The first work I read of E.M. Forster was "Passage to India" and I loved it immensely. It explored the East-West relationship, in a less than favourable point of view towards the English. I realised that the movie Howards End, casting Anthony Hopkins was based on the book of the same title by Forster, only years after I watched the movie and I wanted to read that book, and watch the movie again. By this time Google had become the 'default" go to, and it told me that Forster had written a book called "Maurice", which he "couldn't bring himself to publish at the time" ( Similar story as in the George Michael song, "my mother had a brother". I read Maurice, followed by "A Room with a View", and then "Where Angels fear to Tread". I enjoyed each of these books, to a letter; the changing landscapes, the emphasis on class difference in late 19th and early 20th centuries and the philosophical insights into human nature. I was enthralled. The only novel remaining of Forster that I've to read is "The Longest Day". But, I could be termed as an E.M. Forster fan, and when I stumbled upon a short collection, rather old and yellowed in pages at the Public Library, I didn't hesitate to borrow it, since it is at least 3-4 years since I read my last Forster book. The book titled "Collected Stories", was found to be a later publication ( 1947) of two separate short story collections, "The Celestial Omnibus and other stories" (1911), and "The Eternal Moment and other stories" (1928). I had a glance at the Introduction (by the author), and it confirmed that I should read these 12 short stories. The first Lines of Introduction Read:
" THESE fantasies were written at various dates previous to the first
world war, and represent all that I have accomplished in a particular
line. Much has happened since: transport has been disorganized,
frontiers rectified on the map and in the spirit, there has been a
second world war, there are preparations for a third, and Fantasy to-day
tends to retreat or to dig herself in or to become apocalyptic out of
deference to the atom-bomb"
The term fantasy here infers more than just the stories being works of fiction - there are more than a handful here that would rightly be included in the Fantasy Genre, so popular today. I was aware of the fact, for I had read a brief about his short story "The Celestial Omnibus" somewhere before and as the title suggests, it has a healthy dosage of fantasy, and a smack in the face of poets, and other pompous critics who hold themselves aloft, suggesting that the beauty of poetry is something not be understood by all and sundry. "The Celestial Omnibus", is a short story based on
fantasy, where a young boy stumbles on a bus route which takes him
physically to subject matter of beauty as found in poetry. No one,
obviously believes him, and his tutor, supposedly a man with an artistic
bent accompanies him the next day to this other world of poets and
poetry. The man comes to an unfortunate end as the story, for he has no
conviction of what he teaches his students.
The first story (The story of Panic) was written around 1902, we are told in the Introduction, and it presents a view of the then prevalent fear of God, as well as the even worse fear of the Evil one (and how unfounded it is), and how one may want to give up being genteel - a favourite topic of Forster - in order to understand life in its essential sense.
The other side of the Edge is possibly my favourite short story of the lot. Based on a phantasmagorical background, the basic premise is the man's yearning for advancement. A single sentence of a dialgoue suffices, since it states thus:
"It is through this gate that humanity went out countless ages ago, when it was first seized with the desire to walk." (page 38 )
The fourth short story "The Other Kingdom" hints of the kind of love that Forster held in high esteem - as revealed in A Room with a View, Howards's End and even Maurice ( with a twist of course). A woman forsakes all that her rich, noble lover offers for her true love, and the accompanying descriptions of the environs, and the similes made the story one that I really enjoyed.
"So I quoted her song. 'Oh Ford! Oh Ford, among all these Worters, I am
coming through you to my Kingdom! Oh Ford, my lover while I was a woman,
I will never forget you, never, as long as I have branches to shade you
from the sun.' Soon after that, we lost her."
"The Curate's Friend" is a faun, who on first appearance disadvantage him, and make him lose his solid chance at romance. The Curate initially fuming, later comes into realise that it was all for the best. Again a fantasy influenced story with an undertone of fatality.
What is happiness and what is life ? Can one have serenity as he awaits his death, when he can live on in sufferance (albeit in decent health)? Again, taking a tone of fatality, and an inclination towards fantasy and even superstition, "The Road from Colonus", makes us wonder on our existential roles.
Originally, "Machine Stops" started off the second short story collection. Based on solid world building for a short story, newer science fiction stories may very well have some influence from this story from the 1920s.
What is "The Point of it all", if one realises that all one has sacrificed for, believed in, is revealed to be ridiculed on your death bed, by those whom you thought you had influenced to a well cultured, balanced life on the strict rails of the accepted ? This short story explores this idea and suggest that it is better die for what one believes in, rather than live on as per the society's puritanical expectations.
In the next rather short, story ( Mr. Andrews), Forster challenges the notion of heaven and hell, as each religious belief holds it.
"As he ( The Turk) wished, the forms of the virgins became more rounded, and
their eyes grew larger and blacker than before. And Mr. Andrews, by a
wish similar in kind, increased the purity and softness of his garment
and the glitter of his harp. For in that place their expectations were
fulfilled, but not their hopes."
In "co-ordination", Forster questions the true grasping or understanding of real classical Arts - music, in this case. Ms. Haddon the music teacher accepts that she doesn't enjoy nor believe in what she teaches. In parallel on another plane the arch angel
discuss this rather candid admission by Ms. Haddon,with Mephistopholes, thus:
"No, I am certain this time. I can prove the futility of genius. Great men think they are understood, and are not; men think they an understand them, and do not."
"The story of the Siren", subjects the battle between the accepted good ( God and clerics ) and the supposed bad ( Satan ), and suggests that all is not as per what is the the accepted beliefs hold.
The Eternal moment, the last story in this collection ( and the second book, and the story which offers it, its title), shows a certain essence from Forster's novel, "A Room with a View". A moment, probably not longer than a few seconds may influence a person throughout his or her life - and could possibly be the most cherished memory of his or her life - even when it amounts to nothing in the long run, and the other person with whom he or she shared that moment with, may have forgotten it, or even worse think of it as a silly trespass.
All in all, if you are an E.M Forster fan;
-one who enjoys his divulges into the then English life, the style and attitudes of the nobility,
- and enjoy his frequent ( in his work) pondering on "the point of it all" and "the stark truth",
- with a touch of fantasy to help him in his narration, you will enjoy this work immensely. The whole collection, is not available on kindle format ( or I wouldn't have thought twice about having a copy - the yellowed pages and the small print tired my eyes no end, amidst the pure pleasure of this read ) and would be difficult to get a copy of, I suspect. I will not hesitate to invest in a new copy of this book as chance offers. I may go back to it, in my later years.
