Howards End

"Howards End is a beautifully subtle tale of two very different families brought together by an unusual event. The Schlegels are intellectuals, devotees of art and literature. The Wilcoxes are practical, wealthy, and materialistic. When the elder Mrs. Wilcox dies and her family discovers she has left their country home, Howards End, to one of the Schiegel sisters, a crisis erupts between the two families. Written in 1910, "Howards End is a symbolic exploration of the social, economic, and intellectual forces at work in England in the years preceding World War. I Forster's novel asks: In a changing modern society, what should be the relation between the inner and outer life, between the world of the intellect and the world of business? Can they ever, as Forster urges, "only connect"?