A Leisure Perspective Exploration Of E.M.Forster's Novels

Witnessing the radical and complex changes that span almost a century,E.M.Forster presents various depiction of leisure activities,places and spaces.Nevertheless,little literature observes Forster's work by associating leisure with space.Whereas leisure has physically,psychologically,and socially influenced the concept of space,this thesis focuses on three of the chief leisure spaces in modern fiction to study this relationship:physical space,mental space and social space.To investigate the relationship,the following chapters analyzes two of Forster's representative work A Room with a View and Howards End in a way that is historically unique and significant for the study of literature and leisure.The first and second chapter serves as an introduction,elaborating the connotation of leisure space and it association with Forster's quest.Despite of diverse definition of leisure,the quest for freedom,close to nature and respect the well-being of individuals have been considered integral features.And Forster's pursuit for freedom,call for nature,and care for human being are essentially the pursuit of leisure,which can be interpreted through the presentation and creation for various spaces.Chapter Three starts with leisure spaces in A Room with a View.Lucy's passion for piano playing best testify the positive effect of mental space,which promotes her to relieve true self,achieve liberty and obtain happiness.By depicting the trip to Italy in A Room with a View,Foster shows that real leisure space is not constructed by superficial sightseeing,but concerns with the improvement of leisure perception.Foster also draws on establishing self-identity and maintaining the abundance of the spiritual world through the connection among man,nature and culture.And it can be examined through construction of the identity of the heroine in in A Room with a View.The fourth chapter probes into Foster's description of English suburbs,the estate and other leisure spaces in Howard's End.Furthermore,Foster connect the nature with leisure and return,supplies a possible solution to solve the alienation of nature,integration of cultural differences and conflicts.Finally,Forster's presentation in Howard's End not only shows the leisure feeling of different groups,but also criticizes the oppression of industrial civilization to leisure needs.The last chapter pursue modern discourse on leisure by analyzing E.M.Forster's A Room with a View.The novel open up the reciprocal relationships between these leisure techniques and the modern spatialization of leisure-a reciprocity that is,at the heart of modernist representations of leisure.Finally,this research demonstrates internal consistency between the Foster's work and leisure.Leisure is essential to well-being,economic development and cultural prosperity,and modern leisure space contributes to leisure and literature studies in the way of identifying the fundamental yet neglected relationship between leisure and modernity.