Biography of E.M. Forster
E.M. Forster was an early twentieth century novelist.
When and Where was he Born?
1st January 1879, 6 Melcombe Place, Dorset Square, London NW1, England (Building no longer exists). Christened Edward Morgan Forster.
Family Background:
E.M. Forster was the only child of an architect, Edward Morgan Llewellyn Forster and Mother Alice Clara, known as Lily, nee Whichelo.
Education:
Tonbridge School, Kent as a day boy. Studied Classics and History at Kings College, Cambridge where he was influenced by the philosopher G.E. Moore.
Timeline of E.M. Forster
1880:His father dies of tuberculosis on 30 October.
1887: E.M. Forster inherits 8,000ドル from his paternal great-aunt Marianne Thornton. She was the daughter of the abolitionist Henry Thornton. The money was enough for him to live on and thus become a writer in later years.
1893: He spends his early life at a house in Hertfordshire called “Rooksnest”. This would later prove the inspiration for the house in his novel “Howards End”.
1897: At Kings College Cambridge he becomes a member of a discussion group known as the Cambridge Conversazione Society (later the Apostles). This consisted of many people who were to go on to be known as the Bloomsbury Group.
1901: After University Forster traveled extensively on the Continent with his mother and began to write seriously.
1902: Forster teaches at the Working Men’s College and Cambridge Local Lectures Board (extra-mural department).
1904: He begins contributing short stories to the “Independent Review”.
1905: Publication of the novel “Where Angels Fear to Tread”.
1907: E.M. Forster becomes a private tutor. Forster becomes a member of the Bloomsbury Group and a good friend of Virginia Woolf, Leonard Woolf, Lytton Strachey, and Roger Fry.
1910: Publication of “Howard’s End” which was his first major public success.
1912: He makes an extensive visit to India and begins writing “A Passage to India”.
1913: Forster begins writing “Maurice”, a novel about homosexual love. This was not published until after his death due to its controversial nature. (homosexuality was illegal in Britain at the time).
1914: He visits Egypt, Germany and India with the political scientist Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson. He becomes a conscientious objector at the outbreak of the First World War.
1915: He works for the Red Cross in Alexandria.
1919: Forster returns to England.
1921: He visits India for the second time and becomes the private secretary of Tukojirao the Third, the Maharajah of Dewas.
1924: “A Passage to India” receives good reviews. He decides to give up writing novels because he could not write about sexual relations honestly and openly.
1927: He is elected a Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge. He gives the Clark lectures which were then published as “Aspects of the Novel”.
1934: He becomes the First president of the National Council for Civil Liberties.
1945: Death of his mother. He is elected an Honorary Fellow at King’s College, Cambridge and lives in College from then on.
1947: He tours the United States to give lectures.
1953: Forster is awarded the Member of the Order of Companions of Honour by the Queen.
1969:He is awarded the Order of Merit on his ninetieth birthday.
When and Where did he Die?
1970: Forster died in the home of his good friends Bob and May Buckingham in Coventry after experiencing failing health and several strokes.
Ager at Death:
91.
Written Works:
1905: “Where Angels Fear to Tread”.
1907:“The Longest Journey”.
1908: “A Room With a View”.
1911: “The Celestial Omnibus and other stories”. Short stories.
1912: “Howard’s End”.
1911: “Celestial Omnibus”.
1924: “A Passage to India”.
1927: “Aspects of the Novel”.
1928: “The Eternal Moment”. Short stories.
1934: “Abinger Pageant”. Plays and pageants.
1936: “Abinger Harvest”. A collection of his essays and reviews.
1940: “England’s Pleasant Land”. Plays and pageants.
1945: “A Diary for Timothy”. Film scripts.
1947: “Collected Short Stories”.
1951: “Two Cheers for Democracy”. “Billy Budd”. Libretto for the opera by Benjamin Britten (based on Herman Melville’s novel).
(1971): “Maurice”. (Written in 1913–14).
(1972):“The Life to Come and other stories”.
(2003): “Arctic Summer”. (a fragment written in 1912–13).
Marriage:
Never married as homosexual. (Homosexuality was illegal in Great Britain before 1967).
Site of Grave:
Cremated with no religious ceremony, Coventry, England. Ashes scattered over the Buckingham’s rose garden.
Places of Interest:
SURREY:
Pine Copse, Abinger Hammer. (Former home).