1908, 1988 Bantam edition
E. M. Forster
A Room with a View
Bought new for $4.50
Somewhat tattered paperback
B
Forster's first successful novel remains both quaint and modern. As the equally charming introduction by Mona Simpson notes, it's a world with automobiles and bicycles, and yet the characters would feel right at home in the novels of Eliot or Austen, or even Henry Fielding. Forster was born in 1879 but is the first of the authors I'm reviewing to live into my lifetime, dying in 1970. This book is very Edwardian and gently mocks both Victorianism and modernism.
Unlike the later Forster books I own, it doesn't seem to have any serious meaning. It's just about a girl who is kissed by one man, becomes engaged to another, and then has to decide between the two. (She does briefly consider independence, but her mother dismisses this as typewriters, latch-keys, and bad food.) There's a vague suggestion of Paganism, from kisses among the violets to a skinny-dipping minister, but it's all very genteel. Even the "cad" who kisses her is very polite.
I think Forster was mostly just being playful, as shown in his chapter titles, ranging from the perfunctory "Fourth Chapter" to the very wordy sixth chapter, "The Reverend Arthur Beebe, the Reverend Cuthbert Eager, Mr. Emerson, Mr. George Emerson, Miss Eleanor Lavish, Miss Charlotte Bartlett, and Miss Lucy Honeychurch Drive Out in Carriages to See a View; Italians Drive Them." The book is the literary equivalent of bumble-puppy, where the rules don't matter as much as the fun, and you never play when Cecil is around.
Hiya! This is a really interesting project you've undertaken!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I realize this is an old post, but I want to comment on it anyway, because I sort of disagree with your conclusion that A Room With A View has no serious meaning. Despite its comparative "lightness", I don't think it really is pure entertainment. If you compare it to, say, Pride and Prejudice, I think you'll find many similarities, and some very important differences. In particular, I think that Austen's social satire, while biting, aims mainly to entertain. Like Mr. Bennet, Austen is content merely to laugh at the foibles of her characters. But Forster is doing something more. Like Lucy's future father-in-law, he wants to transform his characters--and his readers. Everyone is redeemable, and I think there are hints that redemption comes from an acknowledgement of the connection between body and soul, as contrasted with the traditional idea that the soul must deny the body. I think that's a pretty serious point, though only indirectly political.
Sally, thank you for your thoughts on this. It's funny, I was re-watching "Wilde" (with Stephen Fry) and there's a line about him being at his most serious when he sounds most frivolous. So in that sense, I agree with you.
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