A Passage to India (Penguin Classics)
by E. M. Forster
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Book Summary Information
Author: E. M. ForsterEditor: Oliver Stallybrass
Introduction: Pankaj Mishra
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-09
ISBN: 014144116X
Number of pages: 376
Publisher: Penguin Books
Book Reviews of A Passage to India (Penguin Classics)
Book Review: One of the finest English novels of the 20th Century
Summary: 5 Stars
Two well-meaning English women - Mrs. Moore and Adela Quested - go to India some time during the first two decades of the last century with the desire to see and experience the real India. They do not share the disdain for the natives that prevails (except for the schoolmaster and freethinker Cyril Fielding) throughout the community of British administrators who govern and run the nondescript town they visit, and they accept an overture of friendship from a Moslem, Dr. Aziz, in the form of a tour of a local geological curiosity, the Marabar Caves. But the expedition to the Caves goes awry in numerous ways, culminating in a mysterious insult to Adela Quested, which leads to charges against Dr. Aziz, a trial, civil unrest, and further polarization of the British and their colonial subjects.
The most common and most facile reading of A PASSAGE TO INDIA is as a critique of imperial Great Britain, its colonial policies, and its treatment of the native Indians. And in fact the novel is an understated but nonetheless searing indictment of British imperialism as well as exposé of British racism. It is one of the foremost "anti-colonialist" works of literature. But it is much, much more. It is one of the richest, deepest, and most multi-faceted novels I have ever read - and one of the very best.
E.M. Forster borrowed the title from Walt Whitman. In 1868, Whitman, excited by the soon-to-be-completed Suez Canal (and similarly excited by the transcontinental railroad in the United States and the undersea transatlantic cable), wrote a poem "Passage to India". He celebrated these technological and engineering developments, and not simply because they facilitated trade and transportation. More important, they enabled
"The earth to be spann'd, connected by net-work,
The people to become brothers and sisters,
The races, neighbors, to marry and be given in marriage,
The oceans to be cross'd, the distant brought near,
The lands to be welded together."
In his exuberance, Whitman also expressed the further hope that these developments provided passage to "more than India" - to wisdom and even to God.
Another facet of Forster's novel - in addition to the anti-colonialist one - is as a rueful rejoinder to Walt Whitman. For A PASSAGE TO INDIA highlights the gulf between East and West, between the suspicious mind of the Oriental and the "hypocrisy" of the Westerner. Cyril Fielding (to my thinking, the principal character of the novel, who surely is modeled in many respects after Forster himself) believes that the world "is a globe of men who are trying to reach one another and can best do so by the help of goodwill plus culture and intelligence". A noble and enlightened sentiment. But try as he might, despite bounteous goodwill and culture and intelligence, Fielding is unable to bridge the gulf with Dr. Aziz, the novel's most prominent Indian (though a Moslem with an Afghan heritage).
And it's not just the West versus the East, or the British versus the Indians. Even amongst the Indians, there is a divide between the Hindus and the Moslems, and between the Brahmans and the non-Brahmans. But that is not all. On a personal level, even among individuals of the same race and culture, there are repeated failures to connect, failures of communication.
And still, I have barely scratched the surface of the novel. It has a depth and complexity that makes me think of the best of Joseph Conrad. (I wonder what Conrad thought of it, assuming he read it.) A PASSAGE TO INDIA also touches on the broad concepts of religion and civilization and the even broader ones of Infinity and Eternity; it raises, implicitly, the question of whether humanism is illusory; at times it assumes a rather mystical atmosphere; it contains marvelous descriptions of India (on a par with those of Kipling); etc. That "etc.", by the way, is not so much laziness on my part as a signification within the confines of an Amazon review that the novel is extraordinarily rich.
In addition to all that, the underlying story is a very engaging one; the novel's major characters are fully and sensitively developed; and it is gracefully, and superbly, written. I first read it more than 35 years ago. I have been spurred to re-read it because my youngest son is currently reading it as part of his high-school English class - a very wise choice of curriculum indeed. A PASSAGE TO INDIA may be even more relevant to today's world than it was to the world of 1924. Moreover, it is a masterpiece of English literature - certainly, one of the very finest English novels of the 20th Century.
Summary of A Passage to India (Penguin Classics)
When Adela and her elderly companion Mrs Moore arrive in the Indian town of Chandrapore, they quickly feel trapped by its insular and prejudiced British community. Determined to explore the real India', they seek the guidance of the charming and mercurial Dr Aziz, a cultivated Indian Muslim. But a mysterious incident occurs while they are exploring the Marabar caves with Aziz, and the well-respected doctor soon finds himself at the centre of a scandal that rouses violent passions among both the British and their Indian subjects. A masterly portrait of a society in the grip of imperialism, A Passage to India compellingly depicts the fate of individuals caught between the great political and cultural conflicts of the modern world.What really happened in the Marabar caves? This is the mystery at the heart of E.M. Forster's 1924 novel, A Passage to India, the puzzle that sets in motion events highlighting an even larger question: Can an Englishman and an Indian be friends?
"It is impossible here," an Indian character tells his friend, Dr. Aziz, early in the novel.
"They come out intending to be gentlemen, and are told it will not do.... Why, I remember when Turton came out first. It was in another part of the Province. You fellows will not believe me, but I have driven with Turton in his carriage--Turton! Oh yes, we were once quite intimate. He has shown me his stamp collection.Written while England was still firmly in control of India, Forster's novel follows the fortunes of three English newcomers to India--Miss Adela Quested, Mrs. Moore, and Cyril Fielding--and the Indian, Dr. Aziz, with whom they cross destinies. The idea of true friendship between the races was a radical one in Forster's time, and he makes it abundantly clear that it was not one that either side welcomed. If Aziz's friend, Hamidullah, believed it impossible, the British representatives of the Raj were equally discouraging."He would expect you to steal it now. Turton! But red-nosed boy will be far worse than Turton!
"I do not think so. They all become exactly the same, not worse, not better. I give any Englishman two years, be he Turton or Burton. It is only the difference of a letter. And I give any Englishwoman six months. All are exactly alike."
"Why, the kindest thing one can do to a native is to let him die," said Mrs. Callendar.Despite their countrymen's disapproval, Miss Quested, Mrs. Moore, and Mr. Fielding are all eager to meet Indians, and in Dr. Aziz they find a perfect companion: educated, westernized, and open-minded. Slowly, the friendships ripen, especially between Aziz and Fielding. Having created the possibility of esteem based on trust and mutual affection, Forster then subjects it to the crucible of racial hatred: during a visit to the famed Marabar caves, Miss Quested accuses Dr. Aziz of sexually assaulting her, then later recants during the frenzied trial that follows. Under such circumstances, affection proves to be a very fragile commodity indeed.
"How if he went to heaven?" asked Mrs. Moore, with a gentle but crooked smile.
"He can go where he likes as long as he doesn't come near me. They give me the creeps."
Arguably Forster's greatest novel, A Passage to India limns a troubling portrait of colonialism at its worst, and is remarkable for the complexity of its characters. Here the personal becomes the political and in the breach between Aziz and his English "friends," Forster foreshadows the eventual end of the Raj. --Alix Wilber
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