Howards End

Abstract

As an Edwardian ‘Condition of England’ novel¹ Howards End connects with contemporary non-literary discourse, and most obviously perhaps with C. F. G. Masterman’s The Condition of England (1909).² There is much to compare in these two pieces: Masterman’s ‘dispassionate’ sociological analysis is in fact informed by strong political conviction and a passionate moral concern, and is both predictive and speculative. The epigraph, from Ruskin, is particularly telling: ‘Whether in general we are getting on, and if so where we are going to.’ Masterman challenges the ‘illusions’ of progress and security, but opts finally for a state of hopeful uncertainty. This stance, and much of the detailed commentary, closely parallel Howards End. The essential difference is that Forster, observing the same scene, and charged with a similar passion, casts his survey and prognosis in a fictive mould.