The Celestial Omnibus and Other Stories by E. M. Forster

[regshoe]

...on the back he saw a neat little résumé in Miss Pembroke’s handwriting, intended for such as him. “Allegory. Man = modern civilization (in bad sense). Girl = getting into touch with Nature.”

—The Longest Journey, chapter 12

Pan Pipes The Celestial Omnibus and Other Stories (1911) is a collection of various of E. M. Forster's short stories originally published in magazines over the previous decade or so; it is dedicated to The Independent Review, one of those magazines and evidently an Apostles/Bloomsbury project, which had ceased publication some time previously. The stories are a delight and I enjoyed them very much, but I fear an attempt to explain why risks falling into the triteness quoted above, or else perhaps the other, at least more entertaining, way of getting things right-but-wrong (or wrong-but-right) of Charles Sayle's view on 'The Story of a Panic', described by Forster in the essay 'My Books and I':

Then he showed Maynard what the story was about. B—— by a waiter at the hotel, Eustace commits bestiality with a goat on that valley where I had sat. In the subsequent chapters, he tells the waiter how nice it has been and they try to b—— each other again. [...] I was horrified and did not want to meet Charles Sayle. In after years I realised that in a stupid and unprofitable way he was right and that this was the cause of my indignation.

What shall I say about them, then? The stories, which may or may not be variously about Nature and b——y, are all more or less fantastical. The title story is meant very literally; it's about an omnibus that goes to Heaven (from Surbiton), and the bus is driven and Heaven peopled by famous authors and literary characters from through the ages. 'The Story of a Panic', 'The Road from Colonus' and 'The Curate's Friend' all feature classical themes; the first two are set in Italy and Greece respectively, while the Faun of the latter, haunting the hills of (of course) Wiltshire and usually 'only speaking to children' who forget him when they grow up, reminded me for a moment of Kipling's Puck, though Forster does more adult things with him. 'The Other Side of the Hedge' is also about Modern Civilisation and what it loses sight of, and is really more of an allegory than 'Other Kingdom', despite Agnes Pembroke's comment on the latter—for, what delighted me most of all in this collection, that story is (with a few minor alterations of detail) Rickie's story about the Dryad described in chapters 7 and 12 of The Longest Journey. Apparently Forster had written but not yet published it when he put it in the novel. Important and highly recommended reading for any Forster fan and anyone else who thinks this sort of thing sounds worthwhile.

Comments

[sovay]

the first two are set in Italy and Greece respectively, while the Faun of the latter, haunting the hills of (of course) Wiltshire and usually 'only speaking to children' who forget him when they grow up, reminded me for a moment of Kipling's Puck, though Forster does more adult things with him.

Sold.

[regshoe]

Great :D

[sovay]

Great

I enjoyed them very much!

I also see what you mean about the difficulty of describing the stories without their sounding twee: "The Curate's Friend" is very close to being cute, especially with its metatextual zoom-out of an ending, except that the Faun is an explicitly sexual creature despite his visibility to children and he does reveal the narrator's true nature to himself, which includes having a sense of humor about himself and not really wanting to marry Emily, or any other woman as it turns out. (And I get to feel smug about Forster's claim that fauns are not particularly indigenous to the Mediterranean, because I used the same conceit in a poem without having read Forster, which readers probably assumed I had.) As a collection, it does make me feel better about a supernatural reading of A Passage to India. He seems genuinely invested in the animism of landscapes.

[regshoe]

I suppose the point is that 1) children seeing things adults can't see, 2) a frank acknowledgement of sexuality and 3) the narrator understanding his true nature are all the same kind of honesty in different contexts.

Oh dear, I'm afraid I really don't have the brain for poetry like that. But yes, if that's what you were suggesting there then you deserve to feel smug :)

He seems genuinely invested in the animism of landscapes.

Yes! (Also, 'Other Kingdom' as a name for a wood: slightly Clarke-ish, don't you think?)

[sovay]

I suppose the point is that 1) children seeing things adults can't see, 2) a frank acknowledgement of sexuality and 3) the narrator understanding his true nature are all the same kind of honesty in different contexts.

Yes: that all tracks for me. And I like it and it keeps the story wild.

(Also, 'Other Kingdom' as a name for a wood: slightly Clarke-ish, don't you think?)

(Absolutely.)

[littlerhymes]

I do like Forster's novels and am intrigued! Adding to the tbr...

[regshoe]

I hope you enjoy it!

[osprey_archer]

I've been meaning to read Forster's short stories for ages and this has bumped them back up the list. Someday!

[regshoe]

Someday! :D