em forster .de

Message Board

:start::message board:
Start
Biography
Pictures
Writings
Bibliography

Board
Links
Quiz
Numbers
Guestbook
Further Notices
 

Rooks Nest/ Howards End

Posted by Jo (62.30.112.2) on :16:05:08 17/11/02

hi, i'm writing an essay on Howards End, and the importance of family and the home. i need help putting in historical context. the only thing i can think of is rooks nest, but i dont really know what to say about it. anyone have any ideas?

Family in Howards End

Posted by Alexandra (132.206.199.181) on :15:46:19 18/11/02

Depending on your access to resources, you might want to look up an essay called "E. M. Forster's prophetic vision of the modern family in Howards End" by Jeane Olson. It can be found in Texas Studies in Literature & Language, fall 1993 vol 35. Basically, it discusses Forster's dissatisfaction with the traditional form of family life, and suggests that the final chapter of HEnd proposes a new kind of equality-based family (not founded on $ or class, or maybe even gender)......

Rooks Nest

Posted by Laura (board editor) on 15:26:39 28/11/02

Hi Jo,

If you want to know more about Rooks Nest House and Forster's time there, you can look it up in Furbank's biography 'E.M. Forster: A Life'. Good libraries do have a copy of this. If you like a more detailed study of Rooks Nest, there's this very interesting book (which I happened to recommend in a posting below) that might be very useful: 'Forster Country' by Margaret Ashby. Excellently written, it deals with the history of Rooks Nest and the surrounding area. Published by Flaunden Press. It features many photographs and a detailed description of Forster's connections - both when he lived there from age 4-14 and in his later life when he met the composer who then lived there and invited him over. Really interesting! What might also interest you is Nicola Beauman's idea (I don't know if this is in any book, she said it in a lecture during a conference earlier this year) that Forster was so preoccupied with houses in his novels because he had felt throughout his life the loss of Rooks Nest, having to leave it so much against his will. Forster himself once said that having to leave Rooks Nest shaped his life very much (also in a positive sense perhaps). Good luck.

something about maurice

Posted by carmen (62.98.225.162) on 23:03:42 30/03/03

hi, i m carmen and i should write an essay on "maurice"; the attention is on homosexality and institutions in the period in which the book was written.if someone could help me to find critical books and essays about this theme... thank u so much!

where is rooks nest?

Posted by russell norman (213.40.4.190) on :23:04:02 18/05/03

can anyone tell me exactly where to find the house?

thank you

Rooks Nest House

Posted by Laura (board editor) on 21:41:39 23/05/03

Hi Russell,

The house can be found in Stevenage, in the county of Hertfordshire in the U.K. It's in the north of the town (close to what they call the 'Old Town') in an area that is actually called Rooks Nest. The Stevenage Museum might help you out to find it, I've been there but it's hard to explain without looking at a map together. At the museum they should be able to help you. You can find the museum close to the shopping centre of Stevenage, starting from Booths (with your face toward the shop) one has to turn the first street left and at the end of that you can see the museum on your right, across the motorway. Well, I hope this does help somewhat - it took me hours to find the house the first time and I think going to the museum might spare you that. Good luck and have fun! It's a lovely place. But please remember that it's privately owned and not open to the public or anything. (Maybe you should join the Friends of the Forster Country - they do have events there sometimes in the garden).

Laura

P.S. Rooks Nest House

Posted by Laura (board editor) on 11:42:14 25/05/03

P.S.

There's a mistake in the description: if one faces Booths one has to walk to the RIGHT and then take the first turn left. The museum also sells some Forster books and Forster-related books. A few years ago the Tourist Information Office did not know how to direct people to the house, but the Friends of the Forster Country has corrected that situation after complaints by the public. The TIO is also in the centre of Stevenage.

howards end

Posted by lawts (212.85.6.26) on 11:51:55 21/11/03


pleas i need to write an essay on social class and tension between men and women in the novel


Name:

Email (optional):

Subject:

Message:

Confirm:

Please type in this code: 621a
 

Main Board


 
Printer-friendly
Search this site

In Association with Amazon.co.uk

Back | Start | Biography | Pictures | Writings | Bibliography | Message Board | Links | Quiz | Numbers | Guestbook | Further Notices
©, 2000-2016, Aspects of E.M. Forster <http://emforster.de/>