A Study Of Utopia In E.M.Forster’s Novels

E.M.Foster(1879-1970)is one of the representative writers of British realism at the end of the 19 th century and the beginning of the 20 th century.His works had received great attention for their rich themes.Forster’s novel involves a broad world outlook,bringing the cultural conflicts between tradition and modernity,Europe and Britain,same-sex and opposite-sex into the literary field.Different from traditional realist writers,the author did not make a pungent satire on the social outlook,but opened up a world of mixed ideals and reality on the imaginary level,showing the author’s beautiful expectations for the future world.But putting it in a certain historical context,this idealized construction ultimately lacks a realistic foundation,which makes the work bring a utopian color.Based on the discussion of six novels and five short fantasy novels of E.M.Foster,this paper summarizes the utopian ideas involved in the works and combines the ideological roots behind the works.The thesis focuses on the utopian world in Foster’s novels,freedom-humanism’s view of connection,construction methods and its significance,to study the utopian thoughts presented in Foster’s novels.The thesis is composed of three parts: introduction,body and conclusion.The main body is divided into four chapters,which are interpreted from the four aspects of Utopia and Foster,Foster’s Utopian conception in Foster’s novels,Freedom-Humanism,and the construction method and significance of Utopia in Foster’s novels.Explore Foster’s unique creative style and profound ideological implications.The first chapter analyzes the development and changes of the concept of utopia,and introduces the development and changes of utopian literature contained in the broad concept of utopia,combined with the study of utopia theory by scholars,based on Foster’s life.The experience,social background and the theme implication of the works analyze the research value of utopian thought behind the novel.The second chapter mainly summarizes the Utopia picture formed in Foster’s novels.The author constructs a natural utopia,a spiritual utopia,and a cultural utopia in the text.Through the depiction of ideal humanity and ideal characters,the author finally allows people in chaos,numbness,and indifference to see a power of hope.The third chapter mainly analyzes the connection between the utopian conception in Foster’s novels and Foster’s liberal humanism connection view.The reason why Foster’s novel text presents a utopian ideal situation,in the final analysis,the author starts from the idea of freedom-humanism,and hopes to achieve a sincere connection between people through love and freedom,across classes,the boundaries of race and gender realize equal communication and dialogue between people.But this idea of the author is only a conception of a beautiful society,beyond the reality of society,ignoring the complexity of society and human nature,and finally the freedom presented-humanistic thinking is just a utopian vision,just for the good expectations of society,it cannot be realized in reality.However,the author puts forward the proposal from the standpoint of the British middle class.On the hidden level of the text,Foster has always used a narrow vision of British centrism and cultural hegemonism to construct society,so as to make the author free-Humanistic thinking has brought the dual colors of colonialism and anti-colonialism,and British cultural hegemonism.The fourth chapter mainly analyzes the construction method and significance of Utopia thought in E.M.Foster’s novels.From four aspects: nostalgia,imagination,hope,and criticism,it explores the construction method and significance of Foster’s utopia thought.From the three levels of human beings,human beings and society,human beings and nature,it explores the spiritual connotation of utopia presented in the text,thus reflecting the positive transcendence spirit of Foster in the era of changing times and facing the world.Finally,it evaluates the utopian thoughts presented in Foster’s novels,and explores the positive significance of the author’s utopian thoughts in today’s society.