Exploring the "Real India". Mystery and Muddle in E. M. Forster's "A Passage to India"

Seminar paper from the year 2021 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,0, Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, language: English, abstract: The question arises, what the novel's "A Passage to India" construction of India in the end suggests towards its own nature: muddle or mystery? Consequently, this paper will investigate this question through analysis of the four main viewpoints of narratory comment, Cyril Fielding, Mrs. Moore, and Professor Godbole. This paper argues that the 'real India' of Forster's novel is neither only muddle, nor solely mystery, but rather the fusion of the both, correlating with the Hindu Ideal of the unity of life which manifests itself in the mind of Professor Godbole. This paper then integrates the identified nature of the novel's 'real India' into the discourse on Orientalist mysticism, which has famously been influenced by Edward Said.