A Room with a View

I re-read this book for today's Great Books book club meeting and found it as charming as the first time. In fact, I forgot exactly how funny and subtle the book is!

I confess that part of the reason that I love this book so much is because of the Merchant Ivory production released in 1985. And I call myself a book fiend! I've probably seen the move 20 times, several with my beloved Grammie. Several nuances weren't clear to me the first viewing, nor would they have been evident the first time reading the book after this most recent read. Frankly, the movie version could not be a truer adaptation, from the settings to the fantastic acting. Kiri Te Kanawa is serenading me as I write this review, in fact.

One book club member found the Dickensian names of the characters to be a bit ham-fisted (Emerson for the “free-thinking father and son;” Lucy Honeychurch for the young, innocent girl who is the source of light for George; Cecil Vyse who wants to put Lucy a vice of sorts and whose name means blindness), but I liked Forster's use of this device, which I thought was intended as both a satire and an homage. Despite the transparency of the characters' names, the characters live and breathe. From Mrs. Honeychurch to Miss Bartlett to Mr. Beebe, every piece of dialogue contains the “everlasting yes,” supporting one of the themes of the book.

I found the plot akin to a Shakespearean comedy mixed with Jane Austen's comedy of errors and humanistic and transcendentalist tendencies. Yet, there is something very original and fresh about this novel. While the plot and love story seem somewhat simplistic on first glance, there is much more underneath the frolicking, tourism, and tennis. The view into the Edwardian era after the stuffy Victorian age is languid, lovely, and seems nostalgic, which isn't surprising given that the book wasn't completed until the end of the era.

I did not realize that this novel was somewhat autobiographical until preparing to lead the book club discussion. When E. M. Forster was 2, his father died; from then on, the author was raised by his mother and aunt. As a young man, he and his mother toured Italy on a trip much like Lucy and Miss Bartlett's. E. M. Forster later stated that his exposure to Italy's magnificent art opened his eyes in many ways. One wonders if the author also was kissed in a barley field, but we may never know due to the repression of homosexuals in Edwardian society. At any rate, we can thank that experience for the first half of “ARWAV.”

What I had missed the first time around (and definitely in the movie) is that Miss Bartlett had a romance 30 years prior to the events of the novel and that the young man must have caddishly gossiped about their encounter, resulting in Miss Bartlett becoming a spinster. We don't know if that was a choice, similar to what Lucy almost made, or whether her reputation was ruined. Without Miss Bartlett's intervention, George and Lucy would not have ended up together. What I found rather sad was Mr. Beebe's ultimate disapproval; he preferred that Lucy choose a life of celibacy, perhaps devoting herself to music, than to select George, despite his reoccurring comment that it would be delightful if Lucy took to living as she played. Perhaps, this was intended to be a commentary on vicars or religion, in general.

Below are the discussion questions from the book club meeting today, which I cobbled together from a few other question sets, and which gives a good overview of the rather spirited discussion.

1. The Bloomsbury Group, which included Virginia Woolf, John Maynard Keynes, Lytton Strachey, and the author, amongst others, believed that “one's prime objects in life were love, the creation and enjoyment of aesthetic experience and the pursuit of knowledge.” This view is in opposition to the strictures of the Victorians. In what ways does “A Room With a View” represent the views of the Bloomsbury group?
2. What is Forster's view of art in this book? Are there right and wrong ways to understand and appreciate artwork? How do the characters in the novel present this view?
3. What do you think about the way the British travelers conceive of Italians and Italy? How might their attitudes reflect the elitist, imperialist mindset that Forster seems to criticize throughout the book?
4. How does Forster use the variations of light and darkness, vision and blindness, and day and night to express the themes of clarity and shadow in the book?
5. What is the role of nature in the book and what is its relevance to the struggles of characters to make decisions about their lives?
6. A frequent criticism of Forster's plots is his reliance on coincidence and chance. What improbable circumstances are required to unite Lucy and George? Is George right when he says of their reunion in England, “It is Fate. Everything is Fate.”? Does the novel suggest an external force that brings the lovers together?
7. There are many kinds of deceit in the book: betrayal by friends, secrets between lovers, and most importantly Lucy's self-deceit. Four of the last five chapters show Lucy lying to nearly everyone else in the book. Which kinds of lies are most harmful to the “personal relations” that Forster cherished?
8. According to Mr. Emerson's view and the view that the book most sympathetically presents, the best way to live one's life is to be true to one's nature, and to follow it in spite of all societal pressures, which requires great strength. Do you think that Lucy has a strong character? Is she an example of a strong woman?
9. Lucy and George both stand outside Britain's traditional class structure. George is a clerk, the son of a journalist and grandson of a laborer. Lucy is the daughter of a lawyer and her social status is “more splendid than her antecedents entitled her to.” What role does social class play in the novel? Why did Forster choose Cecil to deliver the statement: “The classes ought to mix...There ought to be intermarriage—all sorts of things. I believe in democracy.”?
10. Charlotte and Mr. Beebe both act “out of character” near the end of the book. How can these behaviors be accounted for, given what is known about them so far? Do you think that Forster gives satisfactory preparation for their actions? If not, what purpose does the ambiguity serve?