The Construction Of Liberal Englishness In E.M.Forster's Two Italian Novels A Room With A View And Where Angels Fear To Tread

Tourism played a very important role in E.M.Forster's personal experiences,and the two Italian novels A Room with a View and Where Angels Fear to Tread came to their early forms in his trip to Europe.The narrative modes of both novels follow Buildungsroman and travel writing.On one hand,the crisis of Englishness is exposed during tourism in Italy through English tourists' problematic ways in treating people from different classes,sexes and social groups within the English community or from different nations and cultural background;on the other hand,the transformation of the protagonists in the two novels not only reveals the individual change in characteristics and self-recognition,but also implies Forster's intention to reconstruct Englishness,including its national character and public culture.The backgrounds of both novels are set in foreign land during tourism.In this"contact zone"(Pratt 6),Englishness embodied in tourists can be more clearly examined,and the defects of which can be more obviously disclosed.Through travel writing and foreign land the two Italian novels offer its readers a new perspective to examine the established,dominated Englishness and they also give Forster himself an opportunity to restore the "Liberal Englishness".Theoretically based on Tamir's liberal nationalism and other relevant literature,this thesis aims to discuss Forster's critical construction of "Englishness",which can be defined as "Libcral Englishness",affected by liberalism and nationalism at the same time.As Tamir has pointed out,nationalism and liberalism are by no means incompatible;on the contrary,nationalism could even promote individual liberty.Forster hopes that Englishness can incorporate values of liberalism to its formation,including the respect for individual choices,the tolerance for cultural otherness and direct expressions of universal,common feelings.Italianness as the cultural otherness,in this sense,plays the role of mirror for reflection,reference and distinction.This thesis is intended to study Forster's three phases in constructing“liberal Englishness":encountering Italianness,embracing Italianness and estranging Italianness.First,Italianness works as a mirror,manifesting the true face of Englishness for its readers and disclosing its narrowness,national arrogance and intolerance.In the process of embracing Italianness,Forster attempts to restore a liberal Englishness with Italianness as its remedy.Italianness's strong links with intuition and passion in Italian character and culture counteracts the dominant English national identities.Of course,this construction does not mean to eradicate any influence of nationalism.The third step of Forster's construction of Englishness is through estranging Italianness.In the process of debasing cultural other,Forster justifies the righteousness and superiority of English reason and civilization.Though Forster has consciously stressed the importance of liberalism in constructing English culture and national character,his own writing fails to treat cultural otherness with a more liberal attitude.