A Room with a View

Forster, E. M. (Edward Morgan), 1879-1970Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.5

Word count: 376K words
Chapters: 38

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.A Room with a View by E. M. ForsterAuthor: Forster, E. M. (Edward Morgan), 1879-1970,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: May 1, 2001

Editor's review

A Room with a View is a light, rewarding novel by E. M. Forster, centering on a young Englishwoman's chance encounter while traveling in Florence and weaving romantic choice together with class, upbringing, and self-knowledge. Forster's prose is clear and ironic, his dialogue quick-witted, and his gentle teasing of English middle-class reserve and hypocrisy plentiful. The Italian scenes contrast with the English countryside, serving both as travelogue and as occasion for inner loosening. As a public-domain e-book, it suits readers new to English literature or courses on the late nineteenth-century English novel. Watch for subtle shifts in the narrator's attitude toward characters, and you'll glimpse Forster's idea of "round characters." It is short, evenly paced, and well suited to a journey or a quiet afternoon.

Who it's for

A good fit for

General readers who enjoy classic English fiction and love stories
Self-learners who want to read English literature in the original and sharpen their language sense
Readers interested in Forster's work and his idea of "round characters"
Teachers and students needing public-domain English fiction materials

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer strong plots and fast-paced narratives
Readers with weak English who need editions with Chinese notes
Those with little interest in class and manners

Reading tips

Read through the story once, then return to the narrator's subtle shifts in attitude toward characters
Compare the Italian and English settings to observe how environment drives characters' choices
When reading the English original, mark passages of dialogue to appreciate Forster's irony and humor

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book suitable for English beginners?

Not really for complete beginners. The original is an early twentieth-century English novel with fairly difficult sentence patterns and vocabulary, plus period expressions in the dialogue. It is best attempted with intermediate or higher reading ability, or after reading a Chinese translation to become familiar with the plot.

What is the novel mainly about, and is it dull?

It is about a young woman facing choices between love and class expectations while traveling. The tone is light and the dialogue quick-witted, not dull. Forster's irony is gentle and precise, often prompting a smile, and it suits readers who enjoy nuanced character portrayals.

What should I note about the public-domain e-book edition?

The Gutenberg edition is a public-domain English e-book, easy to obtain and search, but it usually has no modern notes or introduction. Readers may want to prepare background material or consult an annotated print edition to reduce difficulties caused by the period setting.

Comments

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About the author

Forster, E. M. (Edward Morgan), 1879-1970 Author

E. M. Forster (Edward Morgan Forster, 1879–1970) was a British novelist and essayist. The collection here holds eight of his works, including the novels Howards End, A Room with a View, Where Angels Fear to Tread, and The Longest Journey, the story collections The Celestial Omnibus, and Other Stories and The Story of the Siren, as well as the non-fiction Alexandria: A History and a Guide. His fiction chiefly examines personal relationships, class differences, and emotional restraint in English upper-middle-class society, with an understated style that blends irony and warmth and often turns on a character's inner awakening. Public information is limited, so biographical details and honors are not discussed here; the works at hand show him equally at home in fiction and in historical and geographical writing, and they are still widely read today.