By and About Forster: A Review-Essay

319 EY AND ABOUT FORSTER: A REVIEW-ESSAY By Frederick p. w. McDowell (University of Iowa) The superiority of Forster to many of those who are currently writing about him is illustrated in most of the books under review.1 Maurice, Förster's posthumously published novel which I have noticed elsewhere, is, for all its limitations, authentic Forster and has more interest than most critics have been prepared to assign to it. The most important of the books I shall now consider is one that is mostly Forster, 'Albergo Empedocle' and Other Writings, edited by George H. Thomson"! Thomson reprints Forster's uncollected works down to 1915, presumably because copyright difficulties have prevented him from going further forward in time. This restriction is regrettable since many of Forster·s most cogent uncollected writings come after 1915, especially his contributions to books and his literary criticism. Meanwhile, it is good to have a first installment of these works, particularly since Thomson prefaces each section with relevant. Informed, and perceptive commentary. In his remarks preceding "Cambridge Humor," he is able to define with precision the significance of writings that are only of marginal value. They represent Forster·s first attempts at the informal essay, a form rather too often marked, as in these productions, by thinness of content and quizzicality of manner. These essays, however, are prototypes of more successful ventures into the genre such as "Mrs. Grundy at the Parkers'," "Our Diversions," "Adrift in India," and "Luncheon at Pretoria," to name a few. What Thomson has to tell us about these early works, in fact, makes the reading of them almost superfluous. The informal essays which date from the Independent Review period (I903-I9O8) are of higher quality; and some of them, like "Macolnla Shops," "Cnidus," "Cardan," and "Gemistus Pletho," have already been gathered in Ablnger Harvest. The remaining ones have some worth and portent for the student of Forster. "Rostock and Wismar" is the weakest, but does reflect, in another work, the Germanic predilections Forster drew upon in creating the Schlegel family in Howards End. "Literary Eccentrics: A Review" is tantamount to a defense of individuality , at least of "cranky eccentricity," though not of "eccentric crankiness." Cranky eccentricity, says Forster, is akin to genius, while eccentric crankiness is akin to madness. Here we may have the difference between Mr. Failing and his widow in The Longest Journey. Stewart Ansell and Mr. Jackson in that novel might also be enrolled among the cranky eccentrics, those who cause us to see "through our smug civilization to the barbarity and licentiousness on which it is founded." "Mr. Walsh's Secret History of the Victorian Movement" is an implicit critique of the Pembrokes and Wilcoxes of this world, the people for whom Mr. Walsh's book was intended, members of the Victorian haute bourgeoisie who "regard conflict as everything, personal relations as nothing, passion and beauty as nothing." The uncollected story, "Albergo Empedocle," is worth reprinting and is, I am sure, one of Forster·s better tales. Except for the fact that its homosexual implications are more discernible, it is diffi- 320 cult to see why "Albergo Empedocle" was suppressed in favor of weaker efforts such as "The Curate's Friend," "Mr. Andrews," and "Co-ordination ." Some of Forster·s main themes, as one might expect, surface in this tale. There is the lapse of moral responsibility in Tom, who failed to answer Harold's implied call for assistance (as Rickie Elliot denies Stephen Wonham's in The Longest Journey) and who feels guilt, then, for his friend's eventual insanity. Forster also stresses the life-infusing aspect of the imagination, and the death-bringing aspect of the intransigent^ logical, unimaginative, self-deceptive mind. In a moment of vision in Greece, Harold is convinced that he has lived before and has enjoyed, indeed, a fuller life than he does now because he took more immediate pleasure in the passing moment . His fiancée, Mildred Peaslake, encourages Harold to persist in his "fancy," from intellectual curiosity, however, and not from interest in him or spiritual identification with him. She later retracts her belief in Harold's visionary conviction, calling him a cad and charlatan...