An Inventory of His Collection at the Harry Ransom Center
Creator:
Forster, E. M. (Edward Morgan),
1879-1970
Title:
E. M. Forster Collection
Dates:
1908-1971
Extent:
6 boxes (2.5 linear feet) and 1 galley folder
Abstract:
This collection comprises correspondence, primarily with J. R.
Ackerley and Malcolm Darling, and drafts of literary works, notably
Passage to India.
Call Number:
Manuscript Collection MS-01447
Language:
English.
Access:
Open for research. This collection has been microfilmed. Researchers
must create an online Research Account and agree to the Materials Use Policy before
using
archival materials.
Use Policies:
Ransom Center collections may contain material with sensitive or confidential information
that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Researchers
are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable
living
individuals represented in the collections without the consent of those individuals
may have
legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy
may
arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be
deemed
highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the Ransom Center and The University
of
Texas at Austin assume no responsibility.
Restrictions on Use:
Authorization for publication is given on behalf of the University of Texas as the
owner of
the collection and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright
holder
which must be obtained by the researcher. For more information please see the Ransom
Center's Open Access and Use Policies.
Edward Morgan Forster was born January 1, 1879, in London. His father,
also Edward Morgan, was an architect and died of consumption 18 months after
the birth of his son, leaving him in the care of his mother, Alice Clara
Whichelo and a variety of female relatives. Forster's mother moved with her
young son to rural Hertfordshire in 1883 where he lived for most of his
childhood before being sent to Kent House preparatory school in Eastbourne. In
1887 a great-aunt left a legacy to Forster which, when combined with his
father's estate, paid for Forster's education and later allowed him the leisure
to be a writer without needing to worry about income. Forster finished his
school days at Tonbridge School, which he attended as a day student rather than
as a boarder between 1893-1897.
In the autumn of 1897, Forster entered King's College, Cambridge, where
he found liberation from the conformist attitudes of preparatory school. He was
elected to the Apostles in 1901, along with Desmond MacCarthy, and became
acquainted with the well-known alumni of that society, G.E. Moore, Lytton
Strachey, John Maynard Keynes, Leonard Woolf, and Roger Fry, among others, who
later introduced him into the Bloomsbury group. It was at Cambridge that
Forster began to think of himself as a writer and the years immediately
following his graduation were his most productive as a novelist. Between 1903
and 1910 he produced
Where Angels Fear to Tread (1905),
The Longest Journey (1907),
A Room with a View (1908), and
Howards End (1910), all four of which are
now regarded as classics.
After 1910 Forster wrote mostly short stories and essays. He also
traveled, taking a long trip to India in 1912 and spending a greater part of
World War I in Egypt working with the Red Cross. A travel guide to Alexandria
and a collection of essays resulted from his time in Egypt and after his second
trip to India in 1921 he completed
A Passage to India (1924). Forster's final
novel,
Maurice (1971) was actually written in 1914
and then frequently revised after 1924, but was not published until after his
death. This novel deals with the topic of homosexuality and is thought to be at
least partly autobiographical.
After World War I Forster wrote an increasing number of essays on the
human condition and more specifically on the state of life in England and the
value of democracy, which the onset of the Depression, Nazism, and the
impending crisis of World War II seemed to be threatening. His essays brought
him a great deal of public notice and in 1934 he was elected president of the
National Council for Civil Liberties. He is given credit for playing a large
role in having the provisions of the Sedition Bill modified. When World War II
broke out, Forster returned to his mother's home in West Hackhurst.
After the war, Forster accepted a fellowship at Cambridge where he
maintained a residence for the rest of his life. He began to gain international
acclaim after 1945 and wrote copiously through the early 1960s. He suffered a
stroke in 1964 and another one the following year which caused his overall
health to decline. He suffered a major stroke in May of 1970 and on June 7 he
died at the home of friends.
Sources:
Dictionary of Literary Biography -- Volume 48:
British Novelists, 1890-1929: Traditionalists. Thomas F. Staley, Ed.
(Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1985).
Who's Who in Bloomsbury. Alan and
Veronica Palmer. (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1987).
Scope and Contents
Manuscripts of novels and letters to friends and acquaintances comprise
the bulk of the E. M. Forster Collection, 1908-1971. The collection is organized
into three series, with materials arranged alphabetically by title or author:
I. Works, 1910-1960 (2 boxes); II. Correspondence, 1908-1967 (3.5 boxes); and
III. Works by Other Authors, 1933-1971 (.5 box). This collection was previously
accessible through a card catalog, but has been re-cataloged as part of a
retrospective conversion project.
The Works Series contains several holograph drafts of essays on topics
ranging from liberty to tolerance, and three holograph manuscripts of
A Passage to India, two of which are fairly
complete and are extensively edited by the author, while the third is composed
primarily of earlier draft material and represents about one-third of the
novel's length. Also contained in the collection is a copy of
The Longest Journey on microfilm, made from
the original manuscript held at the Cambridge University King's College
Library, the primary repository for Forster's papers.
The Correspondence Series is particularly interesting as it is almost
exclusively composed of personal letters from Forster to various friends and
acquaintances. The series is organized into two sections, Outgoing
Correspondence, 1908-1967, and Third-party Correspondence, 1925-1937. Outgoing
correspondence comprises over 800 letters from Forster to J. R. Ackerley,
Morgan's friend and confidante, and over 200 letters to Malcolm Darling,
another close friend. Also represented among the recipients of letters are Dora
Carrington, Francis King, John Lehmann, Colin Spencer, and others. The
Third-party section contains a scant handful of personal letters between people
other than Forster. All correspondents in this series are listed in the Index
of Correspondents in this guide.
The Works by Other Authors Series contains a small number of writings by
other people. Included is a list of the Cambridge University, King's College
Library's collection of Forster's papers, a biographical pamphlet about Forster
written by Rex Warner, and the Memorandum of Agreement between Albatross Verlag
and Forster for publication of
A Passage to India. Galley proofs for W.
Heffer & Sons Ltd.'s
Heffer Catalogue Seven, prepared for the
sale of Forster's collection of books after his death, are also included.
Elsewhere in the Ransom Center are five photographs of Forster located in the
Literary Files of the Photography Collection and one Vertical File of newspaper
clippings about Forster and his work.
Related Material
Other materials associated with Forster may be found in the following
collections at the Ransom Center:
