E. M. Forster, The Celestial Omnibus

Peter Childs (Newman University)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.08: English Writing and Culture of the early Twentieth Century , 1900-1945.
Vol. editors: Chris Baldick (Goldsmiths College, University of London), Peter Childs (Newman University), Louise McDonald (Newman University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1911

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Story Collection

Resources

Published the year after Howards End, Forster's first collection of short stories is a departure from the realism of his recent novel into the fantasy of ancient Greece and Rome, Paganism and Paradise. As he had produced four novels in quick succession since 1905, the six stories of The Celestial Omnibus (1911) were published at a time when Forster appeared to be a prolific writer. Yet his next published book of fiction, A Passage to India, would not appear for thirteen years.

The first inclusion is “The Story of a Panic”, which Forster rewrote after excising it late on from his second novel The Longest Journey. Unlike the novels he had published up to this point, the story is told in the first p…

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926 words

Citation: Childs, Peter. "The Celestial Omnibus". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 08 January 2001 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=1310, accessed 22 November 2024.]

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