"Only Connect," Forster's key aphorism, informs this novel about an English country house, Howards End, and its influence on the lives of the wealthy and materialistic Wilcoxes; the cultured, idealistic Schlegel sisters; and the poor bank clerk Leonard Bast. Bringing together people from different classes and nations by way of sympathetic insight and understanding, Howards End eloquently addresses the question "Who shall inherit England?" (Lionel Trilling).
Howards End
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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. As she contemplates the state of Wilcox's soul, her remedy for what ails him has become one of the most oft-quoted passages in literature:
Only connect! That was the whole of her sermon. Only connect the prose and the passion and both will be exalted, and human love will be seen at its height. Live in fragments no longer.Like all of Forster's work, Howards End concerns itself with class, nationality, economic status, and how each of these affects personal 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.
Forster's 1910 novel begins as a collection of seemingly unrelated events--Helen's impulsive engagement to Paul Wilcox; a chance meeting between the Schlegel sisters and an impoverished clerk named Leonard Bast at a concert; a casual conversation between the sisters and Henry Wilcox in London one night. But as it moves along, these disparate threads gradually knit into a tightly woven fabric of tragic misunderstandings, impulsive actions, and irreparable consequences, and, eventually, connection. Though set in the early years of the 20th century, Howards End seems even more suited to our own fragmented era of e-mails and anger. For readers living in such an age, the exhortation to "only connect" resonates ever more profoundly. --Alix Wilber --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Review
With a new Introduction by James Ivory
Commentary by Virginia Woolf, Lionel Trilling, Malcolm Bradbury, and Joseph Epstein
"Howards End is a classic English novel . . . superb and wholly cherishable . . . one that admirers have no trouble reading over and over again," said Alfred Kazin.
First published in 1910, Howards End is the novel that earned E. M. Forster recognition as a major writer. At its heart lie two families—the wealthy and business-minded Wilcoxes and the cultured and idealistic Schlegels. When the beautiful and independent Helen Schlegel begins an impetuous affair with the ardent Paul Wilcox, a series of events is sparked—some very funny, some very tragic—that results in a dispute over who will inherit Howards End, the Wilcoxes' charming country home. As much about the clash between individual wills as the clash between the sexes and the classes, Howards End is a novel whose central tenet, "Only connect," remains a powerful prescription for modern life.
"Howards End is undoubtedly Forster's masterpiece; it develops to their full the themes and attitudes of [his] early books and throws back upon them a new and enhancing light," wrote the critic Lionel Trilling.
Commentary by Virginia Woolf, Lionel Trilling, Malcolm Bradbury, and Joseph Epstein
"Howards End is a classic English novel . . . superb and wholly cherishable . . . one that admirers have no trouble reading over and over again," said Alfred Kazin.
First published in 1910, Howards End is the novel that earned E. M. Forster recognition as a major writer. At its heart lie two families—the wealthy and business-minded Wilcoxes and the cultured and idealistic Schlegels. When the beautiful and independent Helen Schlegel begins an impetuous affair with the ardent Paul Wilcox, a series of events is sparked—some very funny, some very tragic—that results in a dispute over who will inherit Howards End, the Wilcoxes' charming country home. As much about the clash between individual wills as the clash between the sexes and the classes, Howards End is a novel whose central tenet, "Only connect," remains a powerful prescription for modern life.
"Howards End is undoubtedly Forster's masterpiece; it develops to their full the themes and attitudes of [his] early books and throws back upon them a new and enhancing light," wrote the critic Lionel Trilling.
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First Sentence
E. M. Forster was thirty-one when Howards End appeared on October 18, 1910. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
E. M. Forster was thirty-one when Howards End appeared on October 18, 1910. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
By Debra Purdy Kong
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback
Sisters Margaret and Helen Schlegel are leading fairly conventional lives in London until a couple of events begins to change things in ways none of them can imagine. It starts with Helen's short visit to the very proper, upper-class family named Wilcox, and the recovery of an umbrella belonging to a clerk named Leonard Bast. How these three families' lives intertwine over a period of time is at the heart of this intriguing story.
Howards End is the third E.M. Forster I've read, and the best book so far. It's been interesting to read his novels in the order they were written, as Forster's development as a writer clearly shows. Each book creates a more intriguing, multi-layered story. Character development is better, as is the author's finesse with narrative. Those who've read my earlier reviews of Forster's work know I wasn't impressed. I still don't like Forster's style of stopping the story to tell us something about the social condition, or the subtext of relationships, so I skimmed through those parts. I have two more Forster novels on my to-be-read pile. I look forward to seeing how far his skills evolved.
Howards End is the third E.M. Forster I've read, and the best book so far. It's been interesting to read his novels in the order they were written, as Forster's development as a writer clearly shows. Each book creates a more intriguing, multi-layered story. Character development is better, as is the author's finesse with narrative. Those who've read my earlier reviews of Forster's work know I wasn't impressed. I still don't like Forster's style of stopping the story to tell us something about the social condition, or the subtext of relationships, so I skimmed through those parts. I have two more Forster novels on my to-be-read pile. I look forward to seeing how far his skills evolved.
By Daffy Bibliophile
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback
This is the first work of E. M. Forster that I've read and I look forward to reading more. "Howards End" is a not just a wonderfully told story, but also a sociological statement. Set in the first decade of the twentieth century, the story centres around three families: the Schlegel sisters (Margaret and Helen), the Wilcox family and the Basts. The Schlegels represent the established aristocracy, that class concerned with art and not so concerned with money since they always have enough. The Wilcox family represents the bourgeois class, the class that makes money and makes empires. The Basts are the working poor, who suffer at the hands of the upper classes even when those classes mean well. Finished just four years prior to the start of World War I, "Howards End" also reflects the growing tensions between England and Germany, the Schlegel sisters having had a German father.
All in all, I really enjoyed this novel. It was very easy to get caught up in the characters and the plot and, at the same time, understand the underlying message of social and political tension that Forster must have felt in his time. Forster seems to have disliked certain aspects of the change that he saw in England, perhaps he was just a bit prescient. This passage from "Howards End" caught my eye:
"London was but a foretaste of this nomadic civilization which is altering human nature so profoundly, and throws upon personal relations a stress greater than they have ever borne before."
Home is where the hearth is, but what if there is no hearth? But Howards End had a hearth and that home had history as well, perhaps the house, Howards End, and what it represented, was the real message that Forster wanted to leave with his readers.
I highly recommend this novel.
All in all, I really enjoyed this novel. It was very easy to get caught up in the characters and the plot and, at the same time, understand the underlying message of social and political tension that Forster must have felt in his time. Forster seems to have disliked certain aspects of the change that he saw in England, perhaps he was just a bit prescient. This passage from "Howards End" caught my eye:
"London was but a foretaste of this nomadic civilization which is altering human nature so profoundly, and throws upon personal relations a stress greater than they have ever borne before."
Home is where the hearth is, but what if there is no hearth? But Howards End had a hearth and that home had history as well, perhaps the house, Howards End, and what it represented, was the real message that Forster wanted to leave with his readers.
I highly recommend this novel.
By lunacharskii
Format:Paperback
As fond as I am of this novel I cannot recommend this particular paperback Vintage edition. In a work so meticulous and richly crafted as _Howards End_, it's more than a little jarring to stumble across typos and spelling errors in the text. A handsome and attractive volume, such as we've all come to expect from Vintage, but those typos are really unforgivable. By all means read the book, but opt for a different edition.
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4.2 out of 5 stars
Most recent customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Surprisingly good, uniquely wise
I expected Jane Austen and got a very pleasant surprise. Forster uses his characters and their relationships and a launching pad for more philosophical and sociological... Read more
Published on April 2 2002 by William Krischke
4.0 out of 5 stars
a pretty, often dull, stale little tragedy
Perhaps that is too harsh, for Howard's End truly is a beautiful book. It is sharp and cunning and written with craft and texture in unearthing the suppressed emotions of its... Read more
Published on Feb 4 2002 by asphlex
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Question of Class
Howards End is a realistic picture of Edwardian England, blemishes and all. Forster successfully depicted the environment of his society few authors could. Read more
Published on Jan 29 2002 by Readaholic
5.0 out of 5 stars
Cuture Clash
More than a piece of England, Howards End -- the place-- can be seen as a metaphor of the world, and all the people who somehow are related to it, are examples of real human... Read more
Published on Dec 21 2001 by A. T. A. Oliveira
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the all-time classics
Forster's earliest fictional writings were short stories, many of them fantasies about men and women who wanted to escape, from the stuffy social milieu that hemmed them in - from... Read more
Published on Dec 3 2001 by F. G. Hamer
5.0 out of 5 stars
the tale of two sisters
Is it my obsession with Jane Austen or do the sisters in Howards End really have many things in common with those in Sense and Sensibility? Read more
Published on Nov 17 2001 by ex nihilo
5.0 out of 5 stars
Classic novel.
E.M. Forster is a master of prose. It is important to emphasize "prose" rather than language, because Forster, for all his lyricism, never confuses prose with poetry as... Read more
Published on Nov 8 2001 by Fan of Fred Williamson
4.0 out of 5 stars
Better Than the Movie
Surprise--better than the movie. I don't like this sort of movie much, but the book is fabulous.
Published on Oct 1 2001 by "sielaff68"
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great novel and a great heroine for all time
Don't let the negative reviewers fool you! The worst they can say of Howards End, a period piece with timeless connotations, is that the charachters "aren't especially... Read more
Published on April 2 2001
5.0 out of 5 stars
Forster's Masterpiece
The country home called Howards End IS England...and Forster, through this novel, sets out to determine who shall inherit it. Read more
Published on Dec 2 2000 by Susan Sorenson
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