Focusing on the literary works and career of British novelist E.M. Forster (1879-1970), this book argues that the writer adapted a much older literary form, the pastoral, to the purposes of writing about modern British experience. The publication points out that Forster's pastoral fiction challenged conventional parameters for the British novel, allowing for the emergence of his subsequent modernist classic, A Passage to India (including its critique of British imperialism). The monograph also provides a rationale for why Forster subsequently turned his artistic focus beyond Britain, embracing public radio under the direction of the British Broadcasting Corporation.

Stuart Christie is Professor in the Department of English Language & Literature at Hong Kong Baptist University.

Chapter 1 Doomed Pastoral; Chapter 2 "A Further Reservation in Favour of Strangeness"; Chapter 3 Akin to Railway Accidents; Chapter 4 Butterfly and Pythoness; Chapter 5 "Distinguishing t'Other from Which"; Chapter 6 "Queer Report";