Contents

Acknowledgements (Omitted)

Abstract (Omitted)

1 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………………1

1.1 The focus, medium and significance of the thesis…………………………………………………1

1.2 E. M. Forster and his major literary achievements………………………………………………3

1.3 A brief introduction to the novel A Passage to India…………………………….………………5

1.4 A survey of critical responses to A Passage to India………………………………………………7

2 The theoretical perspectives……………………………………………………………………………12

2.1 Postcolonial studies…………………………………………………………………………………12

2.2 Some key figures of postcolonial studies…………………………………………………………13

2.3 Edward Said’s key terms related to the “Orientalism” and the “Other”………………………14

3 The dialogues and conflicts between the manipulating but frustrated “Orientalist” and the “Other” In A Passage to India …………………………………………………………………………………16

3.1 The “Orientalist” and “Other” in A Passage to India……………………………………………16

3.2 The prelude of dialogues and conflicts……………………………………………………………17

3.3 A dialogue disguised by “communicating” of cultures ………………………………………17

 3.3.1 The entering of various explorers to India……………………………………………………17

 3.3.2 Colonialists’ ignorance and absurdity in the dialogue………………………………………18

 3.3.3 A suffering but conscious Indian intellectual in dilemma……………………………………18

3.4 A cordial but spoiled dialogue between west and east……………………………………………18

 3.4.1 A British intellectual in dilemma………………………………………………………………18

 3.4.2 A dialogue referred to and involved in political problems……………………………………18

 3.4.3 A humanism and real cultural dialogue between intellectuals………………………………19

3.5 The dialogues and conflicts ending in sufferings and disasters…………………………………19

 3.5.1 The latent complication leading to the disasters………………………………………………19

 3.5.2 The latent peril during the Marabar Travel…………………………………………………19

 3.5.3 Falling into the trap of the Empire……………………………………………………………19

 3.5.4 The direct intervention of the Empire power…………………………………………………20

 3.5.5 The confused psychology of the people involved………………………………………………20

 3.5.6 The three explorers became “Other” of their own Empire…………………………………20

 3.5.7 The forming of Indian nationalism and the union of Hindu and Moslem……………………20

 3.5.8 The frustrated explorer and another kind of “Other”………………………………………20

 3.5.9 A newly formed gulf due to misunderstanding………………………………………………20

3.6 The dialogues and conflicts between an Empire enterpriser and a nationalist…………………20

4 Conclusion (Not yet drawn)…………………………………………………………………………… 20

Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………………………… 21