Evening star., 1924-11-08
The Library Table
BY THE BOOKLOVER

novelists as from philosophers and
statesmen. Some novelists are, how
ever, more liberal and optimistic
than others in limiting or suggesting
possible remedies. E. NJ. Forster is
not one of these. In dealing with
the subject of the British in India
in his novel, "a Passage to India
his outlook is completely hopeless
British military and civil officials in
India are, according to him, obtuse
to the point of stupidity, discour-
teous, snobbish and without under
standing or sympathy for the char
acteristics of the Oriental The In
dlans, on their part, are emotional,
unreliable, untruthful, alternately
cringing and swaggering, always
craving sympathy and yet not really
deserving it. If the British should
give up India chaos would ensue. for
there is no unified mother land" of
India, and as Fielding, the most sym
pathetic Britisher in the novel, says:
Away from US, Indians go to seed
at once Yet Indians will never be
reconciled to British rule, for the
two races are incapable of under
standing each other. Newcomer rs
from England often feel keen inter
est in the Indians and are free from
prejudice against them, but within
officialdom to feel that there is a
sharp division and that they must
line up with their own people. They
come but intending to be gentlemen, !"
says Hamidullah, and are told it will
not do. They all become cx-
actly the same, not worse, not better
l give any Englishman two years, be
he Turton or Burton. - And |
give any Englishwoman six months -
Indians are not allowed in the Chan
drapore Club, either as members or
guests. Sometimes they are invited
to a bridge party"--so named be-
cause it's intent is temporarily to
bridge the gap which exists perma-
nently between British and Indians;
but on such an occasion the Indians
are admitted only to the club gardens
and usually remain on one side of
the tennis courts, while the British,
especially the women, keep to the
other side.
Mr.. Forster seems to apply the
term impossible not only to friend
ship between the races but even to
friendship between individuals of the
races, although he dedicates his novel
ito Syed Ross Masood, and TO the
II years of our friendship" But
Fielding and DR. Aziz, Moham-
medan Indian, who seem to be used
to illustrate the most sympathetic
traits of the two races, make a long
attempt to be real friends and fail.
IF it's fifty-fve hundred years we
shall get rid of you says AZiZ, yes,
we shall drive every blasted Eng
lishman into the sea, and then
you and l shall be friends.
why can't we be friends now -
said the other, holding him affec-
tionately. It's what L want. It's
what you want
But the horses didn't want it
they swerved apart" And so it ends.
\ \ x x
In the setting of Chandrapore, Mr.
Forster has created a great variety
Of characters to illustrate different
types of English and Indians. He
has chosen the civil service for his
English characters. There is the
pompous, always official collector,
Mr.. Turton. and his wife, who is an
insufferable Snob and. when she is
angry, talks like a fshWife. There
is the bullying, abusive civil surg
Maj. Calendar, who says: "Nothing's
too bad for these people" There is
poor distracted Ronny Heaslop. the
city magistrate, who means to be a
decent sort of fellow, but who would
shudder to think of acting in a way
different from other British officials.
Then there is Fielding. principal of
the Government College, whom the
reader is inclined to identify with
Mr.. Forster himself. He has little
race prejudice and feels that he can
afford to follow his impulses because
he is a bachelor and travels light"
h,,t ba Two nd
official after his marriage. Among
the Indians the most fully drawn is
DR.. AZiz, the emotional, capriciouS.
Mos}em assistant of Mai. Collendar,
who at first takes the English as a
joke but comes later to hate them.
His friend Hamidullah has been edu-
Gated at Cambridge, he is a sad
philosopher and q political plotter
where the English are concerned.
Mahmoud Ali is a, sensational agi-
tator. The Nawab Bahadur is a
patriarchal landed proprietor and
philanthropist whose character stands
high among the British. Prof. God
bols is a Deccani Brahman whose
devotions, private and ceremonial.
absorb most of his time. The two
groups of characters are brought
into continual association, chiefly the
association of conflict, throughout the
novel,
To be the friend and inspiration of
great writer's is better than to be a
second-rate writer ones self. The
late Lady CoIvin, wife of Sir Sidney
Colvin, who died on the same day as
Joseph Conrad appreciates this fact.
She wrote nothing herself, but was
the intimate friend and confidant of
many of the greatest writer's and ar
fists of the Victorian age, as well as
of some of the younger generation of
today. Joseph Conrads last letter.
written as he was dying, was to Sir
Sidney Colvin, with a message for
her. Ruskin, Rossetti. Burne-Jones,
Browning, Meredith Thomas Hardy
and Henry James all sought her COM
panionship and her sympathy, and
brought to her their work for criti-
cism and praise. She was for some
years the chief source of courage and
guidance to Robert Louis Stevenson,
and to her a large part of his corre-
spondence was addressed. Some of
these letters have been published in
Sir Sidney Colvin's Life and Letters
of Robert Louis Stevenson" and
othefs were bequeathed by Lady Col
vim to her husband to use as he thinks
best Among writer's of the present
century, Barrie, Kipling, Alfred
Noyes, Rupert Brooke and Hugh Wal
pole, as well as Conrad, were her inti-
mates. Though so rich in the life of
the intellect, Lady Colvin knew much
personal sorrow in her 80 years. The
romance of her marriage with Sir Sid
ney Colvin had a tragic side. Her
first marriage was unhappy and she
left her husband. Soon afterward
she met Sir Sidney Colvin and their
long devotion began, but owing to
circumstances they were unable to
marry until both were over so.