Adaptation, Inspiration, Dialogue: E.M. Forster and His Oeuvre in Contemporary Culture
Adaptation, Inspiration, Dialogue: E.M. Forster and His Oeuvre in Contemporary Culture Krzysztof Fordoński University of Warsaw Abstract The article aims at charting the position of Edward Morgan Forster and his works in contemporary English language culture. It presents various forms of adaptations of or responses to the works of Forster, concentrating on those which have been created since the writer’s death in 1970. The discussed material consists of approximately one hundred instances of various works of art related in a number of ways to Forster’s oeuvre and biography: adaptations, works inspired by Forster’s oeuvre or biography, and, finally, works which enter into a dialogue with Forster and his views. Radio plays, operas, plays, movies, musicals, comic books, concept albums, etc. have been included as well. The paper also touches upon Forster’s reception among scholars and in political journal- ism. The paper is supplemented with lists of various adaptations. Keywords: E.M. Forster, culture, literature, opera, musical, television, film, theatre, adaptation, adaptation studies 12 Krzysztof Fordoński The works of E.M. Forster have played an important role in the English-speaking world and beyond it1 ever since his position was first generally recognised after the publication of Howards End in 1910.2 Forster’s presence was originally felt the most clearly through his literary works, namely novels and short stories. Yet, with the passage of time, he began to exert influence also as a reviewer, an essayist, and a radio broadcaster. Artists – at first fellow novelists but gradually also playwrights, composers, graphic artists, and others – found in Forster’s oeuvre and life a greatly various source of creative inspiration which continues to be fruitful fifty years after the writer’s death.
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