No Speed Bumps

E M Forster – On Cambridge University, ‘A Passage to India’ and Travel

I was listening this morning to a talk give by E M Forster on 21^st December 1958 for the BBC.

The author reflects on the experience of Cambridge University and how his own undergraduate years at Kings College affected his outlook on life and his writing.

He suggests such a university is ‘place for the very young and for the very old’ and that middle aged people should go away and get out into the world and have experiences. He considers some of the special qualities of the place – such as the relatively easy mixing of ages and classes, though for the latter, he adds that it’s a limited profile of ‘mostly selected intellectuals’.

Forster then reflects on the success and motivations for ‘A Passage to India’ and about his own travels in general.

And as I listened, I began to think about the influence of universities time on my life. This led me to consider whether and how I’d changed as I grew older. And I came to the somewhat unsettling view that, in essentials, I am probably much the same now as then. Lots of strategies to deal with antisocial traits and personal inadequacies but the central core seems the mostly the same. The ‘7 Up’ experience to a tee!

Here is the talk …

… for you to be able take a similar journey – if it’s your pleasure to do so!