Table Of ContentE.M. Forster and the
Politics Imperialism
Mohammad Shaheen
E. M. Forster and the Politics of Imperialism
Also by this author and published by Palgrave Macmillan
THE MODERN ARABIC SHORT STORY
E. M. Forster and the
Politics of Imperialism
Mohammad Shaheen
© Mohammad Shaheen 2004
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2004 978-0-333-74136-8
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Shaheen,Mohammad
E.M.Forster and the politics of imperialism/Mohammad Shaheen.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1.Forster,E.M.(Edward Morgan),1879–1970–Political and social views.
2.Politics and literature–Great Britain–History–20th century.3.Political
fiction,English–History and criticism.4.Imperialism in literature.I.Title.
PR6011.O58Z8415 2004
823(cid:2).912—dc22 2003060860
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03
For Patrick Parrinder
And my patriotism which is very steady is loyalty to the place where
I happen to belong. It doesn’t go further. The idea that my nation is better
than someone else’s never occurs to me.
Forster, ‘Three Countries’
What is crucial to such a vision of the future is the belief that we must not
merely change the narratives of our histories, but transform our sense of
what it means to live, to be, in other times and different places, both
human and historical.
Homi Bhabha, The Location of Culture
Contents
Foreword ix
Acknowledgements xi
Abbreviations and References xiii
Introduction 1
1 Person and Persona in the Portrait of Imperialism 9
2 ‘Hassan in England’: a Western Room with an
Oriental View 23
3 Forster’s Debate on ‘Kipling Is Not Literature’ 31
4 Forster Writes to the Empire and Salutes the Orient:
a Passage through Egypt 58
5 Beyond the Mediterranean Human Norm: the
Politics of Liberal Humanism in Retreat 75
6 Burra’s Introduction and Beyond: a Detour
Round the Floods 113
7 Forster’s Politics in Said’s Culture and Imperialism:
a Modern Debate 134
Conclusion 159
Appendices
1 The Government of Egypt 171
2 Forster’s Fictitious Letter to Mohammed El-Adle 184
3 ‘The horror, the horror’ 188
4 Unpublished Conversation with E. M. Forster 191
vii
viii Contents
Notes 193
Bibliography 202
Index 206
Foreword
During the twentieth century, the reputation of E. M. Forster varied
between the very favourable reception accorded to his early novels
and an attitude, still current, in which his novel A Passage to Indiais
seen as head and shoulders above the others – and regarded by many
as being his masterpiece.
At the same time, Forster’s achievement in that novel has been a
matter of disagreement. When it first appeared, in 1924, it was
thought of by most readers primarily as embodying a political state-
ment and for that reason was met both by vilification from support-
ers of the British Empire and by approval from those who questioned
the legitimacy of Britain’s role there. With the publication of further
criticism, however – especially Peter Burra’s – readers began to appre-
ciate further qualities in the novel, including its imagery, its symbol-
ism and even its ‘rhythm’. Such new approaches were endorsed by
the fact that Forster himself voiced approval of Burra’s account, with
the result that the political element was in danger of being ignored.
Yet that continued to attract attention from writers such as G. K. Das
(in E. M. Forster’s India) and Benita Parry (in her Delusions and
Discoveries: Studies on India in the British Imagination 1880–1930). The
question of the exact nature of the achievement remains moot.
In presenting his new approach, Professor Shaheen, who himself
met Forster on various occasions during his stay in King’s College,
Cambridge, some years ago, brings further considerations to bear. He
draws attention to the way in which the Muslim element in
APassage to Indiatends to be ignored or played down, in spite of the
fact that the first section is entitled ‘Mosque’ and that the novel as a
whole was inspired by, and dedicated to, Forster’s Muslim friend Syed
Ross Masood. He also draws fuller attention to the years that Forster
spent in Egypt between his two periods of work on Passage, which
were of considerable importance for his own thought and attitudes,
and the extent of his anti-imperialism during that period. While
sympathetic to some statements in Edward Said’s Culture and
Imperialism, he dissents from Said’s inclusion of Forster among those
ix
