FORSTER AND THE EDWARDIANS: THE LITERATURE OF DOMESTIC FAILURE (FAMILY, NOVEL, FICTION)

E. M. Forster believed in the primacy of personal relations. Therefore, a study of his presentation of the family--the prototype for all other human interactions--would seem to be in order if we are to understand the concerns voiced in his fiction. In examining the views of domesticity in Forster's first five novels, this dissertation begins by locating his work within the context of Edwardian literature.;After an introductory discussion of the Edwardian climate, the study turns to an examination of the fiction of Bennett, Galsworthy, and Wells. Their grim views of the family and prescriptions for the improvement of domestic relations are described. Chapters on Forster's novels follow, and works by Bennett, Galsworthy, and Wells serve as points of comparison and contrast in analyzing Forster's fiction.;It is demonstrated that Forster's movement as an Edwardian writer is from a part-despairing, part-comic vision of domestic life to presentations of family problems which are accompanied by proposed solutions. The chapter entitled "Where Angels Fear to Tread: The Vicious Family Circle" describes how Philip Herriton's constant returns to a constricted existence are offset by an effective use of comedy; "A Room with a View: The Family of Children" considers the childlike state that Lucy and George Emerson ultimately share; "Howards End: The Family without Passion" examines the principal characters' decision to deny their sexual feelings; finally, "The Longest Journey and Maurice: The Family of Men" analyzes the wish in both novels for a world that excludes women and champions male fellowship.;The Edwardian period was not, as is commonly believed, an idyll of gaiety and self-confidence; the fiction produced during this era indicates that change, upheaval, and uncertainty were, for many, the defining characteristics of the age. Novelists often chose a symbolic center for their works through which their feelings about modern life could be articulated, and Forster shared with such representative Edwardian authors as Arnold Bennett, John Galsworthy, and H. G. Wells a tendency to focus on the family as a way to express anxieties about the contemporary world.