Customer Reviews

Queer Forster (Worlds of Desire: The Chicago Series on Sexuality, Gender, and Culture)

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E. M. Forster's homosexuality made him 'different' when it came to the public morals of English contemporary society. The essays in this book explore the intricate link between that fact and his fiction. It is not an easy read for a Sunday afternoon, but certainly it opens a new world for anyone genuinely interested in E. M. Forster, colonialism in literature, queer theory and twentieth-century literature. Indispensable from the scholarly point of view. A beautiful journey through the Forster-landscape, with many great vistas and precious finds.

I have often complained of poor quality of volumes put together by different scholars which offer nothing but a catchy title. This volume proves beyond any doubt that it is possible for a group of scholars (with editors who are in control of the project) to produce a volume which gives you a complete overview of a subject.
The volumes opens with an essay which retraces earlier critical approaches to the question of homosexuality in Forster's works and life. If you are interested in the subject, you can do nothing meaningful without reading it first. The other twelve essays aim first at establishing Forster's place within his period (e.g. through his relations with Carpenter and James) and then proceed to analyze a selection of Forster's work from a queer angle.
You can always ask for more but this is the best you can get.