Politics and Poetics of Mobility: Gender, Motion, and Stasis in E. M. Forster’s Where Angels Fear to Tread
Politics and Poetics of Mobility: Gender, Motion, and Stasis in E. M. Forster’s Where Angels Fear to Tread

Summary/Abstract: This article proposes an interdisciplinary reading of E. M. Forster's Where Angels Fear to Tread. It essentially argues that Forster's novel offers a precious opportunity to tap into the reciprocal exchange between Mobility Studies and narrative practices. By examining the dynamics of movement and stasis in the novel, it sustains a dual emphasis on the way motion defines the aesthetic orientations of the narrative, and the way (im)mobility undergirds discourses of power and control. The narrative, itself a vehicle for the circulation of ideas and cultural representations, engages a discussion about who has the right to move and who is forced to stay put, and how (im)mobility shapes social and gendered spaces. Forster's predilection for employing contrasts as a platform for his social critique advances mobility and immobility as major concerns in his novel. The article homes in on differential mobilities and discusses gendered motion and stasis.

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