Marianne Thornton: A domestic biography, 1797-1887

by E.M. Forster

This truly was a 'domestic' biography, documenting the life of Forster's great aunt. Marianne died in 1887, when Forster was aged eight, but his decision to focus upon her rather than one of his more publicly famous ancestors enabled him to emphasise the private implications of public life and give pride of place to the inner life. He was intrigued by the personality that emerged from the wealth of family archives he plundered during his research, and Marianne's longevity enabled him to draw a rounded portrait of public and private life from the Georgian England of unreformed parliaments to the year of Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee.

Genres: Biography

337 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1956

About the author

Edward Morgan Forster, generally published as E.M. Forster, was an English novelist, essayist, and short story writer. He is known best for his ironic and well-plotted novels examining class difference and hypocrisy in early 20th-century British society. His humanistic impulse toward understanding and sympathy may be aptly summed up in the epigraph to his 1910 novel Howards End: "Only connect".

He had five novels published in his lifetime, achieving his greatest success with A Passage to India (1924) which takes as its subject the relationship between East and West, seen through the lens of India in the later days of the British Raj.

Forster's views as a secular humanist are at the heart of his work, which often depicts the pursuit of personal connections in spite of the restrictions of contemporary society. He is noted for his use of symbolism as a technique in his novels, and he has been criticised for his attachment to mysticism. His other works include Where Angels Fear to Tread (1905), The Longest Journey (1907), A Room with a View (1908) and Maurice (1971), his posthumously published novel which tells of the coming of age of an explicitly gay male character.

Reviews

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish I knew exactly how E.M. Forster made this biography of his great-aunt so entertaining. I suppose it's partly that she writes wonderful letters (at least the ones Forster shares with us are) and that the commentary he provides is in his warm, respectful, intelligent, simple prose. He does this without gliding over her faults, while also placing her and her ideas and actions in the context of the time and place.

I thought the subject matter might be dry at times, but my attention never wavered, not even as I sat in a power-less house, reading by the window to catch the light of the weak sun and later sitting in the dark next to a taper candle, which gave out a surprising amount of light. The latter activity seemed appropriate to be doing while reading about a woman who lived through almost the whole of the 19th century. Her letters give us a glimpse of her young self visiting Parliament with her father as a mad King George III presided, as well as her gentle chiding to a quite young and precocious Morgan (Forster) who was anti-Jubilee at the time of that event honoring Queen Victoria.

If you're interested in Forster or the Victorian age, you won't even need the spice of the few family scandals (mild by our standards, of course), but they were fun to have too.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favourites of Forster's less read books. She sounds like a thoroughly splendid aunt.

[Tracie · Rating 4 out of 5]

E. M. Forster shows much gratitude to his benefactress and Great Aunt Marianne Thornton and in such a delightful way. I truly enjoyed learning about this colorful and interesting woman and the time in which she lived 1797-1887.

[Mel Welch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating