Read E. M. Forster’s Spiritual Journey in His Life and Works

E. M. Forster’s Spiritual Journey in His Life and Works

Jeane Noordhoff Olson

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Description:Author’s PrefaceBirthdays are often the occasion for assessing earlierexperiences and expressing hopes for the future.Opening the pages on a new century can stimulate asimilar reckoning of accounts on a larger scale. January first ofthe year 1900 was both the beginning of a new century, as popularcounting goes, and Edward Morgan Forster’s twenty-firstbirthday. As the Victorian era approached its conclusion, Forsterwas nearing the end of his studies at King’s College, CambridgeUniversity. His great-aunt Marianne Thornton had lefthim the legacy that saw him through the university. But howwould he support himself thereafter? The future was unclearuntil Nathaniel Wedd, a tutor who had become a good friend,encouraged him to seriously consider writing as a lifetime occupation.Forster eagerly grasped the idea. His first novel,Where Angels Fear to Tread, was published to popular approvalbefore he was thirty years old.Forster’s first four novels, Where Angels Fear to Tread, TheLongest Journey, A Room with a View, and Howards End, wereall written within six years, between 1905 and 1910, with APassage to India being published in 1924 and his homosexualnovel, Maurice,seeing the light of day only after his death. Allthese novels were widely acclaimed when first published andare still in print.From the age of four until he was fourteen years old, Forsterlived at the house called Rooksnest near Stevenage, northof London, before the rural atmosphere was swallowed up bythe inexorable spread of cosmopolitan London. Here he sentdown permanent psychological roots into the land andlearned to appreciate the stalwart directness of the unpretentiousfolk cultivating the adjacent farms. His mother from timeto time would hire a neighbor boy—ostensibly to water thegardens at Rooksnest but also to provide a playmate for heryoung son, an only child. He attended the local grammarschool for several years with these garden boys. As Forstergrew older, he learned to think for himself, and he graduallybegan to create a personal spiritual expression for his life,starting with his roots in the countryside.As a university student Forster rejected traditional lateVictorian Christianity, but that does not mean he rejected themystery of an unknowable God. He was searching for a godwho was more human, more humane, more loving, present inall aspects of life on earth, and yet mysterious beyond humanimagining. He was also gradually absorbing basic family valuesthat he would later shape into a new definition of the family.These early roots to “place” and “history” were seminally importantto Forster. His mature philosophical background wasreflected in his own actions and influenced the plots of hisnovels; it motivated his social commentary and was the inspirationfor his political actions.Several years ago, as I was rereading Where Angels Fear toTread, I realized with a sudden shock that within the violentscene I was reading was imbedded an enactment of Holy Communion,one of the most sacred rites of Christian worship.Even more surprising was that it was Forster’s own interpretationof communion.This surprising insight became questions: Were thereother examples of Foster’s use of Christian symbols? How didForster employ them?In view of the many such examples I found in his oeuvreon rereading, I wondered why there seemed to be still so littleappreciation of this aspect of Forster’s life experiences. In myextensive earlier reading of secondary sources of Forster criticism,I had noticed only two citations of Forster’s 1959 PresidentialAddress to the Cambridge Society of Humanists, whenhe was eighty years old, recounting how he had lost his religiousfaith. Though the early critics understood Forster’s rejectionas firmly shutting the door on traditional religion, toForster, I believe, it was the first step on his lifelong spiritualjourney.To find the text of Forster’s Presidential Address to the Societyof Cambridge Humanists and to see what more might bediscovered, I spent three months in the Modern Archives ofKing’s College Library of Cambridge University, where his papersare kept. When these papers became public after hisdeath in 1970, his cogitations on spiritual matters were moreeasily traceable. Still, the spiritual thread remained unexamined.Forster gave little help to searchers for he shrank from thelimelight. However he was never reluctant to share his philosophicalthoughts in print. He did not proselytize. Nor did hedisclose any deeply personal spiritual experiences to the generalreader. When at the age of eighty he publicly recountedthe story of what he called his “loss of faith,” it was to an audienceof like-minded Cambridge Humanists.Forster had a mind full of projects on which he lavished hisenergy and prescient thoughts. His homosexuality was anever-present black cloud aff...We have made it easy for you to find a PDF Ebooks without any digging. And by having access to our ebooks online or by storing it on your computer, you have convenient answers with E. M. Forster’s Spiritual Journey in His Life and Works. To get started finding E. M. Forster’s Spiritual Journey in His Life and Works, you are right to find our website which has a comprehensive collection of manuals listed.
Our library is the biggest of these that have literally hundreds of thousands of different products represented.

Pages: 392

Format: PDF, EPUB & Kindle Edition

Publisher: self-published

Release: 2016

ISBN: 1624290779

Description: Author’s PrefaceBirthdays are often the occasion for assessing earlierexperiences and expressing hopes for the future.Opening the pages on a new century can stimulate asimilar reckoning of accounts on a larger scale. January first ofthe year 1900 was both the beginning of a new century, as popularcounting goes, and Edward Morgan Forster’s twenty-firstbirthday. As the Victorian era approached its conclusion, Forsterwas nearing the end of his studies at King’s College, CambridgeUniversity. His great-aunt Marianne Thornton had lefthim the legacy that saw him through the university. But howwould he support himself thereafter? The future was unclearuntil Nathaniel Wedd, a tutor who had become a good friend,encouraged him to seriously consider writing as a lifetime occupation.Forster eagerly grasped the idea. His first novel,Where Angels Fear to Tread, was published to popular approvalbefore he was thirty years old.Forster’s first four novels, Where Angels Fear to Tread, TheLongest Journey, A Room with a View, and Howards End, wereall written within six years, between 1905 and 1910, with APassage to India being published in 1924 and his homosexualnovel, Maurice,seeing the light of day only after his death. Allthese novels were widely acclaimed when first published andare still in print.From the age of four until he was fourteen years old, Forsterlived at the house called Rooksnest near Stevenage, northof London, before the rural atmosphere was swallowed up bythe inexorable spread of cosmopolitan London. Here he sentdown permanent psychological roots into the land andlearned to appreciate the stalwart directness of the unpretentiousfolk cultivating the adjacent farms. His mother from timeto time would hire a neighbor boy—ostensibly to water thegardens at Rooksnest but also to provide a playmate for heryoung son, an only child. He attended the local grammarschool for several years with these garden boys. As Forstergrew older, he learned to think for himself, and he graduallybegan to create a personal spiritual expression for his life,starting with his roots in the countryside.As a university student Forster rejected traditional lateVictorian Christianity, but that does not mean he rejected themystery of an unknowable God. He was searching for a godwho was more human, more humane, more loving, present inall aspects of life on earth, and yet mysterious beyond humanimagining. He was also gradually absorbing basic family valuesthat he would later shape into a new definition of the family.These early roots to “place” and “history” were seminally importantto Forster. His mature philosophical background wasreflected in his own actions and influenced the plots of hisnovels; it motivated his social commentary and was the inspirationfor his political actions.Several years ago, as I was rereading Where Angels Fear toTread, I realized with a sudden shock that within the violentscene I was reading was imbedded an enactment of Holy Communion,one of the most sacred rites of Christian worship.Even more surprising was that it was Forster’s own interpretationof communion.This surprising insight became questions: Were thereother examples of Foster’s use of Christian symbols? How didForster employ them?In view of the many such examples I found in his oeuvreon rereading, I wondered why there seemed to be still so littleappreciation of this aspect of Forster’s life experiences. In myextensive earlier reading of secondary sources of Forster criticism,I had noticed only two citations of Forster’s 1959 PresidentialAddress to the Cambridge Society of Humanists, whenhe was eighty years old, recounting how he had lost his religiousfaith. Though the early critics understood Forster’s rejectionas firmly shutting the door on traditional religion, toForster, I believe, it was the first step on his lifelong spiritualjourney.To find the text of Forster’s Presidential Address to the Societyof Cambridge Humanists and to see what more might bediscovered, I spent three months in the Modern Archives ofKing’s College Library of Cambridge University, where his papersare kept. When these papers became public after hisdeath in 1970, his cogitations on spiritual matters were moreeasily traceable. Still, the spiritual thread remained unexamined.Forster gave little help to searchers for he shrank from thelimelight. However he was never reluctant to share his philosophicalthoughts in print. He did not proselytize. Nor did hedisclose any deeply personal spiritual experiences to the generalreader. When at the age of eighty he publicly recountedthe story of what he called his “loss of faith,” it was to an audienceof like-minded Cambridge Humanists.Forster had a mind full of projects on which he lavished hisenergy and prescient thoughts. His homosexuality was anever-present black cloud aff...We have made it easy for you to find a PDF Ebooks without any digging. And by having access to our ebooks online or by storing it on your computer, you have convenient answers with E. M. Forster’s Spiritual Journey in His Life and Works. To get started finding E. M. Forster’s Spiritual Journey in His Life and Works, you are right to find our website which has a comprehensive collection of manuals listed.
Our library is the biggest of these that have literally hundreds of thousands of different products represented.

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E. M. Forster’s Spiritual Journey in His Life and Works

E. M. Forster’s Spiritual Journey in His Life and Works

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