53. The Witch of Edmonton is a tragicomedy that was published in 1658 but first performed in about 1621. The title page of the published edition lists as the authors: William Rowley, Thomas Dekker, and John Ford.
54. Furbank suggests that Forster is referring to the following passage in War and Peace, describing the Russians after the fall of Moscow: “Those who were striving to understand the general course of events, and trying by self-sacrifice and heroism to take a hand in it, were the most useless members of society; they saw everything upside down, and all they did for the common good proved to be futile and absurd.” (quoted in Furbank, E. M. Forster, 2:215).
55. The co-author, together with Isherwood, of the screenplay for Little Friend (1934).
56. Forster is probably referring to Gerald Hamilton who had, at that time, orchestrated a plan for Isherwood’s companion, Heinz, to obtain a Mexican passport.
57. Because of the recent libel case brought against him for his article “A Flood in the Office,” Forster was very anxious about possible libel cases that could arise as a result of his editing the letters of T. E. Lawrence. He decided, therefore, to give up the Lawrence project. (Furbank, E. M. Forster, 2:211).
58. Forster is writing comments about Auden and Isherwood’s play, The Ascent of the F.6, which opened in London on February 26, 1937.
59. Forster continues his comments on The Ascent of F.6.
60. Gerald Hamilton’s Mr. Norris-like plan was to obtain Heinz Mexican nationality. Isherwood had persuaded his mother to pay Hamilton’s lawyer £1,000 for this service. The plan does not succeed. (Forster, Selected Letters, 2:150n. 2).
61. Salinger, the lawyer Hamilton had engaged, advised Heinz to travel into Germany in order to renew his visa to remain in Belgium (while waiting for the decision regarding Mexican nationality). Heinz was arrested by the Gestapo in Trier, Germany (Parker, Isherwood, 301–2).
62. Forster’s poem is a parody of a poem by Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864): “I strove with none, for none was worth my strife. / Nature I loved and, next to Nature, Art: / I warm’d both hands before the fire of life; / it sinks, and I am ready to depart” ( The Poetry Connection, ed. Gunner Bengtsson [http://www
.poetry connection.net/poets/Walter_Savage_Landor]).
63. An Indian student club at Cambridge University.
64. Guy Mannering, published in 1815, is a novel by Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832).
Some of the action occurs in colonial India, which might explain Forster’s interest in the novel.
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65. Isherwood outlines his theory of the “The Test” and “The Truly Weak Man” in his autobiographical novel, Lions and Shadows, which he was currently working on: “the Test exists only for the Truly Weak Man: no matter whether he passes it or whether he fails, he cannot alter his essential nature.” Unlike the Truly Strong Man, who will take a “reasonable” path, the Truly Weak Man will put himself through impossible challenges. (163–64).
66. Oliver Low was the brother of Humphrey Spender’s wife. Isherwood had a brief affair with him in 1937 shortly after Heinz returned to Germany.
67. Forster is staying with the Hilton Youngs (Lord and Lady Kennet).
68. Forster is referring to the book, Journey to a War, Auden and Isherwood are working on based on their recent trip to China. Lago and Furbank suggest that
“[t]he technical problem may have been that of gracefully combining Auden’s poems and Isherwood’s prose” (E. M. Forster, Selected Letters, 2:160n. 5).
69. Wayland Hilton Young (b. 1923) is the son of Edward Hilton Young (Lord Kennet).
70. The English translation of Evariste R. Huc and Joseph Gabet, Travels in Tartary, Tibet, and China During the Years 1844–56 was published in 1928.
71. Sir Richard Thomas Dyke Acland, Fifteenth Baronet (1906–90) was one of the founders of the British Common Wealth Party; Forster is possibly referring to Frederick Charles Bartlett (1886–1969), the first Professor of Experimental Psychology at Cambridge University.
72. Jacky Hewit, with whom Isherwood had a brief affair in 1938.
73. On the Frontier was the third and final play written by Auden and Isherwood.
It opened at the Arts Theatre in Cambridge on November 14, 1938, and later played in London.
74. Forster’s large script is difficult to decipher. He is possibly signing the name: J.
A. Symonds. John Addington Symonds (1840–93), British poet, translator, and essayist. He wrote on homosexual themes and translated, among other works, Wine, Women and Song (translations of Goliardic songs), which relates to Forster’s comment prior to the signature.
75. He is writing this postscript on the back of a daily planner.
76. The actual name of the committee is The Committee on the Law of Defamation.
77. Anthony Frederick Blunt (1907–83), was an English art historian who was one of the “Cambridge Five” spy ring (which included Guy Burgess) working for the Soviet Union.
78. American writer, primarily of screenplays. His works include Gilda (1946) and Night and the City (1950). He also wrote books for several Broadway plays, including A Point of Honor (1937).
79. “Blackamoor” is an archaic term for a dark-skinned person (“Black” plus
“Moor”).
80. Latin phrase: “salaputium” means “a little man”; “dissertum” is an adjective meaning “dexterous or skilled in speaking or writing.” Forster is drawing on Catullus 53.5: “dimagni, salaputium dissertum!”
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Chapter 2
1. Forster is quoting Rose (Emilie) Macaulay (1881–1958), a British novelist whose works include I Would Be Private (1937) and The World My Witness (1950). She had recently written a book about Forster, The Writings of E. M.
Forster.
2. Forster reviewed Gerald Heard’s book, Pain, Sex and Time: A New Outlook on Evolution and the Future of Man, for The Listener. Forster’s friend, Joe Ackerley, was the literary editor.
3. Forster has moved from central London (near Bloomsbury) to a neighborhood in the far west section of London.
4. Bumpus was a notable London bookshop on Oxford Street.
5. Parentheses in the original.
6. Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné (1626–96), a French writer of letters was married briefly to Henri, marquis de Sévigné. Her husband died in a fight over another woman in 1651. Madame de Sévigné never remarried.
7. Harvey Young is Isherwood’s current companion.
8. In a letter to Gerald Hamilton, Isherwood commented on émigrés living in California: “The refugees here are very militant and already squabbling over the future German government. God help Germany if some of them ever get into power! Others are interested, apparently, in reconquering the Romanisches Café [a popular meeting place for intellectuals in pre-War Berlin], and would gladly sacrifice the whole British army to make Berlin safe for night life” (quoted in Parker, Isherwood, 392). Hamilton apparently handed the letter to Tom Driberg who had it published in a gossip column in the Daily Express. The refugees living in southern California were greatly offended when they learned of the comments. (Parker, Isherwood, 392).