E. M. Forster: A Life - Softcover

Furbank, P.N.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0571243142 ISBN 13: 9780571243143

Publisher: Faber and Faber, 2011

Synopsis

Edward Morgan Forster died in 1970 at the age of 91, having achieved a world-wide reputation as an outstanding writer. Though best-known for his novels - Howard's End and A Passage to India are arguably the finest - he was also a brilliant critic and essayist and the author of some remarkable short stories. Forster was born into a mixed family background of bohemia and prim respectability. Indulged, cosseted, dressed up and shown off by his adored mother Lily, it was not surprising that he found public school life painfully harsh. Cambridge began the emancipation - intellectual, artistic, social, and sexual - which Forster's experiences abroad, his growing literary reputation, his deep friendships, and his love affairs were to extend. In his closing years Forster invited Furbank, a close friend, to write his biography. Based on the full range of private diaries, correspondence, and personal reminiscences, this book (first published in 1977) is the authorized and definitive 'life' of Forster. In the words of John Bayley, 'it is impossible to overpraise Furbank's style and sympathy as a biographer'; according to Noel Annan, 'he has done what Forster asked his biographer to do: he has told the truth'.

About this title

About the Author:

P.N. Furbank was born in Surrey in 1920 and has worked as an academic, in publishing and as a freelance writer and critic. In 1986 he was appointed Visiting Professor in Literature at the Open University.
His publications include Samuel Butler (1835-1902), Italo Svevo: The Man and the Writer, Reflections on the Word 'Image', E.M. Forster: A Life, Unholy Pleasure: The Idea of Social Class and (with W.R. Owens) The Canonisation of Daniel Defoe.

About this edition

• Publisher: Faber and Faber
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0571243142
• ISBN 13: 9780571243143
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 666