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Howards End (Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism)
Howards End - Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism Author:E. M. Forster Margaret Schlegel, engaged to the much older, widowed Henry Wilcox, meets her intended the morning after accepting his proposal and realizes that he is a man who has lived without introspection or true self-knowledge. Like all of Forster's work, Howards End concerns itself with class, nationality, economic status, and how each of these affects p... more »ersonal relationships. It follows the intertwined fortunes of the Schlegel sisters, Margaret and Helen, and the Wilcox family over the course of several years. The Schlegels are intellectuals, devotees of art and literature. The Wilcoxes, on the other hand, can't be bothered with the life of the mind or the heart, leading, instead, outer lives of "telegrams and anger" that foster "such virtues as neatness, decision, and obedience, virtues of the second rank, no doubt, but they have formed our civilization." Helen, after a brief flirtation with one of the Wilcox sons, has developed an antipathy for the family; Margaret, however, forms a brief but intense friendship with Mrs. Wilcox, which is cut short by the older woman's death. When her family discovers a scrap of paper requesting that Henry give their home, Howards End, to Margaret, it precipitates a spiritual crisis among them that will take years to resolve.
This edition of Forster's classic novel reprints the authoritative text of the 1973 Abinger Edition together with five critical essays--all newly prepared for a student audience--that read Howards End from five contemporary critical perspectives:
-Psychoanalytic Criticism by J. H. Stape
-Cultural Criticism by Peter Widdowson
-Feminist and Gender Criticism by Elizabeth Langland
-Marxist Criticism by Judith Weissman
-Deconstruction by J. Hillis Miller
Each critical essay is accompanied by a succinct introduction to the history, principles, and practice of the critical perspective and by a bibliography that promotes further exploration of that approach.
In addition, the text and essays are complemented by an introduction providing biographical and historical contexts for Forster and Howards End, a survey of critical responses to the work since its initial publication, and a glossary of critical and theoretical terms.« less