Experimental feature: Order E. M. Forster: A Biography from the UK, Canada, Germany or France by clicking an appropriate flag below.

               

Some items available at Amazon.com are not available in all countries.

Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.912
EAN: 9780394583815
ISBN: 0394583817
Label: Knopf
Manufacturer: Knopf
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 404
Publication Date: 1994-03-29
Publisher: Knopf
Product Release Date: 1994-03-29
Studio: Knopf

Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Second Best
Review: With the standards set so high by Furbank (isn't it telling that the cover added to this web page is the cover of Furbank's biography and not that of Beauman?) there is quite little one can do. One can always go wrong, however, and to some degree this is what the book does. I found its concentration on Forster's homosexuality (can he be outed any more after the publication of Maurice in 1971?) quite tiresome and insistence on stressing his biography and its influence on his works not always substantiated. You can find all the important details here but if you want a good read as well, take the hint from this web page and get yourself a copy of Furbank's biography instead.

---

Customer Rating:
Review Summary: An outing to be relished - an inspirational and superb read.
Review: 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?

---

---