adds his thoughts on Forster's novels, especially Passage to India. He obviously enjoys Forster's works, but can still step away enough to relate some criticism. Kermode has an easy writing style, scholarly but not overshadowed with pretension. For lovers of Forster, this book will broaden your appreciation.
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