Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    A Passage to India
    A Passage to India
    A Passage to India
    Ebook381 pages11 hours

    A Passage to India

    By E. M. Forster and Mint Editions

    4/5

    ()

    Switch to audiobook
    Read preview

    About this ebook

    A Passage to India (1924) is a novel by English author E.M. Forster. Written during the rise of the Indian independence movement against the British Raj, A Passage to India is considered one of the greatest novels of twentieth century English literature. The novel has also been an important work for postcolonial theorists and literary critics for its inherent Orientalism and treatment of race, gender, and imperialism.

    The novel begins with the arrival of a young British teacher named Adela Quested and her friend Mrs. Moore in India. When Adela visits a mosque, she is approached by Dr. Aziz, a young Muslim physician, who accosts her before noticing her respect and understanding of local customs. At a party arranged by a local tax collector, who has invited a group of Indians out of curiosity, Fielding, a college principal, invites Dr. Aziz to a tea party with Adela and Mrs. Moore. There, they make plans to visit the Marabar caves, but are interrupted by Ronny Heaslop, who is to be engaged to Adela. When the day of the journey arrives, only Adela and Mrs. Moore are able to make the trip, and Dr. Aziz accompanies them alone. At the caves, Adela is frightened by a strange echo and stumbles before convincing herself that Dr. Aziz has assaulted her. The ensuing trial divides the fictional city of Chandrapore along racial lines, exposing the prejudices and tensions that dominate life during the British Raj. A Passage to India explores themes of romance, friendship, race, and custom while critiquing the British conquest of India and illuminating the rise of the Indian independence movement.

    This edition of E.M. Forster’s A Passage to India is a classic of English literature reimagined for modern readers.

    Since our inception in 2020, Mint Editions has kept sustainability and innovation at the forefront of our mission. Each and every Mint Edition title gets a fresh, professionally typeset manuscript and a dazzling new cover, all while maintaining the integrity of the original book.

    With thousands of titles in our collection, we aim to spotlight diverse public domain works to help them find modern audiences. Mint Editions celebrates a breadth of literary works, curated from both canonical and overlooked classics from writers around the globe.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMint Editions
    Release dateJan 12, 2021
    ISBN9781513275642
    Author

    E. M. Forster

    E.M. Forster (1879-1970) was an English novelist. Born in London to an Anglo-Irish mother and a Welsh father, Forster moved with his mother to Rooks Nest, a country house in rural Hertfordshire, in 1883, following his father’s death from tuberculosis. He received a sizeable inheritance from his great-aunt, which allowed him to pursue his studies and support himself as a professional writer. Forster attended King’s College, Cambridge, from 1897 to 1901, where he met many of the people who would later make up the legendary Bloomsbury Group of such writers and intellectuals as Virginia Woolf, Lytton Strachey, and John Maynard Keynes. A gay man, Forster lived with his mother for much of his life in Weybridge, Surrey, where he wrote the novels A Room with a View, Howards End, and A Passage to India. Nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature sixteen times without winning, Forster is now recognized as one of the most important writers of twentieth century English fiction, and is remembered for his unique vision of English life and powerful critique of the inequities of class.

    Read more from E. M. Forster

    Related to A Passage to India

    Related ebooks

    Classics For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Bard In The Woods

      Nov 30, 2020

      Bard In The Woods
      4 min read

    • Article

      Russian Roulette

      Feb 1, 2021

      As a longterm fan of Dostoevsky (and yes, unusually for a 19th century literary novelist, he does have a kind of fan club, many of whom are adolescents high on the thrill of first encountering his freewheeling combo of philosophical pondering and jaz

      2 min read

    • Article

      A Year in Reading: Jesse Paddock

      Dec 9, 2020

      I’d gotten what I’d wanted—a room full of books and time enough to read them—but at a cost. The post A Year in Reading: Jesse Paddock appeared first on The Millions.

      6 min read

    • Article

      EXCERPT Mary Gaunt

      Mar 12, 2024

      Globetrotting: Writers Walk the World by Duncan Minshull is published by Notting Hill Editions at £15.99 “It was Easter Saturday, and my new friend suggested I should spend Easter with him. I demurred, and he said it would be a charity. He had no wor

      1 min read

    • Article

      ‘So Noble And So Bare’

      Jul 13, 2022

      ‘So Noble And So Bare’
      5 min read

    • Article

      Winning Letter

      Sep 30, 2022

      I’m a single mother who struggles financially to get through each month. When my washing machine broke I had no funds to repair it, so I asked my neighbours if I could do my washing at their place. On a Wednesday afternoon my bell rang. At the door w

      5 min read

    • Article

      NOW & FOREVER

      Nov 28, 2022

      NOW & FOREVER
      13 min read

    • Article

      Emu Dreaming

      Jan 30, 2018

      Emu Dreaming
      7 min read

    • Article

      Poetry

      Jun 1, 2021

      Poetry
      3 min read

    • Article

      Love Comes In The Morning

      May 13, 2019

      Love Comes In The Morning
      6 min read

    • Article

      Jan Morris

      Jun 15, 2018

      I have always rather envied the poet Ovid, who was banished from Rome by the emperor Augustus, you may remember, to a remote place called Tomis on the shores of the Black Sea. There he died, ten years later, and his exile has gone into legend and int

      17 min read

    • Article

      Stop Hating on Adjectives!

      Jun 12, 2019

      A common admonition in creative writing pedagogy is, “Cut as many adjectives as possible.” I propose that this rule springs from mere prejudice. The post Stop Hating on Adjectives! appeared first on The Millions.

      7 min read

    • Article

      Too Much, Magic Bus

      Dec 9, 2019

      Too Much, Magic Bus
      8 min read

    • Article

      Peace Comes With A Smile

      Nov 11, 2019

      Peace Comes With A Smile
      8 min read

    • Article

      Down Under, Bottom Up

      Sep 30, 2020

      Down Under, Bottom Up
      7 min read

    • Article

      The Peasants Are Not Revolting

      Mar 13, 2024

      WE couldn’t afford to live in St John’s Wood—think of the taxi fares’ (overheard in Claridge’s). ‘Are you going home with him?’ ‘I might as well: I am pregnant, anyway’ (overheard outside a Mayfair nightclub). ‘How do you take your coffee, madam?’ ‘L

      2 min read

    • Article

      Topos. Graphein.

      Sep 27, 2021

      Topos. Graphein.
      6 min read

    • Article

      Books As Balm

      Oct 11, 2023

      WHEN I’m feeling weary and blue… I go to a bookshop,’ as Noël Coward didn’t quite write in his unusually sad song World Weary. A particular type of bookshop is mandatory, of course, with an inviting, but not too flashy window display, rickety, bulgin

      2 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for A Passage to India

    4/5

    2,165 ratings68 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      A clash of cultures between the English rulers of India and those Indians who live under English rule, before the war for independence. The clash of culture, religions Christian, Muslim, Hindu and Sikh also play a large part of this book.
    • 4/5
      I'm not sure why I never read this book before. I've enjoyed other books by Forster and I have always liked books set in India. For whatever reason I had not read this and it was with delight that I received it from my SecretSanta on LibraryThing. It is on the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list and with this book done I have read 300 books from the list.Forster sets this book in the fictional city of Chandrapore in northern India with a small colonial outpost. The time is the early 20th century when the British raj was very much in control of the country. The British people socialize with other British people with very few exceptions. So when Adela Quested, visiting India with the purpose of seeing if Ronnie Heaslop is suitable marriage material, expresses a wish to see the "real India" she is greeted with some disdain. Miss Quested was escorted to India by Heaslop's mother, Mrs. Moore, who would also like to meet some Indians. In fact, while she was taking a breath of air from a theatrical performance at the club she met Dr. Aziz, a medical doctor who is widowed and has three children. Mrs. Moore is also a widow and also has three children, Ronnie from her first marriage and another boy and girl from her second. Mrs. Moore is desirous of seeing all her children settled, starting with Ronnie. When Dr. Aziz proposes a visit to the nearby Marabar caves to show Mrs. Moore and Miss Quested the "real India" it proves to be a defining moment in all their lives. Dr. Aziz is charged with sexually assaulting Miss Quested. Did he do so? Or did their local guide assault her? Or did Miss Quested, upset by the strange echoes in the caves, imagine the whole affair? The only non-Indian who believes Dr. Aziz when he says he is innocent is Mr. Fielding, the Principal of the Government College. His support of Aziz drives a wedge between him and the other colonials. Years later when Aziz and Fielding meet again, Aziz (who thinks that Fielding married Miss Quested when he went back to England) spurns his offer of a renewal of their friendship. When he discovers that Fielding married Mrs. Moore's daughter, not Miss Quested, he realizes that he has allowed the whole Chandrapore experience to darken his life. He is even willing to write to Miss Quested to tell her he forgives her.I would be really interested to know if modern day Indians have read this book and what they think of it. Forster is very supportive of the Indians and critical of the British rule of India. On the other hand, he is of the colonizing race and there is now a feeling that the people who were the object of colonization should tell their own stories.
    • 3/5
      I loved Forster so much in high school that it is disappointing to return to find him so smug and sour.
    • 5/5
      When I read the book years ago, I was filled with self-righteous indignation. How could the British behave in the way that they did? This was my reaction then. I picked this book up again, after reading E.M. Forster's "Aspects of the Novel", and I realized that he took us back in time to the days when writing was elegant. The main incident revolves around a picnic at the Marabar Caves and a false allegation of molestation.While relating the incidents up to the fateful picnic, subsequent events, and the courtroom drama (which, is the climax), there is an extended epilogue. This is a tale of the British Raj - about the hypocrisy of the British in India, as well as the hypocritical and self-serving behavior of Indians as well. It's also a tale of loss - of the loss of connections, and the superficial view that people take of them. It's brilliant, a masterpiece.
    • 4/5
      Of English novels about India, maybe this one has more to say than the others. It is fairly complex in it's treatment of the concept of India--a place that is beyond any simple categorization or definition despite the colonial effort to order and control it. The typical trappings of this type of British literature are there: the characters are representatives of viewpoints and political/cultural/class identities more than they are realistic people. While this is an annoying characteristic of much literature of the period, it is a little less so in this novel. Perhaps it is because the setup is so well structured that we forgive the view of the moving parts in this machine (if that makes any sense). There's more goodwill to trying to understand India and trying to provide a more complex view of the colonial situation and that's what makes this novel endure beyond the basic plot device.
    • 4/5
      Much has been written about Passage to India. Hundreds of writers had offered up their opinion on the classic. I won't bore you with the plot except to say India is at odds with British rule in every sense. It clouds judgement beyond reason, as most prejudices do. Indian-born Aziz is curious about the English and offers to take two British women to see the infamous caves of Marabar. My comment is Aziz acts oddly enough for me to question what exactly did happen in those isolated and mysterious caves?...which is exactly what Mr. Forster wanted me to do. Every relationship in Passage to India suffers from the affects of rumor, doubt, ulterior motive, class, and racism. Friends become enemies and back again as stories and perceptions change and change again.
    • 5/5
      A first class study of Colonial India and its effect on the rulers. The Indians are well drawn, the British as well, and the complexities of the situation are wonderfully explored. I am surprized so few Library Thingers have read it!
    • 3/5
      This novel pre-dates Orwell's Burmese Days, so it is one of the earlier works that self-consciously examines Orientalism. However, unlike Burmese Days, I found it hard to get into. It must be Forster's near-Victorian style - it seems more like Joyce than it does Ford. Along with detailed notes to every chapter, it felt more like a work of non-fiction than a story based on Forster's travel experiences. Obviously important, but somehow shallow. Maybe this was an attempt to minimise the political backlash that was more likely to occur in the pre-Hitler period than it was in Orwell's time? Regrettably, this one goes down as "having read a classic" rather than a great literary experience for me.
    • 4/5
      ‘The past! the infinite greatness of the past!’ thrilled Walt Whitman in ‘A Passage to India’. A quarter of a century later, Forster borrowed Whitman's title, but with a very different mood in mind. In place of the American's wild-eyed certainties, Forster gives us echoes and confusion; instead of epic quests of the soul, there is only an eternal impasse of personal and cultural misunderstanding.Animals and birds are half-seen, unidentified; the landscape is a featureless blur; motives are illogical and rest on miscommunication. All human language, in the final analysis, amounts to nothing more than the dull ou-boum thrown back from the Malabar caves during the fateful expedition at the heart of the novel. ‘If one had spoken vileness in that place, or quoted lofty poetry, the comment would have been the same – “ou-boum”.’Will Self once recommend as an exercise reducing a novel to a single word (he suggested in the case of The Naked Lunch, for instance, that it would be ‘insect’). For A Passage to India, that keyword would be ‘muddle’ – a term that recurs, gradually shedding its cosiness and accreting a sense of existential indistinctness, a kind of cosmic flou that renders good intentions, indeed all human endeavour, futile. ‘I like mysteries,’ says Mrs Moore, the novel's moral core, ‘but I rather dislike muddles.’ Elsewhere, Forster talks with something like dread of a ‘spiritual muddledom’ for which ‘no high-sounding words can be found’.The plot of this book is, at times, heart-poundingly dramatic, but Forster is careful to make sure that even this is founded on doubt and indecision. In fact, what one thinks of as ‘the plot’ of A Passage to India is a storyline that arises, reaches its climax, and is resolved entirely within the second of the book's three acts. What then, you might ask, is the point of parts one and three? Well, among other things they prevent the plot from seeming too tidy – there is always something before the beginning, something after the end, to frustrate neat conclusions. ‘Adventures do occur,’ he says, ‘but not punctually.’ Life isn't tidy – it's a muddle.British India is a perfect setting for this kind of exploration: not only does it play host to numerous individual confusions, it is itself, as it were, the political embodiment of such a confusion. One of the wonderful things about this book is that the obvious hypocrisy and conflict between the English and the Indians is not left to stand alone, as a heavy-handed message, but is echoed by similar divisions between Muslim and Hindu, man and woman, young and old, devotee and atheist. Still, it is the gulf of understanding between the British rulers and their Indian subjects that provides the most interesting material for Forster's bitter social comedy. Most of the Brits are deliciously dislikable, couching their racism in patriotic slogans, droning through the national anthem every evening at the Club, and – like one of the wives – learning only enough of the language to speak to the servants (‘so she knew none of the politer forms, and of the verbs only the imperative mood’).The heroes of this book are those that try to reach across this divide, or to challenge the assumptions of their own side.‘Your sentiments are those of a god,’ she said quietly, but it was his manner rather than his sentiments that annoyed her.Trying to recover his temper, he said, ‘India likes gods.’‘And Englishmen like posing as gods.’These attempts don't work, and the reason they don't work is that cultural or racial divides are – the book suggests – only a special case of that ‘spiritual muddledom’ that is a universal constant. Still, the worldview isn't as bleak as it might seem. That famous ‘not yet’ in the book's closing lines is a lot more hopeful than a ‘no’, and if we're prevented from coming together by our tangled and violent past, that also raises the possibility that a better future can be laid down by the present we choose to enact now, every day, with each other. ‘For what is the present, after all,’ as Walt Whitman asked, ‘but a growth out of the past?’
    • 4/5
      This book is not for those who want to jump in and devour a book. Mrs. Moore and Adela want to see the "real India" not just that which their government views as the most "civilised", i.e., most like British colonialism can make them. Mrs. Moore meets an Indian doctor who agrees to take Mrs. Moore and Adela to a local caves. What happens from this innocent invitation drives the story to its conclusion.

      Forster's strength lies in his ability to connect us to the characters and places, perhaps he does this too well as I wanted to read idly on about those characters. Forster also does a good job of understand both the British and Indian mindsets of this time period.
    • 4/5
      I can't say I'm a Forster fanatic after reading A Passage to India but I did enjoy the writing and the questions the content brought up. Not just in a racism context but, in all honesty, a general-human context even more so. From race to religion, we're so quick to classify ourselves and others. Then to set ourselves apart from various classifications as if that somehow gives us worthiness. My main view of this book is that it's excellent in it's ability to show all the idiocy for what it is, misunderstandings and the mayhem that results.
    • 4/5
      A brilliant novel that stands well the test of time. And so perfectly descriptive I wish that I could actually visit the places that Forster creates in his imagination.
    • 3/5
      I almost gave up on this one because almost nothing happens for the first 150 pages and the prose is extremely dry. The author paints a very precise portrait of racism and class-ism in British occupied India.

      It is easy to see why so many people hold this book in such high regard; it was obviously groundbreaking when it was published. It will never take the place of To Kill a Mockingbird in my heart.
    • 4/5
      Audiobook narrated by Sam Dastor.3.5*** In 1920s northern India an older British matron, Mrs Moore, arrives to visit her son, Ronny Heaslop, who is the British city magistrate of Chandrapore. She is accompanied by Miss Adela Quested, a young, naïve, somewhat repressed school teacher, who is to be engaged to Mrs Moore’s son. When Mrs Moore visits a local mosque she encounters Dr Aziz, a local Muslim doctor, and they become friendly. After a second meeting, he offers to take Mrs Moore, Miss Quested and a group of friends on a day trip to visit the famous Marabar Caves. At the caves something happens to frighten Miss Quested, with the result that Aziz is accused of a scandalous crime. This classic explores class differences and the clash of cultures. Every character seems to have a preconceived notion of how “the others” should behave (or have always acted), and each reacts based on these preconceived notions. Their strongly held opinions on how “every Indian” or “all Hindus” or “those British” behave, think, and feel color all their interactions, with the result that no one sees clearly what is really happening. Even the “good” characters fall victim to their own prejudices, frequently without realizing it. Friendships are broken, and even when a character realizes his/her mistake there seems no way to undo the damage. I have never visited India, but the novel gives me a sense of what it might have been like during the era of British Raj. Tensions are high with Indians chaffing under British rule. And yet there is a certain “romance” about the adventure of visiting this very foreign place. Sam Dastor is merely adequate voicing the audio book. The voices he uses for the women are high pitched to the point of screeching. And several of the Indians don’t sound much better. I suppose he was trying to help differentiate the characters in those long back-and-forth conversations, but it just irritated me. 2** for his narration.
    • 5/5
      Contains light spoilers.With a backdrop of British Colonial India, A Passage to India is the story of Dr. Aziz, a Muslim Indian physician who is sympathetic and welcoming of the Brits. The story begins with Dr. Aziz meeting an elderly lady who is visiting her son with Miss Quested, a flighty priggish young woman who wants to meet a "real Indian." Dr. Aziz, in welcoming exuberance, gives a polite but insincere invitation to his house and is shocked when Miss Quested takes him up on the offer. Embarrassed by his home, Dr. Aziz instead suggests that he host a trip to the Marabar caves. But in those caves, Miss Quested gets lost, and in her fear thinks that Dr. Aziz has accosted her, when he is actually in another cave looking for her. A Passage to India was a fantastic book on so many levels. With Miss Quested's ill-advised acceptance of Dr. Aziz's invitation (among many other ill-advised behaviors from the ladies), it highlights the differences between Indian culture and British culture. Dr. Aziz is overly accommodating, and the stand-offish British are entirely unaware of his putting himself out--they take all his welcoming exuberance quite literally. The characterization was also quite deep. For instance, it showed Miss Quested's priggishness by her wish to see a "real Indian," her pronounced reserve by her interactions with her potential fiance, and her openness to suggestion by her continued accusations of Dr. Aziz (which she seemed unsure of, but which were egged on by others of the British community). The writing style was sleek and symbolic. For instance at one point, before any of the horrifying incidents unfold, Mrs. Moore sees a wasp which reminds her vaguely of Indian culture. This wasp foreshadows the horrible events that follow. And most importantly, the A Passage to India outlined the failings of British colonialism, the blindness and priggishness of the British impressions of Indian people, and the resulting hostilities. I loved this book. This is my first Forster book that I've read, and it will most certainly not be my last.
    • 4/5
      This was clearly an important novel in its day, but it is difficult to enjoy it today without being clouded by memories of films and other adaptations, and to understand the history without imposing hindsight. Having read Damon Galgut's novel on Forster and the events leading up to the publication of this book recently, that inevitably clouded my judgment too. For all that, this is an unsentimental view of the Raj and its hypocrisy and misunderstandings, with a powerful human story at its core.
    • 4/5
      "One touch of regret--not the canny substitute but the true regret from the heart--would have made him a different man, and the British Empire a different institution."I'm not sure quite what to think about this story. In some ways it is banal; in some ways suspenseful and interesting. It never had me by the heart or feeling excessive emotions, but the stiff upper-lip writing was still compelling. E.M. Forster took several philosophical detours throughout the book that I found the most enjoyable, if not slightly beside the story. My experience of the Indian people I know intimately mirrors Forster's in many ways and so I was credulous in his descriptions of the "native" mind, where someone else not well-acquainted with Indian people may have found the descriptions of attitudes and behaviors suspect. It seems like he might be writing to negate the old adage that "no man is an island." The saying is irrefutable and yet one can be stranded in the midst of humanity. This is a story of people making full- and half-hearted attempts to connect to other people across class, racial, and religious lines, and they ultimately fail but it's not as sad as it sounds. It's almost expected. "And he felt dubious and discontented suddenly, and wondered whether he was really and truly successful as a human being. After forty years' experience, he had learnt to manage his life and make the best of it on advanced European lines, had developed his personality, explored his limitations, controlled his passions--and had done it all without becoming either pedantic or worldly. A creditable achievement, but as the moment passed, he felt he ought to have been working at something else the whole time,--he didn't know at what, never would know, never could know, and that was why he felt sad."
    • 4/5
      It was about time I got to this classic and a classic it is. It's so vivid and shares the perspective of both England and India so well that I'm surprised it was written so long ago. Dr. Aziz is accused of offending a British lady, Miss Quested at the Marabar Caves but there is also misunderstanding from Dr. Aziz with his friend Fielding - his only British defender at the trial. There is a lot of exploring of India here (the entire book never leaves India), though Dr. Aziz makes an interesting (yet cynical) point that the British only wish to explore India to conquer it. Dr. Aziz is somewhat open to having British friends in the beginning of the book (with certain people anyway) but that changes after the misunderstandings. The book touches on culture, class, race, religion. Dr. Aziz has to be one of the earliest fully developed Indian characters and from only a British perspective, the book may have disappeared long ago. Great characters, great settings and great writing. Yep, it's a classic.
    • 4/5
      Language is lyrical and wonderful!
    • 4/5
      Forster delivers a great work of literature that both entertains and makes a social statement of racism. It explores relationships of the British and the Indian but also Christian, Moslem and Hindu. The time period is the Indian independence movement of 1920. Forster develops characters so that we can sympathize with both their positive and not so positive characters. The story starts with an older and younger woman who have traveled to India, the older woman is able to love the Indian and the younger is in love with India but not the Indian. What Forster does well is show the reader through his characters how communication and cultural differences really can be miles apart even when seemingly talking the same language. I enjoyed it, would recommend it to anyone who likes historical and political novels as well as books set in India.
    • 5/5
      If you're white and you dislike this book, I immediately will disregard your opinion.
    • 3/5
      On the positive side, E.M. Forster's A Passage to India is populated by many complex and realistic characters. Not just main characters like Fielding, Mrs Moore, Miss Quested, and Dr. Aziz, but even rather minor characters like Godbole are fleshed out and given depth. Dr. Aziz especially is made into a fully realized character by Forster, as he not only has his virtues and vices, but numerous misfortunes and failings spring from them both so that he makes an interesting focal point for the narrative. The second half of the book would have been rendered both less entertaining and less effective if Dr. Aziz was a purely virtuous character, but fortunately for readers the narrative doesn't make Aziz anything close to an angel. It does succeed in making him feel like a real person. This realistic feel is also one of A Passage to India's main strengths. While the events that occur at around the halfway point of the book relies on an improbable series of events and coincidences, Forster still manages to write it in a way that doesn't feel artificial. Writing obviously manufactured situations that don't feel artificial is an impressive accomplishment.

      On the negative side, Forster's writing is frequently boring. Even when he's writing about exciting events like a car crash or a parade or a riot he somehow manages to create a passage that is utterly without energy or tension. This is a short book, but the writing did so little to engage me that it felt like a substantial tome. Another negative is that, while I complimented the book's cast of multidimensional characters, that multidimensionalness doesn't extend to many of the British occupiers of India. Most of them are just racist buffoons, even the marginally less shallow Mr. Turton has his perspective and the reasoning behind it explained in a single sentence. Ronny is the pro-occupation character given the most development, and even he feels like a half-baked sketch. He delivers weak arguments and oscillated between "bland" and "jerk" as the story required.

      On the stranger side, two things: the first is that I found it to be a strange choice for Forster to include as a plot point caves that seemingly mess with British people's brains. One cave basically turns someone into a nihilist within ten minutes when previously they seemed pretty well adjusted, another cave causes an echo to plague someone's mind for months. Strange stuff. Another thing on the stranger side to note is that while Forster was obviously trying to promote tolerance and denounce the British occupation of India with this book, it's not clear how similar he thinks European and Indian people are: Forster identifies "suspicion" as some sort of inborn quality for "orientals" and it isn't clear if he thinks that there can be true understanding between people from such different cultures.

      While A Passage to India draws into question whether understanding across different cultures is possible without putting forth an answer, Forster ends the book with a clear statement that friendship between people of different cultures is possible (although such friendship may be plagued with misunderstandings). To reach true friendship, though, the occupier-occupied relationship would have to end. A good message, though I could have done without Forster spelling it out for me so bluntly. For a book that also explores understanding of different cultures but which is far more engaging I recommend The Other City by Michal Ajvaz. A Passage to India is a bit dull in comparison, though not a bad book by any means- you just have to be able to deal with the bog of Forster's prose.
    • 4/5
      A disturbing novel that challenges prejudices you may not realize that you possess. A crime is committed - that is for sure - but what crime? A fraud perpetrated upon an innocent man or an attempted rape? You never read which was committed but reach your own conclusion. An engaging novel, well written - India becomes a character in the book and Imperial Britain the antagonist.
    • 5/5
      SPOILERS BELOWForster’s novel details the conflict between the colonizers and the colonized, England and India respectively, with narrow brushstrokes. We learn about how this tension infects through personal relationships between men and women, men and men, English and Indians, Muslims and Hindus. We also are made to contemplate if this conflict can be overcome even on a personal level, much less a diplomatic one. The short answer to both is a hesitant denial. The relationships in the book rest on uneven ground. The adoration and admiration between Aziz and Mrs. Moore or later Aziz and Fielding are thrown into doubt when muddled by the conflict and suspicion birthed by Aziz’s trial. The remainder of the book seeps with uneasiness and doubt regarding the validity and sincerity of Fielding and Aziz’s bond, with Aziz erroneously believing Fielding is to marry Adela. The first half of the book builds on Adela’s uncertainty in marrying Ronny, her state of mind eventually leading to Aziz’s trial when she falsely accuses him of assault.Alison Sainsbury asserts that the impossibility of of a bond between England and India hinges on the sentiment of the book’s final line: “‘they said in their hundred voices, No, not yet, and the sky said ‘not there’” (362). Sainsbury notes that Forster “illustrates how imperial rule distorts human relations”. This is evident in Aziz’s and FIelding’s last conversation where they sportingly debate about colonization, each espousing a distaste for the other’s country and its inhabitants. Fielding thinks, “Aziz was a memento, a trophy, they were proud of each other, yet they must inevitably part” (358). These two examples highlight how relations between the two countries and peoples have been constructed by imperialism, and how to divert from that specific mentality is to create a psychic disturbance whereby any bonds of friendship are inherently distorted and personal communication poisoned by historical prejudice. It is almost impossible for Aziz and Fielding to not see each other as specifically tied to the historicism of English and Indian, respectively, once other voices such as Ronny Heaslop or Hamidullah intervene and reassert the the venom of historical conflict. To say that this conflict can be overcome by individual friendships, or even that such friendships can thrive, is to assert the possibility that such venom will fade, and even though nearly a century has passed since Forster’s novel was published, tensions linger and such a reality is questionable.
    • 3/5
      This book is slow. Lots of description very little action. There is a deeper social commentary or race and religion. I listened to it on audio... I'm not sure I would have made it through just reading it.
    • 5/5
      E. M Forster was born in England in 1879 and died in 1970. As a child, he inherited enough money from his great aunt to travel and live as a writer after attending public school and King's College, Cambridge. His interest in writing was influenced at Cambridge by membership in a discussion society called the Apostles that included a number of intellectuals such as John Maynard Keynes and Ludwig Wittgenstein. Forster maintained a loose association with the group during the early 1910s and 1920s as it added members and became known as the Bloomsbury Group. The Group was composed of a variety of creative individuals including writers of fiction. Virginia Woolf was an active member. After leaving Cambridge, Forster traveled with his mother extensively in Europe where he developed ideas for subsequent novels including: A Room With A View, Where Angels Fear to Tread, and Howards End. For years, he maintained a privacy regarding his homosexual identity and behavior understanding that it would limit his freedom to publish his work.In the early 1920s, Forster worked in India as the private secretary for a Maharaja during the period of the British Raj. The Raj was a time of occupation of India by British diplomats and soldiers who imposed some controlled structure on the economic and legal system of the largely disparate states within the Eastern country loosely ruled by a monarchy. After returning to London from India, Forster published A Passage to India in 1924 based on his experiences during the period when British influence was waning and an Indian Independence movement was developing.The novel is an interesting character study involving structure opposed to substance, self-control over impulse, conformity versus individual freedom, restriction of thought rather than tolerance, and arbitrary racial discrimination limiting open enculturation. There are several characters described in stereotypical ways with representatives of the British ruling and middle classes in the Raj and Hindu, "Moslem", and royal leaders within Indian society. These descriptions set the stage for the interaction of four main characters that illustrate the complexity of two cultures seemingly unyielding in their Western versus Eastern world views.In the novel the reader's attention is focused on the interactions and perceptions of four main characters: Dr. Aziz, Miss Adela Quested, Cyril Fielding, and Mrs. Moor:Dr. Aziz is an Indian physician who works at a British hospital. He is a Muslim man strongly influenced by his religion but intellectually active in his beliefs and impulsive in his emotions and actions. He is tolerant of differences in cultures within his country and the strained relationship between Indians and the British. The tolerance, however is largely on the surface, and when his religious beliefs and secular freedom are threatened by the actions of the Raj, he is quick to feel strong resentment.Adela Quested is a young British teacher who has traveled to India to see if she and a British magistrate are compatible for marriage. Like Dr. Aziz, Adela seems outwardly open and tolerant to new experiences. She wants to learn more about the exotic Eastern culture of India. The reader sees that she is actually intolerant and frightened but fancies herself an enlightened woman willing to step beyond the conventions of her British character. Adela regresses to her British comfort zone in a panic when confronted with the mysterious and unstructured life of India.Cyril Fielding is a teacher at a small British college for Indian citizens. Now in his early middle age, the unmarried administrator has maintained his life of personal intellectual and emotional freedom by keeping a low profile within the British foreign service system and maintaining an open attitude about British and Indian tension during the Raj. He seems to be more willing to understand the cultural differences between West and East than Adela because he has maintained a personal code of ethics largely hidden from both the British and Indian people in the rural district. He is a clever individual who has assumed a role that conforms minimally to the expectations of each culture. He is insightful and aware that his surface behavior is accepted with reservations by both groups and is content to have independence in the deep structure of his personality. Although Fielding is not an avowed homosexual, the reader gains some interesting indications from the character of Forster's private life. Unlike the author, Fielding returns to England, marries a very British woman, and returns to India a more structured man but largely conflicted in his hidden personal identification.Mrs. Moore is an elderly British widower who has accompanied Adela during the trip from England to India. She is the mother of the British magistrate that the younger woman has come to visit. Mrs. Moore is a lifelong British subject who has reached the endpoint of caring, having lived her life for her children with a feminine stiff upper lip. In somewhat delicate health, the trip has been a major sacrifice for Mrs. Moore, but she has done her escort duty. Because of her end of life situation and active life review, she is open to the spiritual aspect of Indian life that is so different from her British structured religious beliefs. Unlike Adela, Mrs. Moore is willing to open herself to Eastern thoughts and beliefs with a substantial lowering of psychological defenses. She seeks answers to the question, what is the meaning of her life of service to her family that cost of her own freedom and dignity? Specifically, when can she stop taking responsibility for others and come to some meaningful resolution of the doubts about her life decisions? When faced with negative conclusions during her life review, she embraces a delusion of a tolerable, structured life back in her British home.I highly recommend this novel (Forster's last published work of fiction) for readers who want to examine their own depth of understanding of life and their tolerance of the lives of others in chaotic times. An interesting experience I had reading the novel was an illusive desire to live during the early decades of the 20th Century in India to see how I would react personally to a rapidly changing world perspective. Of course, parallel, dramatic cultural challenges exist in the U. S. today, but perhaps we are too close in time to the effects of them to develop the comprehensive point of view presented in A Passage to India.
    • 1/5
      Title: A Passage to IndiaAuthor: E.M. ForsterGenre: FictionPublisher: Harcourt, Inc.Date: 1924Pages: 362Modern Library: The Board’s List #25Started: 14 October 2013I was roaming the isles of my local Books-A-Million store and found this gem staring up at me from the bottom shelf. I purchased the paperback 75th Anniversary Edition. The book is divided into three sections. The first section is titled Mosque, the second is Caves, and the third is Temple.I do not like this book, and in keeping with my philosophy of “life is too short to waste time reading a book I’m not into,” I bailed. For sixteen days I have tried to like this book. I’ve tried to look past the boring dialogue, and the fact that it’s hot in India (I think we all know that), and the stereotyping that is plainly stereotypical. I’ve tried, but I can’t. This book will go back on the shelf and there it will stay until someone asks to borrow it – and then I might even hope they never give it back to me.I read the first section, and yes, it took half of a month of my life to do that! Here’s the basic breakdown ~ two British women called Adela and Mrs. Moore (Colonizers) travel to Chandrapore, India to get a taste the real India. There they try to mingle with the Colonizies (it’s painful) and soon meet Dr. Aziz and proceed to wreck his life. I just wanted to reach into this book and slap these women and the assholes they hangout with.To be fair, I’m sure this book was relevant and impactful during its time. For me right now, I can’t bring myself to continue reading a story that I can’t connect with. The plot is thin, the story is tiring, and I so wish this “little gem” hadn’t made eye contact with me from the bottom shelf in that book store.It’s here if you want to borrow it!Finished: Never
    • 4/5
      In brief: When Mrs. Moore and Miss Quested travel to India, they hope to seek out the real India. Mrs. Moore makes friends with an Indian doctor Aziz. In an effort to show the two women hospitality, Aziz takes them on a journey to visit some local caves, which results in Miss Quested accusing Aziz of attacking her. The fascinating thing about this novel is how Forster shows racism as systematic. The British come to India with the best of intentions, with the aim of treating everyone with respect and politeness, if not complete equality. But as they spend more time in the country, the pressures of white society slowly molds them into that racism in order to fit in with the "right kind" of people.Forster presents the points of view of many people, including Aziz, the two women he befriends, and many others both white and Indian alike. He presents a each character as complex, with varying and contradicting thoughts and desires housed in entirely one body, and most everyone came off as sympathetic in one degree or another.I think he did fairly well with the Indian characters and their culture, though I suspect that even as he was making them interesting and sympathetic, he also accidentally slipped in stereotypes and misunderstandings.A Room with a View is one of my favorite books ever, but this one was more hit and miss. I did not love A Passage to India nearly as much, but it was enjoyable and interesting. I'd say it's a toss up.
    • 2/5
      After loving A Room With a View, I was eager to give Forster another try. Unfortunately, I really didn't like A Passage to India. I found the characters flat and more like caricatures than real people and their relationships with each other even more implausible. Then there was the plot, which seemed to revolve around an inane, imagined incident in a cave between an Englishwoman and her Indian host.I suppose that when this was written in the 1920s, it was an important and possibly revolutionary look at British/Indian relations, but I found it rather boring. It will not stop me from reading more Forster, though. Maybe this one just wasn't for me.
    • 3/5
      the first time i was forced to read this i hated it with a blinding passion. the second time i was forced to read it, i figured out why it remains on the professor's "to make my students read" list.

    Book preview

    A Passage to India - E. M. Forster

    _:ebook_preview_excerpt.html}[DZTHJVh"uJJ] _gw`{GdV^"@=2#ߜ/?ǟ>ӿqkѿKOsqbc1aCxӿB_KXϗk8yOP|qN.=qSs"~0UӇrW|_cUš/au!8f.pwNZg(a9ﴵ;}? cKQ5ӌ/T=8Cg_{|'W4L : >ⶻ3~3OwY ϻ"L̖[t^̸=obM< ߇!XPŀsSE};́*NҁW`cx'n9v'ҫ/7kP_c˄+Pp债.xHq cŝP6^\hݴs q wO 8wWl&(Hrax27CQ/DR)c%X8x&}t m:0g s(;V1 ^>V4|Rl5 %\=jXYn(y{Θ^#OKę'^0BebT;=E>/+> D `_L\z1A!:1x;LnĠ:R|ve!~9(dޞJn|:fhڻޏ N *d5 xÌӟI]cZJR˳uq2αmAYMhmthMQ-#a9Ļx 3ڟa! yC OXTU%RjAN8ȯ~H4^4/^:r]>^g|Z\7e ` m!e势oLKpiMJ3R]JWr-vU\sK{ԴiF&qƵd0jL "ICԆ0XJ_@1MYR'~Agpn HSSa ׸Zg=D8y (vvCV *lgS<-W\>B-H&q$`Z]ƞgZbmcg3}ِ`Gengva) ):-cv wnpb| bf=G"wǓEsmhȌ9΀8%'%$G*V~2 %o {݈ac^J;ː) ynoMN0.%Y z\`r5~[+IX](/5TjI 8FLW͞ĩ +yoj򏥡K2A;p]n$ww|f _FXQbpOM JIP =Wz]laSeuhI?2v55z6ȅh H&7 h-+:%XsVLYECqSrrǸ>@{ BMlGVBֆݚ$BGA@C)f"kT.'Y^uؙ$T;= Vw4 W,)(8mD_[_.p4O0Q#]T˥)#,"@ (n E:9l #KuWRiX GdZHOVv;:Sp suxAp"Oai6BAˑ'rvg+>ܘNd%]KޠE9С@<1p =QYq'L$ (ۦ07av`\?F@#b")xD*G#'LlAdsZzȨ/z" ax%Yk{Ӫ)%(FZ ?KxI˝k~):W̱O)Fr"<d. }a@@(ĭpg']wK?˼@Ռ$2>@Cd`a6@2:7o F7L8zIC1ͥz\&i$L^T@qv]n^c%P28~@R]*6<nW!7$U  1`Z2|tLNTL$1ih|V9Sdd5Ҷ_~Ux,7ۂ'>6$W~7(o#Xi+'B} b+9,"f1wt}ߠpNDrݥA]^74j0eUk0{St-h(+>(m;FsMۛ|?]n{ABa:,E 2-~IOTͯn^I^d/snbtrc~'x`^]?䎻uH]8kOXHUM&E#algҝQ̡CLwJGf{nn=&;"=7 *ǫ%Rk"s)d4+GY& WHΆ&FNTyJyi ]&6aPYﰄ){·lw*n>#S,X_jIc#;\uY+!SgP6)Q7}텈j.? y0^ӛJj+\0:%8\ ( ,H 3leG3'' JG`4my ѝ1cpao(ej(uww9o$Ih0zC2uPql‘^} @@2O'G\BjXGaDϪ'K(hL!X$]VA暙I* c;EsgbMMlb%~vH1^'f@>9V-#\Nɴ u^?xOo)ŸA8¬\ü#ׅӃ()pK x AIΌ4Lq;&7\cqX\|**t U\&TՇũ:IeTXI E- NiO#>y~$JOw "$EDBseg90^Gez-HHUrr*=7CJ*6z|yVLK$5Uq Ԟ9[ IOC%RU`R->#'a=y߇UCG= p*5#&|Rl o[Bbq00&yֻ6KPugxR].Y>3\},%Pəa~HQ ޚ䓺hW+OE3{h~I _a!.:/Xނ>5'sc%Wګ" TwՅ]c[J@~0rO{q("9:B hS!H<Eڂ0eǝP%n./9r50h-Y5rdg̙ '(xuL89'n|H!2}&~e *K@7@kp{{+h |`Cz^T {023݇ 7\K 5:ɲr|ǘRfݺefo심-x He/Dfcu^0[4ZӾ;Uw슇M A"+{|*!f*hPim}zXCsnnmP5#eS#%]85ҋH^e.i Y!uy/}B0΁"\A xpL_[")*U>xY\lb2y ;,ܟkQ*0Sަ,EGhL9rM瀈K6q-fSD+ -@"ɓW4 M t bD+dWSx C\\Ww7^U F%M侫N?+9 {(6Z@2 {;d۬>%X>e4lQLC*; pvg}UF\:h 2zUS)*xn]:BZ~rSs4_nmSs1-"ܟCrP渋aN xs)f ȬV3f|lrr/T^Nrbdq`ǏFqu^zM'.w*&i*}WBo$caK122*3B~0O(r(Yyɰe۩W cǪ1[ڵ>18<ղHbUBC hLKOa{,ygUxvqޝ5XVmlv? H@OmLDlH{ :cKUxpf'|VZ $`0jɲ݆}Ə"+`Te{rB;ߓ[=A4y?/zq)n?ĹQa (3sfɷH),Z[@k0scd| j*ӞդhǨ&9$nJu20  Y4[=]b ) oRuX*#4_^@_i@8Q)'JkuC26Zp [RC2䩣}@5_/Rp$Q:5)(U`kMخ\,CF,ׅCR7O\%<т+$ev͔i"= 斉y |Pɶ*7C5k_[u2JnulѹQ=YM?P&=M(tpN\3l a9eiAٚw`ѽ)mi-+S<džݷx7nv۞r'TH] .J1R,Iu#U*D0^>դoEn`1');eD?Iq{OUG01)Fon׵r!o7%S<7@RZ &a6'*{" <璡B͌xk[~eèk& {.jd9mìܛ!ti ]Vү2*MUOiBR7u*0:$k90{jdfFeZ-+Omمzl1'D6O;ff$|HMb/iDί@nSP['n֎*NQZ[ d) ךW|V(KM wPLkՐIo+heN޺uJceܢ;s\M<2-Xm@^iDu.瑫\z MyT cd}ݑߏV]z@f܁fmWjj:-Ixy]ư MUT]raךlq0ԟ6朋dl-ü/COviasX+qf=[H5Szژ<ݨaa-Ie)bj EѲ>͆(Rq̍'Ƀy>Ɗ<&qϤӦ2*֬ݦLr< T06j'"2NROwu˨NIѻ5d4 GsS ,A*4@],&x ,+0NuR kr)w{ ܯ>N;O6_$yܾZz cuD^/k ۞Ȇ:qb^,hhpoeMy.]TC@^A0ɗ<cev$Zunlָvus<>D8cie켘ޓn| U^W=TE 9tͻ"uĭ A4o҇6O5%+pzq_*x+=V5Yq=k|>lVR?/{>C 1 `=KqZ2|O49)'aDԱ,w#<Ik6ףs ØYn¤&5wjWuvrc%я6iVd=79O ^1Ph|vӋ| ~xi5CjQ>Vbʩ0#H= f>[Tգ?i9C"I[VX9kTo:/i&ylJ!~%i9Bax&7TO'Nӡx˒zhhM!pH3yWP3X&=_ǫ_GC>oMϿmَQZi{VKh2iҘ"T0$9$CVjs+ؿ8mB̙/W}IBw|ǃMpY_s\Ǵ㨕@ ZBcT"q=e=;"5nj@3)ڲKrޕ1r&iiϩl^pTqTի"uoƧ*ţGUum3t͸֖b sH9U*Gڈz|P/S٧! mNYEi jH-8d:V/e7u[)oߩҗDQ&䱯'^p%=H#gCϝb5%%-Pc9Jnn(..hY}i9K-6Wh>+C7ܡb5;> єmu*n:XbKcֳVFTfpkvya,jznsr jQcns`d5j}N4hBM6A/+9򞓫mM"}``c86>%S)!LGy}yP]3Kaj6m<6}F{`c[+0 xrkRt.ۤ<Ǹf@Zы+S&Td5ȐpSKa!#K_)x+ˋ:cfLՖ豨zB1/6@6,ro=q[;4ᾂ5z /HS:(5+,AXf,tKIIٳo$emˈ_6{V/31}*IkjHM ͘]-A]I QF y9Gt
    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1