Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 6 A Passage To India

A Passage To India, E.M. Forster S Masterpiece, Which Has Remained Consistently Popular And Widely Studied In India For Eight Decades, Has Also Emerged As The Most Controversial Of All His Works, To Have Received Both Enthusiastic Applause And Corrosive Criticism Across Geographical And Cultural Frontiers Since Its First Publication Till Date For Varied Reasons. The Available Corpus Of Criticism On The Novel, Quite Voluminous And Often Contrapuntal, Can Reasonably Baffle And Intrigue The Young Students. While Keeping In View The Need Of The General Students Of Our Universities The Present Study Aims At A Lucid Analysis And In-Depth Study Of The Book With Reference To Its Various Facets. The Author Who Has Been Teaching The Book To University Students For Nearly Three Decades Has Penetrated The Text With Sensitive Insight And Scholarly Command From The Varied Angles Of The Genesis, Historical Setting, Title, Themes, Structure, Characters, Narrative Technique Including Symbol, Rhythm, Language, Interterxtual Echoes, And Imperial And Postcolonial Discourses, In Addition To Providing An Introduction , A Story-Outline , And A Detailed Critical Summary Of The Entire Text, Along With A Select Bibliography And Sample Questions. The Study Will Be Immensely Useful To Students, Scholars And Teachers In The Area.

When Adela Quested and her elderly companion Mrs Moore arrive in the Indian town of Chandrapore, they quickly feel trapped by its insular and prejudiced 'Anglo-Indian' community. Determined to escape the parochial English enclave and explore the 'real India', they seek the guidance of the charming and mercurial Dr Aziz, a cultivated Indian Muslim. But a mysterious incident occurs while they are exploring the Marabar caves with Aziz, and the well-respected doctor soon finds himself at the centre of a scandal that rouses violent passions among both the British and their Indian subjects. A masterful portrait of a society in the grip of imperialism, A Passage to India compellingly depicts the fate of individuals caught between the great political and cultural conflicts of the modern world. In his introduction, Pankaj Mishra outlines Forster's complex engagement with Indian society and culture. This edition reproduces the Abinger text and notes, and also includes four of Forster's essays on India, a chronology and further reading.

A Passage to India is a 1924 novel by English author E. M. Forster set against the backdrop of the British Raj and the Indian independence movement in the 1920s. It was selected as one of the 100 great works of 20th century English literature by the Modern Library and won the 1924 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction. Time magazine included the novel in its "All Time 100 Novels" list. The novel is based on Forster's experiences in India, deriving the title from Walt Whitman's 1870 poem "Passage to India" in Leaves of Grass. The story revolves around four characters: Dr. Aziz, his British friend Mr. Cyril Fielding, Mrs. Moore, and Miss Adela Quested. During a trip to the fictitious Marabar Caves (modeled on the Barabar Caves of Bihar), [6] Adela thinks she finds herself alone with Dr. Aziz in one of the caves (when in fact he is in an entirely different cave), and subsequently panics and flees; it is assumed that Dr. Aziz has attempted to assault her. Aziz's trial, and its run-up and aftermath, bring to a boil the common racial tensions and prejudices between Indians and the British who rule India.