The Nostalgic Home in E. M. Forster's Novels

Abstract

Edward Morgan Forster wrote 6 novels, all of which revolve around the concept of home in relation to the representation of time and its impact on human soul and spirit. Homes of Forster are created by people and their emotions; hence they are very effective in their lives. In his Aspects of the Novel, Forster confirms that the art of fiction depends on facets like characters, plots, patterns, time, and places. This paper handles the representation of homes and the impact of time on these homes in E.M. Forester's Where Angels Fear to Tread, A Room With A View and Howard's End. In these novels Forster uses a recurrent theme; that is the impact of time on places and people. As Angels Fear to Tread echoes Alexander Pope's line in his An Essay on Criticism: "for fools rush in where angels fear to tread", the novel deals with concepts like national character, connection across social differences, the passage of time and its impact on places and houses. In A Room with A View, Forster contrasts Florence, Italy and Windy Corner, England, showing their influence on the development of Lucy, the heroine. Lucy is torn between two different lives. She misses the feeling of home, warmth and domesticity. She struggles throughout the whole novel to embrace love, security, and belonging. Home as a concept is an evasive axis in Forster's Howard's End. The novel is set in the Victorian era where all houses were rebuilt, reconstructed and replaced. There was a demanding rebuilding initiative across Britain, especially in London. That's why houses and places were obviously an entity for people's emotional values. In Howard's End, the Schlegels are evicted from Wickham place, and this leads to their dichotomy. The concepts of places, dwelling, passing of time, and nostalgia, give an opportunity for readers to observe the importance of home in modern life. In Forster's novels, homes are experienced on many levels: homes as places people have already visited and lived in; homes as places people imagined through pictures or dreams; and homes that are never visited or even imagined by dwellers. As John Edward Hardy states: "buildings, and the design of them, the architectural character of civilization, would seem to be in Forster's mind fundamentally related to its character of manners and morals", it would be significant to have a deeper look into the concept of home, time and nostalgia in relation to modern man. Keywords: houses, homes, Forster's novels, passage of time, nostalgia and modernity