Forster's continuing popularity as a writer can be attributed to many aspects of his work: first of all, his novels always are a good and pleasurable read - subtle, ironic and highly entertaining. Secondly, the opulent film adaptations of his texts, however nostalgic, have introduced his works to a present-day audience and thus inspired ongoing debates about our modernist heritage. Lastly and most significantly for our purposes, however, his novels display a wide range of topics, from class and social change (in Howards End), to colonialism, imperialism and orientalism (in A Passage to India), and on to gender and sexuality (in Maurice). Therefore, Forster's texts present themselves as the perfect vehicle for discussions that aim to trace the origins of many of today's social debates and to engage in a historical dialogue between the present and the past.

Please buy and read:
Forster, E.M. Howards End. 1910. London: Penguin, 2000.
Forster, E.M. Maurice. 1971. London: Penguin, 2005.
Forster, E.M. A Passage to India. 1924. London: Penguin, 2005
Forster, E.M. A Room with a View. 1908. London: Penguin, 2000.

Please buy and watch:
Howards End. 1992. Dir. James Ivory. Perf. Emma Thompson, Helena Bonham Carter, Vanessa Redgrave, and Anthony Hopkins. Arthaus, 2010. DVD.