E. M. Forster a room with a View

E. M. Forster

• A Room with a View

Structure

• Two Major Settings

• Florence

• England

• Symbolism related to place, name, and chapter titles

Forster’s Life 1879-1970

• Member of the Apostles at Cambridge

• Part of the Bloomsbury Group. This group included such famous writers and artists as Virginia Woolf and her sister Vanessa Bell

• Works for the Red Cross in Alexandria Egypt

• Travels to India and works as private secretary to a maharaja

Famous Novels

• 1905 Where Angels Fear to Tread

• 1907 The Longest Journey

• 1908 A Room with a View

• 1910 Howards End

• 1913 Maurice (not published until after his death

• 1924 A Passage to India

Edwardian Society

• A continuation of Victorian Society where manners are more important than feelings

• Social status determines much

• Americans are uneducated; middle class with money is coarse and unmannerly

• Refinements breed good marriages, but also hypocrisy

• What is not said is as important as what is said

Look at the List of Characters

• Lucy Honey/Church – Saint Lucy/Lux

• Charlotte Bartlett – ??? Bartlett pear???

• Eleanor Lavish – lavish living

• Mr. Bee/be – guide to

• George Emerson – Saint George/ Emerson/philosopher

• Mr. Emerson – like the philosopher/transcendentalist American Writer note American

• Mr. Eager – Eager to show how much he knows

Medieval and Renaissance

• This novel is about awakening…physical awakening and emotional awakening. Lucy begins her journey in Florence which is the cradle of the Renaissance, but notice the chapter titles…they mean something. The Renaissance is the rebirth of classical thought…and beside the Arno River, Lucy knows that “something had happened” (46). Look for awakenings and references to this

The Grand Tour

• Was an institution among aristocrats where men and women of privilege traveled through Europe like a finishing touch to their education

• As the middle class grew more affluent they began to partake in this as well

Places to Look For in Part I

• Arno River and Ponte Vecchio

• Santa Maria del Fiore

• Piazza del Signoria

• Sante Croce

• Giotto

• Tuscany

Arno River and Ponte Vecchio

Florence Map

FIRENZE/FLORENCE

Santa Croce

Interior of Santa Croce

Pazzi Chapel

Giotto di Bondone Precursor to Renaissance

Tuscany: Where Lucy and George have something happen to them