#38 Howards End, by E.M. Forester ~~ Part 1 of 2

Me and my book in my office.

I.LOVE.THIS.BOOK!

Really There’s not much else to say at this point. I adore this book. First published in 1910, ‘Howards End’ takes a unabashed look at the English class system at the turn of the century with all its faults, foibles and joys. I find myself reluctant to write about it because nothing I can say is as good as the book itself. I just want everyone to sit down and read it.

So I’ll talk about some other stuff first. I think the most noteworthy thing to mention is that this book is #38 on the list. In a previous post about ‘Under the Net’ I commented on being tired of reading the same character over and over again in different books and I wasn’t just considering putting ‘Under the Net’ aside, but also considering no longer following the order of books.

As intrigued as I am with the next book on the list – ‘Wide Sargasso Sea’, I wasn't sure I really wanted to read it, yet. Even though the main character is a woman, she’s a woman on the brink of madness, likely driven there by her husband. The potential for the husband character to be similar to the men dominating the previous novels gave me a bad.

So I took a look at the 100 list and made a short list of the titles that appealed. They were: ‘Kim’, by Rudyard Kipling; ‘Howards End’, by E.M. Forester; ‘1984’, by George Orwell; and ‘Passage to India’ also by E.M Forester. The winner was ‘Howards End’.

I'll admit that I actually thought I was getting the story of ‘Remains of the Day’ in the ‘Howards End’ book and I recall the same thing occurring when I rented the movie ‘Howards End’. Both movies star Emma Thomson, who I love and Sir Anthony Hopkins (who is also awesome), so it's easy enough to get confused. (Even the movie posters sort of look the same.)

No matter, they are both wonderful stories. As soon as I saw a reference to The Miss Schelegels, I knew which story I was getting into.

E.M. Forester's writing is amazing, like Iris Murdoch, he has the ability to create delicious details with a few choice words. He describes a cold snowy day as tasting like cold pennies, (pg. 84) and I just adore that.

The story revolves around 3 groups of Characters; The Wilcox’s, who own Howards End (their country home), The Schelegel Sisters, and Mr. Leonard Bast.

The Wilcox’s are rich and traditionally British in their beliefs about the class system. They are stereotypical in their admonishing of intellect. Mr. Wilcox is a gentleman and as such has no need to sully his hands with labour and therefore has no need of an education beyond what he needs to know to capitalize on capitalism. (haha, I crack myself up)

I find this mindset fascinating. In this traditional setting the rich are the least intelligent (or appear to be) and look condescendingly on anyone with an education, or people who want a better understanding of the world.

The Schelegel Sisters, Margaret and Helen, are "cosmopolitan", they are well to do financially and choose to use their leisure time going to concerts and engaging in philosophical debates.

During a trip to the continent they meet and befriend the Wilcox’s, who, while uncomfortable with the Schelegels desire for knowledge and their paternal German heritage, see them as the 'same class' and therefore become friends. The story begins with a misunderstanding between the two families, which is quickly set to rights and though none of the characters seem especially like each other, yet they remain politely in contact as ‘good society’ does.

Soon Margaret Schelegel and Ruth Wilcox, the matron of the family, end up in what might almost be a close friendship. The result of this plays out in a curious and somewhat uncomfortable way. When Mrs. Wilcox dies unexpectedly she requests that the house, Howards End, be given to Margaret Schelegel. The Wilcox family promptly ignores this request.

Meanwhile there's Mr. Bast, who is poor yet comes to the attention of the Schelegel sisters at a concert. Helen inadvertently leaves with Mr. Bast’s umbrella and Margaret invites him to their house to retrieve it. This incident is quickly forgotten until, months later, Mrs. Bast shows up on the sister’s doorstep looking for her husband.

This sets a series of relationships in motion. These are odd relationships because of the differences in the characters class “A little mistake, we tried knowing another class – impossible.” (pg. 148)

I’m not entirely sure how Mr. Bast will reappear later in the story. Most of the story revolves around the relationships between the Wilcox’s and Schelegels and the constant foreshadowing of who will end up with Howard’s End in the end.

And even though I’ve seen the movie I can’t remember how it all turns out in the end. In fact, there are a couple of turns in the story that were a surprise to me and I didn’t remember at all. I like that.

Meanwhile, totally changing the subject, after picking up ‘Howards End’ at the Library I happened to go to an AMAZING second hand book store in West Vancouver, BC called “The Ambleside Book Barn” (no website) where I picked up a copy of ‘Remains’ of the Day’, by Kazuo Ishiguro. Weird coincidence?

I also bought ‘Passage to India’, a new-to-me copy of ‘Memoirs of a Geisha’ by, Arthur Golden (I’ve given up of my sister ever returning the copy I lent here years ago) and ‘Mr. Baggin’s’ by John D. Rateliff, which is a history of the writing of ‘The Hobbit’. SWEET!

I will never have free time again.


Part 2 on it's way...

`