Though Forster structures his essays around such fundamental novelistic elements as plot, character, and language, this is a rather loosely constructed and free ranging discussion of the literary form that has come in the past two hundred years to dominate the Western world's literary preoccupations. It is not systematic, nor is it comprehensive. Its tone is more personal and impressionistic. Fortunately, Forster has a large number of tremendously perceptions about the novel and novelists, and because he couches these reflections in frequently brilliant sentences, this book makes for reading that is both insightful and delightful. It is also an intensely personal book, so that we gain a great deal of insight into Forster's tastes and quirks.

Nearly every chapter in this book has something to offer the reader, but I have found his discussion of the difference between flat and round characters to be especially useful in reading other novels. In Forster's view, a round character is one that can develop and change over the course of a novel's story. They adjust, grow, and react to events and people around them. They are fuller, and therefore more lifelike. A flat character, on the other hand, is essentially the same character at the end of the tale as at the beginning. They do not grow, do not alter with time, do no admit of development. Flat characters are not necessarily bad characters. As Forster points out, correctly, I think, nearly all of Charles Dickens's characters are flat characters. Not even major characters such as David Copperfield change during the course of their history.

I have found this distinction to be quite helpful in reading the work of various novelists. Some authors have almost nothing but round characters. Anthony Trollope is a premier example of this. All of his characters develop and change and are effected by events around them. Some authors have a mix of flat and round characters, like Jane Austen. As Forster points out, she is even capable of taking a flat character like Mrs. Bennet, expand her suddenly into a round character, and then collapse her back into a round one. And her round characters are very, very round indeed. Compare Elizabeth Bennet or Emma Woodhouse with any character in Dickens, and the difference is obvious. On the other hand, someone like Hemingway tends to have round male characters and flat female characters, or Iris Murdoch, who has round female characters but flat male characters.

The book is filled with marvelous, frequently funny sentences. "Books have to be read . . . it is the only way of discovering what they contain." "Neither of them has much taste: the world of beauty was largely closed to Dickens, and is entirely closed to Wells." "The intensely, stifling human quality of the novel is not to be avoided; the novel is sogged with humanity." "The human mind is not a dignified organ, and I do not see how we can exercise it sincerely except through eclecticism." And one could go on and on.

If one wants a systematic and exhaustive history and discussion of the novel, one ought to turn, perhaps, to another book. But if one finds a pithy, impressionistic reaction to the form by one of its better 20th century practitioners, one could not do better than this find book.

...the fundamental aspect of the novel is its story-telling aspect... -EM Forster, Aspects of the Novel

I liked this collected series of lectures on what makes for good novel writing much better than almost any of the novels that Forster actually wrote (A Passage to India being the lone exception). Forster treats seven different aspects--the story, people, plot, fantasy, prophecy, pattern, and rhythm--in a breezy conversational style. Along the way, he offers examples, both good and bad, from literary history. I found myself agreeing and dissenting about equally, but the whole thing was immensely interesting and entertaining.

Here are some of the observations that I agreed with and why:

A story "can only have one fault: that of making the audience not want to know what happens next."

One inevitably thinks of James Joyce's Ulysses, which by now has surely retired the title of "the book most likely to remain unfinished". No matter how revolutionary the technique, how insightful the observations or how compelling the characters, a book that you can put down and not care what happens next has failed in its most basic task. ----------------------

The constant sensitiveness of characters for each other--even in writers called robust, like Fielding--is remarkable, and has no parallel in life, except among those people who have plenty of leisure. Passion, intensity at moments--yes, but not this constant awareness, this endless readjusting, this ceaseless hunger. I believe that these are the reflections of the novelist's own state of mind while he composes, and that the predominance of love in novels is partly because of this.

Forster elsewhere sites DH Lawrence favorably, but he seems to me to be an author whose characters are so obsessed by passion as to be too novelistic, if not completely unrealistic. But, the example I would site here actually is not a case of love predominating to excess, but rather Crime and Punishment , where the characters' constant awareness of the philosophical and moral implications of their every thought and deed is such that it could only be the product of an author in intellectual overdrive. If real people truly lived their lives this way, nothing would ever get done. ----------------------

In the losing battle that the plot fights with the characters, it often takes a cowardly revenge. Nearly all novels are feeble at the end. This is because the plot requires to be wound up. Why is this necessary? Why is there not a convention which allows a novelist to stop as soon as he feels muddled or bored? Alas, he has to round things off, and usually the characters go dead while he is at work, and our final impression of them is through deadness.

Anyone who's ever read one of his books will instantly call to mind James Clavell. I recall the jarring sensation of finishing his great novel Tai-Pan when, many hundreds of pages into the book, unwilling to see it conclude, but obviously noticing that their were a dwindling number of pages; I could not imagine how he would conclude the main plot line so quickly, let alone tie up all of the remaining loose ends. And then, BOOM!, our hero is dead and the book is over. And why? I was ready to read on for as long as he wanted to keep writing. Or, at worst, he could have just stopped in mid story and said: "To be continued..." But Forster is right; the conventions of the novel almost require authors to

let the tiger out of the cage at the end, and, more often then not, it leaves a bitter taste in the reader's mouth, regardless of how much we'd enjoyed the book up until that point.

There is much food for thought of this kind in this witty, opinionated, fascinating survey of the novel. Add to that a really fine hammer job on Henry James and the fact that said hammering upset Virginia Woolf and we're talking big thumbs up here.

GRADE: A-

This very unusual book is highly recommended to all lovers of classical or even modern literature. It provides some fascinating insight into the creative process, as well as a deeper understanding of the artist E.M. Forster.Invaluable criticism and advice from perhaps the greatest English writer ever.

Without a doubt, Furbank's work is a great resource for any student of Forster. While working on my thesis , his book was always close at hand. Forster readers will appreciate the attention to detail that helps enliven any reading of one of Forster's novels.

The must-have biography that almost every researcher of E.M. Forster uses among her/his basic material. Furbank was appointed by E.M. Forster himself as his biographer. The book contains photographs and it covers a lot of detail. Although the extensive detail sometimes gives an impression of digression it in fact enhances the 'scientific' value of the book, since it provides information about E.M. Forster for research from many angles (ranging from Bloomsbury Group to liberalism &c &c). Moreover, the detailed descriptions at times almost read like a novel (for instance the section on E.M. Forster's travels to Italy). Many letters are included - some by E.M. Forster, some to E.M. Forster, some about E.M. Forster - and make for an enchanting account. Very informative.

Recently read and used this book while in Alexandria. There is essential information, beautifully organized, presented and written that should be available. Introduction by Lawrence Durrell is wonderful too.

The unorthodox narrative, the unfinished novel buried within books must be deciphered as a palimpsest by an archeologist-reader. Not only does it explore the classical themes of Forsteriana, but it goes beyond the boundaries of traditional patterns of writing and reading, fanning out a new range of perspectives and interpretations. Arctic Summer is a World of Art everlastingly shaping and altering what exists.

why didn't someone think of this sooner? lavin applies forster's literary theories to his own work. she and he come out ahead. as back cover blurb says, she "adds a much needed dimension." and the discussion in this book is "ambitious and stimulating." this book belongs in all major libraries, but also can be used effectively by any reader with an interest in emf.

Forster is civilized in a way few people are or ever have been; it's a rare treat to peek into his personal scrapbook to read his favourite quotations and thoughts upon them.

You'll wait a long time to find another book stuffed with this kind of sheer intellectual value. Again, a rare treat.

E.M. Forster appeals to many because of his early novels, "Where Angels Fear to Tread", "A Room with a View", and "Howard's End", the last which is included in this book. They seem like updated Austen novels, neat and well-structured, albeit more surprising, but still in all appearances novels dealing with social manners. However, "Howard's End" and "A Passage to India" deal with much more substantial themes of industrialization and imperialism as well as Forster's overarching idea of connection between peoples and ideologies.

"Howard's End" sets up the opposition between the cultured Schlegels and the industrious Wilcoxes. Simplistically, each family represents the division within society at the time, whether to embrace the outward form of change in motor cars and encroaching tenements or to hold onto the land and the responsibility and feelings contained within it. Forster also makes use of associations and symbols to further the reader's understanding of a greater meaning, such as the teutonic assocation with the Schlegels or the description of Mrs. Bast's photograph to suggest her occupation. Still, the theme of connection found in its famous epigraph "Only connect... (the prose to the passion)" is woven well throughout and sometimes surprisingly so.

"A Passage..." is Forster's greatest work, and rightfully so because in it he is most ambitious, adding elements of imperialism and religion to that of relationships between people. While the novel is not a political novel per se, it justifies the interpretation through its mostly sympathetic treatment of the Indians and the absurdity of British bureacracy in a culture beyond its understanding. I assert that this is one of Forster's more pessimistic novels with an appropriate ending, but my colleagues assert the opposite, that it makes claims to the hope of connection. I leave it to you to conclude for yourself. Forster also gives a good foretaste of the post-modernist technique, with his attempt to show that the "many-headed monster" of India or any culture cannot be adequately treated by a single perspective.

If one purpose of a literary biography is to inspire the reader to return to the works of the subject of the biography with renewed enthusiasm then Ms Beauman has succeeded admirably. But her work is also a timely reminder of the significance of an artist to the health of a civilized society. In this age of "outcomes", "product" and "prioritization" Mr Forster's speech as a resident honorary fellow of King's College Cambridge when proposing a toast to the health of the college must stand as a delicious ironical instance of the artist as just being - and that being enough. He said " I do not belong here at all. I do nothing here whatsoever. I hold no college office, I attend no committee, I sit on no body, however solid, not even on the Annual Congregation. I co-opt not, nor am I co-opted. I teach not, neither do I think, and even the glory in which I am now arranged was borrowed from another college for the occasion." Forster's relationship with his mother together with his homosexuality loom large in Ms Beauman's analysis which is not to say that her consideration of the works is less than thorough. Indeed, her research into the genesis and development of PASSAGE TO INDIA is especially detailed and illuminating. The Forster story by Ms Beauman is one that is told with understanding, warmth and a deep humanity that was a characteristic of the subject himself. Of particular interest was when the writer, Beauman, addresses the reader,you, expressing some doubt about including rather revelatory and intimate details of Forster's sexual adventures. This is an instance of ".... on the other hand it could be said..." that was a trademark of Forster's method. A most enjoyable read. Dare I say I came away from reading it a better person?

If you enjoyed Two Cheers for Democracy and Abinger Harvest, this is the book for you. This book contains more articles by E.M. Forster, varying from literary criticism and biographies to a description of looking to the house of Voltaire through a fence while on holiday. (And yes, the latter is a beautiful read too.) Interesting from a scholarly point of view, but certainly also for anyone with a wide range of interest: an entertaining, sometimes even moving book.

E. M. Forster's homosexuality made him 'different' when it came to the public morals of English contemporary society. The essays in this book explore the intricate link between that fact and his fiction. It is not an easy read for a Sunday afternoon, but certainly it opens a new world for anyone genuinely interested in E. M. Forster, colonialism in literature, queer theory and twentieth-century literature. Indispensable from the scholarly point of view. A beautiful journey through the Forster-landscape, with many great vistas and precious finds.