Set in early 1900s Italy and England, A Room with a View offers a humorous critique of Edwardian-era society. The novel begins in Florence, Italy, where Miss Lucy Honeychurch, who is chaperoned by her spinster cousin Miss Charlotte Bartlett, arrive at the Pensione Bertolini to find that instead of rooms with a view of the Arno, as promised, theirs face a drab courtyard. Another guest spontaneously offers to swap the rooms that he and his son have to remedy their distress. Thus ensues an unlikely acquaintance and a series of unforeseen, if not fateful, events that upend the lives of the eccentric cast of characters who vividly animate this enduring and delightful tale. Widely recognized as one of the finest novels of the twentieth century, A Room with a View is one of Forster’s most celebrated works.
This Warbler Classics edition includes a thought-provoking and historically interesting essay about E. M. Forster’s work by legendary contemporary critic and American public intellectual Lionel Trilling along with a detailed biographical timeline.
Cuprins
Contents
PART I
Chapter 1. The Bertolini3
Chapter 2. In Santa Croce with No Baedeker13
Chapter 3. Music, Violets, and the Letter ‘S’25
Chapter 4. Fourth Chapter33
Chapter 5. Possibilities of a Pleasant Outing39
Chapter 6. The Reverend Arthur Beebe, The Reverend Cuthbert Eager, Mr. Emerson, Mr. George Emerson, Miss Eleanor Lavish, Miss Charlotte Bartlett, and Miss Lucy Honeychurch Drive Out in Carriages to See a View; Italians Drive Them49
Chapter 7. They Return58
PART II
Chapter 8. Mediæval69
Chapter 9. Lucy as a Work of Art81
Chapter 10. Cecil as a Humourist93
Chapter 11. In Mrs. Vyse’s Well-Appointed Flat 101
Chapter 12. Twelfth Chapter106
Chapter 13. How Miss Bartlett’s Boiler Was So Tiresome115
Chapter 14. How Lucy Faced the External Situation Bravely 122
Chapter 15. The Disaster Within127
Chapter 16. Lying to George138
Chapter 17. Lying to Cecil145
Chapter 18. Lying to Mr. Beebe, Mrs. Honeychurch, Freddy, and the Servants 150
Chapter 19. Lying to Mr. Emerson 163
Chapter 20. The End of the Middle Ages 176
E. M. Forster by Lionel Trilling181
Biographical Timeline193
Despre autor
Lionel Trilling (1905-1975) was an American literary critic, short story writer, essayist, and one of the leading public intellectuals of the twentieth century. His book, E. M. Forster (1943) provides a complex study of Forster’s work for an American audience.