E. M. Forster (1879–1970)
Author of A Passage to India
About the Author
Edward Morgan Forster was born on January 1, 1879, in London, England. He never knew his father, who died when Forster was an infant. Forster graduated from King's College, Cambridge, with B.A. degrees in classics (1900) and history (1901), as well as an M.A. (1910). In the mid-1940s he returned to show more Cambridge as a professor, living quietly there until his death in 1970. Forster was named to the Order of Companions of Honor to the Queen in 1953. Forster's writing was extensively influenced by the traveling he did in the earlier part of his life. After graduating from Cambridge, he lived in both Greece and Italy, and used the latter as the setting for the novels Where Angels Fear to Tread (1905) and A Room with a View (1908). The Longest Journey was published in 1907. Howard's End was modeled on the house he lived in with his mother during his childhood. During World War I, he worked as a Red Cross Volunteer in Alexandria, aiding in the search for missing soldiers; he later wrote about these experiences in the nonfiction works Alexandria: A History and Guide and Pharos and Pharillon. His two journeys to India, in 1912 and 1922, resulted in A Passage to India (1924), which many consider to be Forster's best work; this title earned the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. Forster wrote only six novels, all prior to 1925 (although Maurice was not published until 1971, a year after Forster's death, probably because of its homosexual theme). For much of the rest of his life, he wrote literary criticism (Aspects of the Novel) and nonfiction, including biographies (Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson), histories, political pieces, and radio broadcasts. Howard's End, A Room with a View, and A Passage to India have all been made into successful films. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: From Wikimedia Commons
Works by E. M. Forster
Howards End / The Longest Journey / A Room with a View / Where Angels Fear to Tread (2007) 94 copies, 1 review
Howards End / The Longest Journey / Maurice / A Passage to India / A Room With a View / Where Angels Fear to Tread (1995) 72 copies
Where Angels Fear to Tread / The Longest Journey / A Room With a View / Howards End / A Passage to India (1978) 34 copies
Aspects of E. M. Forster; essays and recollections written for his ninetieth birthday January 1, 1969 (1969) 8 copies
E. M. Forster: a tribute — Contributor — 6 copies
Reading & Training : E.M. Forster : A passage to India [book + sound recording] (2003) — Writer — 6 copies
Howards End / The Longest Journey / The Machine Stops / A Room With A View / Where Angels Fear to Tread (2009) 6 copies
E M Forster - Collected Works, Including a Room with a View, Howards End, the Longest Journey, Where Angels Fear to… (2013) 3 copies
The Curate's Friend 3 copies
THE MAN AND HIS WORKS. 2 copies
Mr. Andrews 2 copies
Penguin modern classics 2 copies
Dr. Woolacott {short story} 2 copies
Arthur Snatchfold 1 copy
Monteriano 1 copy
When A.I. Goes Bad 1 copy
Teine kuningriik: novellid 1 copy
Short Fiction 1 copy
A Room with a View [DVD] 1 copy
Reading & Training : E.M. Forster : A room with a view [book + sound recording] (2008) — Writer — 1 copy
MOS E LUFTO PRANVEREN 1 copy
VISTA AL RIO 1 copy
“The Other Boat” 1 copy
A Room with a View and Other Works by E.M. Forster (Unexpurgated Edition) (Halcyon Classics) (2009) 1 copy
The Machine Stops (and) The Point of It — Author — 1 copy
Credo 1 copy
The Consolations of History 1 copy
My Own Centenary 1 copy
A Garland for E. M. Forster 1 copy
Modern Library 1 copy
[Selections] 1 copy
The Government of Egypt 1 copy
The E. M. Forster Collection 1 copy
The New Disorder 1 copy
The classical annex 1 copy
Selected Works 1 copy
Associated Works
The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two B: The Greatest Science Fiction Novellas of All Time (1973) — Contributor — 833 copies, 11 reviews
A Truth Universally Acknowledged: 33 Great Writers on Why We Read Jane Austen (2009) — Contributor — 384 copies, 18 reviews
75 Short Masterpieces: Stories from the World's Literature (1961) — Contributor — 308 copies, 1 review
The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 4th Edition, Volume 2 (1979) — Contributor — 258 copies, 1 review
First Fiction: An Anthology of the First Published Stories by Famous Writers (1994) — Contributor — 188 copies, 1 review
In Another Part of the Forest: An Anthology of Gay Short Fiction (1994) — Contributor — 183 copies, 2 reviews
Pages Passed from Hand to Hand: The Hidden Tradition of Homosexual Literature in English from 1748 to 1914 (1998) — Contributor — 175 copies, 1 review
The Graphic Canon, Vol. 3: From Heart of Darkness to Hemingway to Infinite Jest (2013) — Contributor — 153 copies, 1 review
An American Album: One Hundred and Fifty Years of Harper's Magazine (2000) — Contributor — 140 copies, 1 review
Gentlemen, Scholars and Scoundrels: A Treasury of the Best of Harper's Magazine from 1850 to the Present (1972) — Contributor — 61 copies
The End of the World: Classic Tales of Apocalyptic Science Fiction (2010) — Contributor — 53 copies, 1 review
Out of the Best Books: An Anthology of Literature, Vol. 1: The Individual and Human Values (1964) — Contributor — 40 copies
Menace of the Machine: The Rise of AI in Classic Science Fiction (2019) — Contributor — 35 copies, 1 review
The Steampunk Megapack: 26 Modern and Classic Steampunk Stories (2013) — Contributor — 34 copies, 1 review
Tom Barber Trilogy: Uncle Stephen, The Retreat, and Young Tom (2011) — Introduction, some editions — 17 copies
The Origins of Science Fiction (Oxford World's Classics Hardback Collection) (2022) — Contributor — 13 copies, 1 review
Dystopia: A Collection of Early Dystopian Novels (6 Classic Novels and 1 Short Story By H.G. Wells, Jack London, Ayn… (2011) — Contributor — 5 copies
Die englische Literatur 09 in Text und Darstellung. 20. Jahrhundert. (2001) — Contributor — 3 copies
Ode to Boy: Vol. 2: An Anthology of Same-Sex Attraction in Literature from the 19th Century Through the First World War (2014) — Contributor — 2 copies
Then and Now. A Selection of Articles, Stories & Poems, Taken from the First Fifty Numbers of ‘Now & Then’,… (1935) — Contributor — 2 copies
Modern Short Stories — Contributor — 2 copies
90 Masterpieces You Must Read (Vol.1): Novels, Poetry, Plays, Short Stories, Essays, Psychology & Philosophy (2020) — Contributor — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Forster, Edward Morgan
- Birthdate
- 1879-01-01
- Date of death
- 1970-06-07
- Burial location
- Canley Garden Cemetery and Crematorium, Canley, Warwickshire, England, UK
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- UK
- Country (for map)
- England, UK
- Birthplace
- Marylebone, London, England, UK
- Place of death
- Coventry, England, UK
- Cause of death
- stroke
- Places of residence
- London, England, UK
Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, UK
Alexandria, Egypt
Dewas, Madhya Pradesh, India
Weybridge, Surrey, England, UK
Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England, UK - Education
- Cambridge University (King's College | BA | Classics, 1900 | History, 1901 | MA|1910)
Tonbridge School, Kent, England, UK - Occupations
- novelist
essayist
librettist - Relationships
- von Arnim, Elizabeth (employer)
Buckingham, Bob (friend)
Ackerley, Joe (friend)
Reid, Forrest (friend)
Daley, Harry (lover) - Organizations
- American Academy of Arts and Letters (Foreign Honorary ∙ Literature ∙ 1949)
Bloomsbury Group
Cambridge Apostles
International Red Cross - Awards and honors
- Royal Society of Literature Benson Medal (1937)
Honorary Fellowship, King's College, Cambridge
Order of Merit (1969)
Royal Society of Literature Companion of Literature
Members
Discussions
British Author Challenge December 2023: Malorie Blackman & E. M. Forster in 75 Books Challenge for 2023 (December 2023)
THE DEEP ONES: "The Story of a Panic" by E. M. Forster in The Weird Tradition (December 2021)
E. M. Forster in Legacy Libraries (June 2016)
A Room with a View in Made into a Movie (January 2016)
Rebel Read: Aspects of the Novel in Le Salon Littéraire du Peuple pour le Peuple (February 2014)
Reviews
ASPECTS OF THE NOVEL by E.M. Forster
I finished my first book of the year, begun late in 2024 in a desperate attempt to complete my bingo card. I picked A Passage to India by E. M. Forster from Project Gutenberg because it had just the title and author on the cover. That is more unusual than you would think as even the simplest cover has some embellishment, the logo of the publishing house or a decorative square around the title.
The book was fascinating and a great read to start the year. Forster uses India as a setting and a character with rich descriptions of both physical and metaphorical landscapes. At one point, the main character, a Muslim doctor, comments to himself that is finally a complete Indian, one that loves his country and sees the British for the invaders that they are. The themes of class, gender and oppression form a foundation for the novel from its opening pages.
I was confused now and then by references to British and Indian items and customs that may have been familiar to Forster's audience but I could get by on the context mostly.
The book was published in 1924, and it took 23 more years for India to achieve independence.… (more)
The book was fascinating and a great read to start the year. Forster uses India as a setting and a character with rich descriptions of both physical and metaphorical landscapes. At one point, the main character, a Muslim doctor, comments to himself that is finally a complete Indian, one that loves his country and sees the British for the invaders that they are. The themes of class, gender and oppression form a foundation for the novel from its opening pages.
I was confused now and then by references to British and Indian items and customs that may have been familiar to Forster's audience but I could get by on the context mostly.
The book was published in 1924, and it took 23 more years for India to achieve independence.… (more)
Lists
Best Dystopias (1)
Five star books (2)
Best Satire (1)
1970s (1)
Overdue Podcast (1)
Asia (1)
Europe (1)
Classics (1)
Franklit (1)
Women's Stories (1)
All Things India (1)
Summer Books (1)
1920s (1)
Ambleside Books (1)
Legal Stories (1)
Out of Copyright (2)
My TBR (3)
Favourite Books (4)
Modernism (4)
A Novel Cure (4)
Folio Society (3)
Unread books (3)
Read These Too (2)
Sonlight Books (1)
Schwob Nederland (1)
1910s (2)
AP Lit (2)
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 172
- Also by
- 98
- Members
- 52,520
- Popularity
- #291
- Rating
- 3.8
- Reviews
- 828
- ISBNs
- 1,598
- Languages
- 28
- Favorited
- 270
