The impetus for Forster to travel was a friendship he had formed in suburban Surrey. Peter told us that comparison of these fiction and non-fiction writings revealed the fascinating differences relating to Forster's sexual life and views about independence which he revealed to trusted correspondents, while reserving a much more cautious version for his more widely-shared writings. Text B contains various undated early drafts and alternate versions while a third group of materials, labelled C, includes miscellaneous materials. By then, the political situation was much more febrile and pro-independence than before the war. Work then seems to have stalled until Forster was able to return between 19. One follows Forster's stay in India in 1912-13, is distinguishable by being written in green ink, and covers roughly the first seven chapters. Text A is the published version of the novel which includes different periods of work.

The Forster Papers, held at King’s College Cambridge, contain factual accounts of the visits, including semi-public and confidential letters, journals and diaries. Peter told us A Passage to India is unique among Forster's novels for its relationship to his non-fiction writing.

They are Forster's homosexual relationships with members of the Indian servant class, and increasing momentum in that country towards political independence. This material also reveals significant gaps in the published narrative some parts of the story provoked profound discomfort in British society at that time. Peter Jones, Fellow-Librarian at Kings College, followed up his earlier lecture on Leonard Woolf with a discussion of how archive material relating to A Passage to India sheds light on Forster's personal and political understanding of India. It gives a fictionalised account of his time there – but this account, as we learned from this lecture, is a long way from being the full story. Lecture by Peter Jones, King’s College, Cambridge, 5 June 2021 Blog post by Lisa HutchinsĪ Passage to India (1924) draws extensively on Edward Morgan Forster's experiences of living in India during two extended trips made around a decade apart. Forster, A Passage to India: Ends of Empire.

A passage to india by em forster