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A lot of e-mails I receive ask what references I can recommend, and where
to find them. It may be obvious, but the best way to go about this is
to visit a good library, and at a computer terminal search for the subject
"E M Forster." Even a title search of "E M Forster"
will turn up a lot, since almost all criticism collections or biographies
are called "E. M. Forster" or at least include his name
in the title. In any case, I guarantee that this is the cheapest way to
find valuable material. I found a motherlode of Forster material in my
main college library. Some libraries, of course, won't have as much as
you'd like, but these days Forster-related books have experience a resurgence
(probably thanks to the spurt of film adaptations within the 1980s and
early 1990s), so you may luck out after all.
The following is by no means a comprehensive list of biographies and
criticism collections -- being a Forsterite, I also happen to be a collector
of any Forster-related books (particularly of Howards End)
I can find. The list is not something that I put together blindly; I own
some version of each title mentioned and can personally attest to each
one's importance or usefulness. This does not mean that I have
read everything cover to cover. :-) All of the them are in book format,
but as time passes I may venture to include journal articles as well.
Biographical
-
Furbank, P. N. - E. M. Forster: A Life
Harcourt Brace & Company, 1977-1978
This is a very rich biography;
Forster himself asked Furbank to be his biographer. If you have to
actually buy an EMF biography, this is the
one to get. It is available in both paperback and hardcover. It was
originally published in two volumes, but recent editions have combined
the two into one book.
[This
appears to be out of print right now, unfortunately.]
-
Beauman, Nicola - E. M. Forster: A Biography
Alfred Knopf, 1994
(This is the U.S. version
- the book was originally published in 1993 in Britain by Hodder &
Stoughton as Morgan: A Biography of E. M Forster, so
you can look for that title as well.) I obtained a second-hand hardcover
copy recently, but haven't had a chance to read through all of it
yet. The main difference between this biography and Furbank's is obvious
-- Beauman writes with more of a personal touch. I don't mean to sound
like I'm putting down Furbank's bio, but Beauman's version doesn't
feel as detached from EMF as Furbank's does. It's very apparent that
she's writing as a real admirer, whereas I don't really get the same
sense with Furbank.
[Order the paperback U.K.
edition from Amazon.co.uk
(the U.S. edition is out of print)]
-
King, Francis - E. M. Forster (Literary Lives
series)
Thames and Hudson, 1978
This is a rather short book
(128 pages), but very is interesting and informative nonetheless --
King mentions details that aren't covered in the two other, more ambitious
biographies. There are also some wonderful photographs and a convenient
timeline of EMF's life. I had a hard time finding this in the U.S.;
I found a paperback copy (among some other glorious books) at Heffers
a few years ago when I was in Cambridge (England). It is inexpensive
and well worth the price.
[Not
readily available from either the U.K. or U.S. Amazon stores]
-
Lago, Mary (editor) - Selected Letters of E. M. Forster:
1921-1970
Harvard University Press, 1985
I actually have not seen
this two-volume set, but I'm including it here in case anyone is interested.
[Order
the hardcover from Amazon.com]
Criticism - general compilations
-
Trilling, Lionel - E. M. Forster
New Directions, 1943 or 1964 (revised edition)
Trilling was really the
first to tackle EMF's works (his novels) and publish his opinions
into book format. I have a copy of the second edition, and it covers
all of the novels (except Maurice), a bit of biographical
background, and Forster's own literary criticism. I think this is
the most important of any criticism out there, because pretty much
any criticism written since Trilling's will refer to his work.
[Order this from Amazon.com
or Amazon.co.uk]
-
Tambling, Jeremy (editor) - E. M. Forster (New
Casebooks series)
Macmillan Press, 1995
A very useful and very welcome
collection of recent criticism. It compiles twelve essays each written
by a different author, as well as a good introduction by Tambling.
The essays all range widely in topic, from Forster himself to a specific
novel. I won't list all of the articles' names (perhaps at a later
date), but two narrowed it down to The Longest Journey,
two covered some subject in Howards End, one chose Maurice,
and three discussed A Passage to India. This is a rather
difficult book to find. I found my copy in England, but I don't think
I've actually seen it in U.S. bookstores.
[Order the paperback from
Amazon.co.uk
(not available in U.S.)]
[The hardcover edition is also available (but
more expensive) from Amazon.com]
-
Forster, E. M. - Edited by Paul Armstrong - Howards
End (Norton Critical Edition)
W.
W. Norton & Company, 1998
Obviously, this is a version
of the entire text of Howards End (in this case annotated),
with an introduction and additional articles edited by Armstrong.
If you intend to buy an edition of the novel to read (even if it is
just for fun), I highly recommend either this Norton Critical edition
or the Bedford edition (listed below). I have both editions and each
are worthwhile. I suppose if I had to choose which one is better in
terms of the overall package, I would go with the Norton -- it does
include a lot of bells and whistles: a nice "Background and Contexts"
section which includes some relevant and insightful material (and
extracts of material) by Forster himself or by others; and an especially
useful "Criticism" section which includes contemporary reviews
of the novel, recent critical essays, and even four reviews of the
Merchant-Ivory film adaptation (lovely for film buffs like myself!).
[Order this from Amazon.com
(not readily available in U.K.)]
-
Forster, E. M. - Edited by Alistair M. Duckworth - Howards
End (Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism series)
Bedford
Books, 1997
This edition includes the
novel (in the form of the 1973 Abinger edition's text, originally
edited by Oliver Stallybrass and published by Edward Arnold), as well
as a well-prepared collection of five critical essays addressing the
novel in some way. Since a very limited number of the Abinger texts
were distributed in the U.S., the only likely way to find one would
be at a library (I do know that Honnold/Mudd
Library in Claremont, California does possess, if I'm not mistaken,
all of the volumes of The Abinger Edition of E. M. Forster
-- I do know that it has quite a few of the volumes). The Bedford
edition might be difficult to obtain locally (I got mine from Amazon),
but I have seen the Norton (described above) in large bookstores such
as Borders.
[Order the paperback
edition (it's back in print!) from Amazon.com]
[Order the hardcover
edition from Amazon.com]
-
Duckworth, Alistair M. - Howards End: E. M. Forster's
House of Fiction (Twayne Masterwork Studies series)
Twayne
Publishers, 1992
As far as I know, this is
the only book (still in print) that is completely devoted to reading
Howards End. Duckworth divides it into two chunks: "Literary
and Historical Context" and "A Reading," the latter
taking up most of the book. It's an insightful and engaging volume,
even though I found myself disagreeing with Duckworth at times. I
recommend it to any big fan of the novel or to any student looking
for a fairly comprehensive overview of many aspects of the novel.
:-)
[This
may not be readily available, but you can 'special order' a paperback
copy from Amazon.com
or Amazon.co.uk]
If you are disappointed because I don't have any separate criticism suggestions
for A Passage to India or any of EMF's other novels, his
essays or short stories, it's because I've concentrated mainly on Howards
End and the listed titles are ones I've personally dealt with more
than once. I do recommend that you try finding the titles listed under
"general compilations," and look through the articles within
those books. Also, they both have some good suggestions in the back for
"further reading," and the bibliographies (whether for the individual
essays or for the entire compilation) should provide good starting points
as well.
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