- Paperback: 304 pages
- Publisher: Penguin; New Ed edition (3 Sep 1998)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0140274235
- ISBN-13: 978-0140274233
- Product Dimensions: 18 x 11 x 2.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 84,251 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
What really happened in the Marabar caves? This is the mystery at the heart of E.M. Forster's 1924 novel, A Passage to India, the puzzle that sets in motion events highlighting an even larger question: can an Englishman and an Indian be friends?
Written while England was still firmly in control of India, Forster's novel follows the fortunes of three English newcomers to India--Miss Adela Quested, Mrs Moore and Cyril Fielding--and the Indian, Dr Aziz, with whom they cross destinies. The idea of true friendship between the races was a radical one in Forster's time, and he makes it abundantly clear that it was not one that either side welcomed.
Despite their countrymen's disapproval, Miss Quested, Mrs Moore and Mr Fielding are all eager to meet Indians, and in Dr Aziz they find a perfect companion: educated, westernized, and open- minded. Slowly, the friendships ripen, especially between Aziz and Fielding. Having created the possibility of esteem based on trust and mutual affection, Forster then subjects it to the crucible of racial hatred: during a visit to the famed Marabar caves, Miss Quested accuses Dr Aziz of sexually assaulting her, but then later recants during the frenzied trial that follows. Under such circumstances, affection proves to be a very fragile commodity indeed.
Arguably Forster's greatest novel, A Passage to India paints a troubling portrait of colonialism at its worst, and is remarkable for the complexity of its characters. Here the personal becomes the political, and in the breach between Aziz and his English "friends", Forster foreshadows the eventual end of the Raj. --Alix Wilber --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
What did happen to Miss Quested in the Marabar Caves? This tantalizing question provides the intense drama of racial tension at the centre of Forster's last and greatest novel.
After a mysterious incident during their visit to the caves, the charming Dr Aziz is accused of assaulting Adela Quested, a naive young Englishwoman new to India. As he is brought to trial, the fragile structure of Anglo-Indian relations collapses and the racism inherent in colonialism is exposed in all its ugliness -a theme which still has powerful, dangerous realities today.
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First Sentence
Except for the Marabar Caves - and they are twenty miles off - the city of Chandrapore presents nothing extraordinary. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
Except for the Marabar Caves - and they are twenty miles off - the city of Chandrapore presents nothing extraordinary. Read the first page
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Concordance
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
East and West Can Never Meet?,
By
This review is from: A Passage To India (Everyman's Library classics) (Hardcover)
Almost a century after the book's publication the most crucial problems it discussed are as current as they were during Forster's life. The impossibility of communicating across the divide of culture, religion, and race, seems to be even more alive then when he saw it. The value of the novel lies not so much in representing it but in the fact that Forster offers a way out - personal contact.
The story takes us to India of the 1920s - we follow the path of a young Englishwoman who goes to marry a British official but wants to know "the real India". This she never achieves but she gets to know something by far more important - herself. Her inept attempts at connecting with India and Indians make other characters of the novel learn more about themselves, force them out of safe shells in which they lived. The lesson is painful but at least for some of the characters opens the door to a better life. There is little chance people will suddenly like Muslims, Pakistanis, gays, lesbians, Moroccans, Turkish, Kurds etc etc - there is a chance (a very slim chance, Forster would be quick to add) that a specific American and a specific Muslim, a Turk and a Kurd, an Israeli and a Palestinian can be friends. The world may not want it, the people that surround them may not want it but the results depend on us alone. If we do not try we only have ourselves to blame.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A truely "timeless classic",
By A Customer
This review is from: A Passage to India (Paperback)
When I first picked up Forster's classic novel, I wasn't sure what to expect. As a modern, 21st century reader, a book about colonial India didn't seem particularly appealing. However, A Passage to India exceeded all my expectations. The characters were both believeable and convincing but what is most striking are Forster's descriptions of setting. He brings India to life so that we not only see what it was like to live there, we almost hear and smell it too! I know that Forster's book has its flaws and is not always completely accurate but it is still one of the most important novels concerning the conflict between rulers and natives around. Read it!
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
E.M.Forster's A Passage to India,
By
This review is from: A Passage to India (Paperback)
This beautifully crafted book is a materpiece in its exploration and mockery of colonial India. Both the narrative and the story itself, subtly expose the hypocrisy and endemic racism of the Imperialist British and the profound and long term effect on both the Indian people and the colonising British. It is the tale of an accusation, probably false - but left unresolved, which reveals both the fragility and depth of relationships between the British and each other, the Indians and the British, and between men and women. Habitual sexism and racism, and the desire to overcome them, resonate through the unfolding story, told through the differing voices of the many characters involved.
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