Difficult Rhythm: Music and the Word in E.M. Forster, Michelle Fillion

Difficult Rhythm examines E. M. Forsters irrepressible interest in music, providing plentiful examples of how the eminent British authors fiction resonates with music. Musicologist Michelle Fillion analyzes his critical writings, short stories, and novels, including A Room with a View, which alludes to Beethoven, Wagner, and Schumann, and Howards End, which explicitly alerts readers how fiction can adopt musical forms and ideas. This volume also includes, for the first time in print, Forsters notes on Beethovens piano sonatas. Documenting his knowledge of music, his musical favorites and friends, and his attitudes toward various composers, performances, and competing musical theories, this engaging book traces the musical influences of luminaries such as Wagner, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, and Britten on Forsters life and work.