Name: A Room with a View
Author: E. M. Forster

How you explore A Room with a View on Literah

The cast, the places, the objects, the plot, and the author’s own words — each one a card in a feed you scroll on your phone. One at a time, at your pace, in any order you like.

Built for your phone. Literah is designed for mobile, so your worlds travel with you. On a laptop it shows a QR code to carry the world to your phone.
A feed, not a wall of text. 23 characters, 18 places, 11 objects and 8 plot beats, each its own card with its own illustration.
The author’s own words. 35 passages of A Room with a View sit in the feed verbatim, exactly as E. M. Forster wrote them, each with a short reading of what it is doing. The map is ours; the prose is always the book’s.
The same scroll, a better world. The gesture you already give away to feeds, spent on E. M. Forster instead.

9:41

The Cast

Lucy Honeychurch

Main · Honeychurch household

A young woman at a piano, hearing more freedom in her own music than in anyone’s advice.

Locations

Pension Bertolini

pension

English travelers dine in cautious Florence, and one honest offer of a room upsets them all.

Passage

A promised Italian escape sours when Lucy fears she has traveled nowhere at all.

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The Author’s Pen

London in Florence

The Bertolini

“The Signora had no business to do it,” said Miss Bartlett, “no business at all. She promised us south rooms with a view close together, instead of which here are north rooms, looking into a courtyard, and a long way apart. Oh, Lucy!”

“And a Cockney, besides!” said Lucy, who had been further saddened by the Signora’s unexpected accent. “It might be London.” She looked at the two rows of English people who were sitting at the table; at the row of white bottles of water and red bottles of wine that ran between the English people; at the portraits of the late Queen and the late Poet Laureate that hung behind the English people, heavily framed; at the notice of the English church (Rev. Cuthbert Eager, M. A. Oxon.), that was the only other decoration of the wall. “Charlotte, don’t you feel, too, that we might be in London? I can hardly believe that all kinds of other things are just outside. I suppose it is one’s being so tired.”

Reading

Lucy has traveled all the way to Florence and is disappointed to find England waiting for her at the table. She catalogues the room like a prisoner counting the bars: the English guests in their rows, the bottled water and wine, the dead Queen and dead Poet Laureate watching over the meal, the notice for the English church. This is a young woman who came abroad hoping for something and is quietly crushed that Italy has been kept safely outside the door. Her retreat into blaming her own tiredness shows how little she yet trusts her own longing.

World Index

The Plot

The Room DeniedFlorence UnguardedThe Piazza Breaks OpenThe Violet FieldCecil, MedievalThe Joke That Undoes EverythingThe Disaster WithinThe End of the Middle Ages

The Cast

Lucy HoneychurchGeorge EmersonCharlotte BartlettCecil VyseMr. EmersonReverend Arthur BeebeMrs. HoneychurchFreddy HoneychurchMiss Eleanor LavishReverend Cuthbert EagerMrs. VyseMiss Catharine AlanMiss Teresa AlanSir Harry OtwaySignora BertoliniPhaethonPersephoneMinnie BeebeAnneMaryPowellMr. FloydEuphemia

Locations

Cissie VillaFlorenceLoggia dei LanziMrs. Vyse’s London flatPension BertoliniPeruzzi ChapelPiazza della SignoriaRomeSanta CroceSummer StreetThe Arno / Lung’ArnoThe Fiesole Violet FieldThe RectoryThe Rooms with a ViewThe WealdTunbridge WellsWindy CornerWindy Corner Garden

Objects of Note

Baedeker guidebookFlorence photographs / picture postcardsGeorge’s question-mark paperLucy’s piano musicThe boilerThe Fiesole carriagesThe lettersThe ruby engagement ringThe tennis ballUnder a LoggiaViolets

Core Concepts

A view is a way of seeing truthComedy exposes what manners hideEngland travels abroad and Italy follows homeLove should be comradeship, not possessionPropriety protects and imprisonsTruth must break through muddle

The Author's Pen

The Offer of RoomsThe Menacing Question MarkWaking Up in FlorenceBeyond BaedekerMr Emerson in ChurchA Baby Hurt And FrightenedIntoxicated by the NotesThe Failure of PassionThen Something Did HappenThrowing Away the PhotographsSilence Into SympathyPhaethon and PersephoneGeorge Among the VioletsTo Laugh At ItAn Unfortunate SlipCecil EnteredItaly Worked Some MarvelShe Has Accepted MeThe Red Book in SunFreddy Names the TenantsThe Name of EmersonGeorge Joins the PlayA Drop of OilCecil Reads AloudThe Phrases ReversedA New Light On CecilThe Armour of FalsehoodAsking Cecil to Release HerBreaking Off the EngagementThe Sixth NoteLucy’s Deception ExposedThe Man You LoveReturn to the Pension BertoliniHow Little It All Hangs

Plot point 01

The Room Denied

Lucy arrives in Florence promised a view of the Arno, and gets a courtyard instead — until two strangers offer more than propriety allows.

Objects of Note

Baedeker guidebook

The guidebook that tells Lucy what to admire is taken away just when she needs it most.

The Cast

George Emerson

Main · Emerson household

A young man leaves a question mark on a wall and then steps into a field of violets.

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A Room with a View

E. M. Forster

The cast, locations, objects of note, core concepts, and selected passages in the Author’s Pen - at your own pace.

One of 128 classics in the Literah library

A Room with a View feed, as it appears in your mobile

The plot of A Room with a View

The story beat by beat, as Literah maps it.

The Room Denied
Florence Unguarded
The Piazza Breaks Open
The Violet Field
Cecil, Medieval
The Joke That Undoes Everything
The Disaster Within
The End of the Middle Ages

The author's pen in A Room with a View

The passages themselves, E. M. Forster's own words, as Literah maps it.

London in Florencech. 1
The Offer of Roomsch. 1
The Menacing Question Markch. 1
Waking Up in Florencech. 2
Beyond Baedekerch. 2
Mr Emerson in Churchch. 2
A Baby Hurt And Frightenedch. 2
Intoxicated by the Notesch. 3
The Failure of Passionch. 3
Then Something Did Happench. 4
Throwing Away the Photographsch. 4
Silence Into Sympathych. 4
Phaethon and Persephonech. 6
George Among the Violetsch. 6
To Laugh At Itch. 7
An Unfortunate Slipch. 7
Cecil Enteredch. 8
Italy Worked Some Marvelch. 9
She Has Accepted Mech. 9
The Red Book in Sunch. 10

The characters of A Room with a View

Who is who, as Literah maps it.

Lucy Honeychurchmajor
George Emersonmajor
Charlotte Bartlettmajor
Cecil Vysemajor
Mr. Emersonsupporting
Reverend Arthur Beebesupporting
Mrs. Honeychurchsupporting
Freddy Honeychurchsupporting
Miss Eleanor Lavishsupporting
Reverend Cuthbert Eagersupporting
Mrs. Vysesupporting
Miss Catharine Alanminor
Miss Teresa Alanminor
Sir Harry Otwayminor
Signora Bertoliniminor
Phaethonminor

The locations in A Room with a View

Where it happens, as Literah maps it.

Pension Bertolinipension
The Rooms with a Viewroom
Florencecity
The Arno / Lung’Arnoriver
Santa Crocechurch
Peruzzi Chapelchapel
Piazza della Signoriapiazza
Loggia dei Lanziloggia
The Fiesole Violet Fieldhillside
Romecity
Windy Cornerhouse
Windy Corner Gardengarden
Summer Streetvillage
Cissie Villavilla

The core concepts in A Room with a View

What the book keeps returning to, as Literah maps it.

Truth must break through muddle
A view is a way of seeing truth
Propriety protects and imprisons
Love should be comradeship, not possession
England travels abroad and Italy follows home
Comedy exposes what manners hide

The objects of note in A Room with a View

The things that carry meaning, as Literah maps it.

Baedeker guidebook
George’s question-mark paper
Lucy’s piano music
Violets
The letters
Under a Loggia
The ruby engagement ring
Florence photographs / picture postcards
The Fiesole carriages
The boiler
The tennis ball

The offer

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How you explore A Room with a View on Literah

The plot of A Room with a View

The author's pen in A Room with a View

The characters of A Room with a View

The locations in A Room with a View

The core concepts in A Room with a View

The objects of note in A Room with a View

Explore A Room with a View. And 127 more.

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