The first book focused on the political resonances of E. M. Forster's engagement with and representations of music.

A major reassessment of the one of the greatest English novelist of the twentieth century, from celebrated critic Sir Frank Kermode. CONCERNING E.M. FORSTER is a rich, varied and original portrait of a literary great. When Sir Frank Kermode delivered the Clark Lectures at Cambridge University, he chose E.M. Forster as his subject; these lectures form the core of this book. Kermode reappraises the influence and meaning of Forster's oeuvre, offering a fascinating interpretation of his most celebrated work, A PASSAGE TO INDIA. There follows a series of interweaving discussions that bring to life diverse topics - Empire, class, poverty, the condition of the novel, the role of the artist - but always return to our enigmatic subject. Kermode also reflects on Forster's considerable talent and shortcomings, places him within a wider social context, and casts spotlight on his contemporaries, presenting a unique panorama of twentieth-century English literature.

This book examines the political resonances of E. M. Forster's representations of music, offering readings of canonical and overlooked works. It reveals music's crucial role in his writing and draws attention to a previously unacknowledged eclecticism and complexity in Forster's ideological outlook. Examining unobtrusive musical allusions in a variety of Forster's writings, this book demonstrates how music provided Forster with a means of reflecting on race and epistemology, material culture and colonialism, literary heritage and national character, hero-worship and war, and gender and professionalism. It unveils how Forster's musical representations are mediated through a matrix of ideas and debates of his time, such as those about evolution, empire, Britain's relationship with the Continent, the rise of fascism, and the emergence of musicology as an academic discipline.

The author of the international bestseller A Suitable Boy returns with a powerful and deeply romantic tale of two gifted musicians. Michael Holme is a violinist, a member of the successful Maggiore Quartet. He has long been haunted, though, by memories of the pianist he loved and left ten years earlier, Julia McNicholl. Now Julia, married and the mother of a small child, unexpectedly reenters his life and the romance flares up once more. Against the magical backdrop of Venice and Vienna, the two lovers confront the truth about themselves and their love, about the music that both unites and divides them, and about a devastating secret that Julia must finally reveal. With poetic, evocative writing and a brilliant portrait of the international music scene, An Equal Music confirms Vikram Seth as one of the world's finest and most enticing writers.

Based on exclusive access to E. M. Forster's previously restricted diaries this scrupulously researched and sensitively written biography is the first to put the fact that he was homosexual back at the heart of his story.

In this entertaining and enlightening collection David Lodge considers the art of fiction under a wide range of headings, drawing on writers as diverse as Henry James, Martin Amis, Jane Austen and James Joyce. Looking at ideas such as the Intrusive Author, Suspense, the Epistolary Novel, Magic Realism and Symbolism, and illustrating each topic with a passage taken from a classic or modern novel, David Lodge makes the richness and variety of British and American fiction accessible to the general reader. He provides essential reading for students, aspiring writers and anyone who wants to understand how fiction works.

In The Study Of E.M. Forster S Enig¬Matic Fiction, The Author Has Attempted A Profile Of This Modern Janus, The Essence Of Whose Personality Inheres In The Subtlety Of The Hints He Drops And The Glimpses He Affords Into The Dark Recesses Of The Minds Involved In A Mysterious Universe. The Elusiveness Of His Work Produces An Art Which, Though Concrete And Tangi¬Ble, Is Punctuated By Reticences, Inter¬Spersed With Hesitations, Qualifications And Suggestions, Pregnant With Deep Meanings Like The Melodious Stirrings Of Music. The Book Is Primarily Based On The Author S Doctoral Dissertation, Ethics And Aesthetics In The Novels Of E.M. Forster. According To Dr. Singh, The Categories In Which Forster Ranges People Are Primarily Ethical; The Pattern He Imposes On Experience Is The Pattern Of His Ethical Vision. This Vision Is Fresh And Independent Affair, Its Tone Is Inquiring, Not Dogmatic. His Analysis Shows That The Aesthetic Pleasure That Forster S Novels Communicate Depends Mainly On His Gifts Of Characterization, His Mastery Of Dialogue, His Delicately Poised Irony, His Flexible Prose, And His Ingenuity In Unfolding Themes So That Each Novel Has A Meaning That Transcends The Sum Of Its Parts. The Book Enables Us To Understand E.M. Forster By Placing Him In Relation To The Thoughts Of Some Of The Leading Thinkers Of 20Th Century And The Socio¬Political Milieu Its Daring Adventures, Its Narrow Prejudices, Its Peculiar Social Norms Which Determined The Scope Of His Work. His Approach Is Refreshingly Original And He Makes Quite Perceptive Comments On The Comple¬Xity Of Forster S Art In Comparison With Henry James, D.H. Lawrence, Joseph Conrad, George Orwell And Andre Gide As Also On His Craftsmanship As A Novelist.