Author: E.M. Forster

Profile: Edward  Morgan Forster also popular as E.M. Forster is an English fiction writer of short stories, novels, essays and librettist. He was born in Marylebone, England and died in Coventry, England. He completed his education at King’s College, Cambridge.

Hypocrisy and class difference has been examined by him in many of his novels including, A Passage to India, Howards End and A Room with a View. E.M. Forster gained immense success with his last novel, A Passage to India. Actually he was baptized with the name Henry Morgan Forster, however by accident he was baptized as Edward Morgan Forster. After his father died in 1880, he and his mother moved to Rooks Nest, close to Stevenage, Hertfordshire upto the year 1893 which served as an important model for Howards End his novel. The novel has been listed Grade I for literary associations and historic interest. He had good childhood memories at Rooks Nest.

E.M. Forster travelled in Greece and Italy in 1904 as he had keen interest in their classical heritage, went to Germany to learn the language and spent many months in Nassenheide Pomerania to tutor children which he describes as the happiest time of his life. Forster fell in love with a seventeen year old Syed Ross Masood. He travelled with his mother in continental Europe after leaving University.

 

Writing style: E.M. Forster’s writing styles are symbolism, realism and modernism covering various subjects including gender, class division and homosexuality.

Published Texts:

Novels

1905 – Where Angels Fear to Tread

1907 – The Longest Journey

1908 – A Room with a View

1910 – Howards End

1924 – A Passage to India

1971 – Maurice (written in 1913-1914, published posthumously in 197)

Short Stories

1911 – The Celestial Omnibus (and other stories)

1928 – The Eternal Moment and other stories

1947 – Collected Short Stories

1972 – The Life to Come and other stories

Plays and Pageants

1934 – Abinger Pageant

1940 – England’s Pleasant Land

Film Scripts

1945 – A Diary for Timothy

Libretto

1951 – Billy Budd

Collections of essays and broadcasts

1936 – Abinger Harvest

1951 – Two Cheers for Democracy

1998 – The Prince’s Tale and Other Uncollected Writings

Literary criticism

1927 – Aspects of the Novel

2001 – The Feminine Note in Literature

The Creator as Critic and Other Writings

Biography

1934 – Goldsworthy

1956 – Marianne Thornton, A Domestic Biography

Travel Writing

1922 – Alexandria: A History and Guide

1923 – Pharos and Pharillon

1953 – The Hill of Devi

 

Awards and Acknowledgements:

James Tait Black Memorial Prize (A Passage to India)

1937 – Benson Medal

In sixteen separate years he has been nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature.