Sanırım ilk defa bir öykü kitabına tam puan veriyorum. Forster'dan okuduğum ikinci kitap bu. İlk okuduğum kitabından kat be kat daha fazla etkilendim. Yetkinliği henüz Türkiye'de ciddiye alınır durumda değil. Fakat okuduğum en mükemmel yazarlardan birisi bu adam.

Too deep for me.

Interesting

Unfortunately modern authors can no longer write like this .But they could lean a lot by going back and re-reading some of these stories.

Poignant, compelling stories which I deeply appreciated in my misspent youth in an English, Protestant galaxy far, far away. But changing galaxies changes everything and these days these great English Protestant writers seem to have nothing like the poignancy and pathos I find in say …

http://corjesusacratissimum.org/2009/...

Prior to reading these short stories by E. M. Forster, I'd only been familiar with his work through watching "A Room with a View" all those years ago. I wasn't sure what to expect from these stories (a gift from a friend). In the end, I would say that the author's approach was part whimsy, part oddity. My two favorites were the story about the curate who meets a faun ("The Curate's Friend") and the story in which a young boy takes a bus ride to heaven ("The Celestial Omnibus"). The others were enjoyable to read, but in some cases I finished them feeling puzzled. Not that puzzlement is a bad thing; it can make any tale more memorable! All in all, I'm quite happy with my introduction to Forster. I'll definitely look for more in future. P.S., the thumbnail photo says the book is by Nesbit (error!) but it's a nice photo, so I'll forgive you, Goodreads.

E.M. Forster seemed to live and write like an electron in a region bordered by a semi-permeable membrane. Characters that can free themselves sufficiently from the hectic, cynical and ironic world are drawn through, they break on through to the other side.

The stories in this collection belong together. An old man, as weary as ancient Oedipus, has the scales fall briefly from his eyes while in a cool shaded glen in Greece in "The road From Colonus." A young boy, ignored and ridiculed by his parents who might at best think him cute, but never take him seriously, seeks a ride on "The Celestial Omnibus". In similar fashion a man relentlessly jostling for position on the rat race course of life manages to briefly pierce a barrier in "The Other Side of the Hedge".

So I am a sucker for this kind of Secret Garden tale, the concept of a welcoming realm free of backbiting and Trump having enormous appeal. In "The Other Kingdom" a young woman engaged to a wealthy landowner is lectured on the evils of impertinence. Her reply is,
"'Impertinence is nothing!' she cried. "It doesn't exist. It's a sham like 'claims" and 'positions' and 'rights'. It's part of of the great dream.'"

"She danced away from our society and our life, back, back through the centuries till houses and fences fell and the earth lay wild to the sun."

Derision, so rampant now on the Internet, is addressed by Forster in "The Road From Colonus". An elderly Englishman is having perhaps the most mystical and meaningful moment of his life, sitting alone in a hollow tree in a wooded glen. His daughter is typical of the many uptight, sick characters whose derisive assaults those of us who are dreamers (I'm not the only one) are constantly subject to. Her comment as she sees her father succeeding in breaking out of his life which is defined by age, responsibilities and annoyances, is withering and cruel, "Why, here's papa, playing at being Merlin."

In these early short stories Forster is already going out on a limb, rejecting societal norms in favor of the Eternal Yes, as he would put it in a later novel. Hope and strength abound in these stories. Through more than a hundred years, he affirms that we can fight and successfully rise above derision, judgement and fear. He affirms that there are pathways that lead through an accepted and partly self-constructed barrier, to the "kingdom regained". E. M. would have skanked to Bob Marley when he sang:

"But if you know what life is worth, You would look for yours on Earth
And now you see the light, You stand up for your rights, Jah"

Awesome set of short stories. All are chock full of allusions to and lessons from Greek mythology, reframed for modern-ish eyes. My favorites were The Story of a Panic and The Celestial Omnibus; both had mad Peter Pan vibes.

I actually only read the Celestial Omnibus, not the other stories. I read it online, and it makes quite an amazing statement on the power of story! So much symbolism and truth in this tale. Reminds me of the Stratford Caldecott quote, "To be enchanted by story is to be granted a deeper insight into reality."

bizzare

Relato de 25 páginas en el que Forster vuelca su amor por la literatura haciendo apología de la libertad individual para amarla, llegando a ella desde el espíritu, a la vez que desprecia a quienes se las dan de eruditos y solo la aprecian como instrumento intelectual y de prestigio. No le doy más puntos por el final, que no me ha convencido

This is a really good short story with really interesting science fiction elements

There is a certain dry coolness to these stories, perhaps due to the unflappable calm of the Englishman. But even an Englishman can be blown off his pins by the inexplicable. So a sullen young boy, moody and withdrawn, is infected or possessed with the spirit of an ancient Grecian god and goes running into the wilderness; a smug man loses his fiancé to a woodland glade and a boy is captivated and amused by Achilles.

The ordinary jumps the tracks in a way that seems plausible and yet decidedly queer. Such is the subtle delight of the stories in this slim anthology.