E. M. Forster, Novelist

b. January 1, 1879

d. June 7, 1970

“If I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend, I hope I should have the guts to betray my country.”

E. M. Forster was a prolific and internationally acclaimed writer. His works display his acute awareness of the social and political problems of his time and his belief in the power of human connection. Though best known for novels, he wrote numerous short stories and nonfiction works. 

Forster grew up in London, England. An inheritance from his great-aunt allowed him to attend college and sustained his early writing career. Forster received his B.A. from King’s College in Cambridge. After graduation, he and his mother traveled to Italy. This experience deeply influenced two of his first novels, “Where Angels Fear to Tread” (1905) and “A Room with a View” (1907).  

Forster’s novel “Howard’s End” (1910) provided a sharp analysis of the upper-class British world. It is recognized as his greatest work. His next novel, “A Passage to India” (1924), won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 1924 and was named one of the 100 best novels published in the English language by Modern Library in 1998. 

“Maurice,” which Forster wrote between 1913 and 1915, was not published until a year after his death, at the author’s request. Written when homosexuality was illegal in England, the book revolved around a gay man and his relationships. Though unwilling to publish “Maurice,” Forster fought against the suppression of Radclyffe Hall’s novel about a lesbian Englishwoman, “The Well of Loneliness” (1928).  

In the 1980’s and 1990’s, Forster’s novels were adapted for the big screen. According to The New York Times, “Forster displayed a genius for capturing the complex personalities expressed in the social manners of his day, and the best screen adaptations have done the same.” The film versions of “Howard’s End” and “A Room with a View” each won three Oscars, and “A Passage to India” secured two more.

In 1934, Forster became the first president of the National Council for Civil Liberties, a human rights organization in England. A year before his death, Queen Elizabeth appointed Forster a member of England’s Order of Merit, one of the highest national honors.  

Bibliography

• “Aspects of E.M. Forster: Biography.” Emforster.de. June 2, 2008
• James, Caryn. “Film View; Why Forster’s Novels Have Star Quality.” The New York Times. March 22, 1992
• Lewis, Anthony.  “E. M. Forster Homosexual Novel Due.” The New York Times. November 11, 1970
• Stansky, Peter.  “A Curious Life.” The New York Times. November 12, 1978

Articles
“Times Topics: E.M. Forster.” The New York Times.



Books

• Where Angels Fear to Tread (Penguin Classics) (1905)
• The Longest Journey (Penguin Classics) (1907)
• A Room With a View (1908)
• Howards End (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) (1910)
• The celestial omnibus and other stories (1911)
• A Passage to India (Penguin Classics) (1924)
• Eternal Moment And Other Stories (A Harvest Book, Hb 180) (1928)
• Maurice: A Novel (1971)
• The Life to Come: And Other Stories (1972)

Films

• A Passage To India (2-Disc Collector's Edition) (1984)            
• A Room With a View (Two-Disc Special Edition)(1985)
• Maurice - The Merchant Ivory Collection (1987)
• Where Angels Fear to Tread (1991) 
• Howards End - The Merchant Ivory Collection (1992)

"Eminent Outlaws: The GayWriters Who Changed America"

Book Review, at the Star Tribune:

NONFICTION: "Eminent Outlaws: The GayWriters Who Changed America,"

by Christopher Bram 

Once World War II was over, there was no stopping gay writers from stepping out of the shadows.

It is remarkable to recall, as Christopher Bram does in "Eminent Outlaws," that 1948 saw publication of two overtly gay novels -- Gore Vidal's "The City and the Pillar" and Truman Capote's "Other Voices, Other Rooms." Capote's novel was "dazzling," said the Chicago Tribune, but Time magazine said his "theme is calculated to make the flesh crawl." Both books were bestsellers.

Bram, best known as a novelist ("Gods and Monsters"), gives an endlessly fascinating, first-of-its-kind account of about a dozen gay novelists, poets and playwrights, from Vidal and Tennessee Williams to Tony Kushner and Edmund White, each of whom had far-reaching impact over five postwar decades.

Even for those familiar with these writers, Bram's book serves an invaluable, connect-the-dots function. It's also an amiable, opinionated and occasionally gossipy guide to famous feuds, love affairs and literary treasures worth rediscovering.

-full review at StarTribune.com 

In an interview with the Strib, Christopher Bram named his personal favourites by some of the authors discussed in Eminent Outlaws: 

• Edward Albee: "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"Hands down.
• James Baldwin: "Another Country." In a way this is a post-gay novel. It has gay and straight characters and a sex scene between a gay man and a straight man. It's the mid-'60s and he's already writing a post-gay novel.
• Christopher Isherwood: "Down There on A Visit." I love "A Single Man," but "Down There on a Visit" is even better. I love its scope.
• Edmund White: "A Farewell Symphony." It has a wimpy last quarter, but it has great stuff before then.
• Tennessee Williams: "A Streetcar Named Desire." The great American play, with a major gay episode in it.
• Armistead Maupin: "The Night Listener"
• Andrew Holleran: "Dancer from the Dance." It really holds up. It's now become a great historical novel of New York in the '70s.