Completing my final year exams, I felt disillusioned with life in general. It felt odd not to have the comfort of knowing I'd be returning to education in September to alleviate any guilt from a somewhat idle summer. Neither did it help that the overwhelming task of properly starting a 'working life' had become more apparent than ever before. I immediately missed the library and the silent camaraderie of that environment. I really appreciated that this revision period would be the last of my life, and I would never really engage in learning in quite the same way again.The Longest Journey has been the perfect read for such an ambivalent time. Centred on Rickie Elliot, the protagonist of the novel and a recent graduate of Cambridge, the story follows his endeavours to appreciate and understand the philosophical ideals of truth and beauty, his search for a higher purpose and his ill-advised marriage to the object of his infatuation, Agnes Pembroke. The novel is split into three parts, tracing Rickie's journey from university, his engagement to Agnes and relationship with the morally dubious Aunt Emily, to his reluctant career as a public school teacher.Rickie is an idealist and indulges in the solace he derives from the common purpose he and his friends share at Cambridge - the quest for higher knowledge. Grappling with existentialism, Rickie deplores that he has yet to possess the same grade of thinking as his peers. Yet what he might lack in philosophical acumen, Rickie makes up for in a more personable appreciation of the human condition - specifically, the fragility of relationships. "But he was not cynical - or cynical in a very tender way. He was thinking of the irony of friendship - so strong it is, and so fragile. We fly together, like straws in an eddy, to part in the open stream. Nature has no use for us: she has cut her stuff differently. Dutiful sons, loving husbands, responsible fathers - these are what she wants, and if we are friends it must be in our spare time.'I wish we were labelled.' said Rickie. He wishes that all the confidence and mutual knowledge that is born in such a place as Cambridge could be organised. People went down in the world saying 'We know and like each other; we shan't forget. But they did forget, for man is so made that he cannot remember long without a symbol; he wishes there was a society, a kind of friendship office, where the marriage of true minds could be registered."It's passages like these I found comforting. If you're in the same ambiguous transition, you find an affinity with Rickie. For all his grandiose notions of seeking the ultimate good in people - an endeavour for which he is chastised for by his practical-minded friends - 'You think it so splendid to hate no one. I tell you it is a crime. You want to love everyone equally and that's worse than impossible. It's wrong.'- he ironically hits upon the effect of such practicalities on our lives. We lose friends to make way for social convention and propriety, and this is what Rickie finds so lamentable - despite engaging in these conventions himself. This is evident in his engagement to Agnes and his later career as a school teacher - one that carries him further away from his real enthusiasm in becoming a writer.The novel moves swiftly from one third to the next, though at times the narrative dwells just a little too long on scenic or architectural descriptions. This is quite at odds with Rickie's point of view, which is almost always concerned with moral propriety and higher ideals. To me it was always a way of reminding the audience of the contrast between Rickie's inner dialogue and that of his surrounding milieu.Otherwise, Forster isn't too concerned with the intricate complexities of how relationships develop. He identifies the most significant moments and important transitions and uses these to drive the story and Rickie's journey forward. Originally posted at And Nell Writes
If “A Room with A View” gives us the glorious vista of finding one’s soul as well as a companionable life partner, then “The Longest Journey” contemplates the dreariness on the “broad highway of the world” with a worldly spouse. Lucy and Rickie, in separate conditions, had chosen differently on their lives’ journeys. The “Room” gives us conjugal bliss, the “Journey” its partnered acridity. The title refers to the following poem by Shelly. It is short enough to quote in full:The Dreariest Journeyby Percy Bysshe ShelleyI never was attached to that great sect,Whose doctrine is, that each one should selectOut of the crowd a mistress or a friend,And all the rest, though fair and wise, commendTo cold oblivion, though it is the codeOf modern morals, and the beaten roadWhich those poor slaves with weary footsteps tread,By the broad highway of the world, and soWith one chained friend, perhaps a jealous foe,The dreariest and the longest journey go.Forster had a fondness for visual symbols and metaphors. Between Ansell and Rickie, the symbol is “House” vs. “the Greater World”. Ansell firmly rejects the latter, contending that one must choose the subjective “house” to work and live in accordance with one’s soul. Ansell’s “house” is his own life of intellectual pursue; by rejection the “greater world”, Ansell refuses society for the sake of amiability and social codes. Rickie wanted a warm “house” resembling familial affection and comforts in order to shelter him from the aridity and coldness of the world. Rickie had found initial solace and companionship in Pembrokes. His love of Agnes Pembroke has a few moments of crystalline brightness that seems to have saved him from loneliness and isolation. Agnes took Rickie into Dunwood House, a boarding school run by her brother. The brightness of their initial courtship melt into the petty, dogmatic, severe world of Dunwood. Agnes managed her husband competently and shrewdly, rounding off his mind toward the practical. Some dreadfulness bloomed in Agnes; she becomes the “Medusa of Arcardy”, turning Rickie stony pedant and hypocrite in merely two years. Ansell stayed away and watched Rickie’s degradation. Love is still there, yet he refused to be chained on Rickie’s Longest Journey. The other foe is Stephen, a Pan-like character, intruding into Agnes’ carefully managed world for Rickie. The second part has the most dynamic exchanges in words and actions. Both Ansell and Stephen broke the monotonous dreariness of Rickie's path. The third part provided some backstories, yet added little to the main characters in the first two. Nevertheless, this is a book celebrating creative energy, truth and vitality; all in the warm and witty style of E.M. Forster. Here are some quotable:“He [Rickie] know once for all that we are all of us bubbles on an extremely rough sea. Into this sea humanity has built, as it were, some little breakwaters — scientific knowledge, civilized restraint - so that the bubbles do not break so frequently so soon.”“I [Ansell] take you seriously, Rickie, and that is why I am so offensive”.“ … working hard at what was easy.”This is a story that can be reread for pleasure and edification.
What do You think about The Longest Journey (2006)?
Oh how I suck up these wordy early 20th Century tales of love and woe and irony.I truly enjoyed this book, I really yearned to read it and I could not really express why to someone who would say "What?!?!? Nothing happens! It is just a bunch of stuffy people worrying about manners!".Oh, but it is that and so much more. If you're like me and you could really go for some Henry James, D.H. Lawrence, or some other canonized British/European/American Ex-Patriot from those times, then you will like this book.
—Missy
I enjoyed this book maybe 1.5 stars or 2 stars. It was a very long journey to read- that's for sure. I felt like nothing happened until 200 pages into a 300 page book. However, there are several segments of Forster's writing that are unparalleled in style and beauty. During the second half of the book, especially, there were paragraphs so well-written, I re-read them a few times. They were really beautiful, and I was so impressed by them. Forster is one of my favorite authors, and this book is my least favorite book of his so far. It's a Bildungsroman, which is one of my favorite genres, but I was put off by the characters and bored by the slow pace. Perhaps it's because I didn't particularly like any of the characters (except Stephen), so I didn't care what happened to them? I don't know. I appreciated the point Forster was trying to make, though you had to swim through bouts of philosophy (not my favorite) to get there. Part three of the book packed a punch and almost made up for the lackluster of parts one and two.
—Jill
As a limited but interesting point of comparison, this is a little like a novel version of The Education of Henry Adams. Unlike Adams, the protagonist here is educated on the cusp of the 20th century rather than on the pinnacle of 19th century thinking. However, the lapse of time in between has changed little. The protagonist here struggles to apply his Cambridge education to a changing world and to apply himself to meaningful work. The choices he faces as a teacher and something of an idealist in adapting to what the modern world presents were interesting to me – especially since like me the protagonist has a disability.Forster is unrelenting in pointing out how ready people are to settle into uncomfortable and inconsistent routine rather than really examining assumptions. The thoughtful reader, perhaps, will be frightened how ready the writer is to lock his characters into the path cut by a single choice over several years. He is actually willing to skip time that he doesn't think matters, that in his view is simply a result of a choice two years ago. While sober in this technique, he is also adept at stepping back and pointing out with some gentleness the frailties of his human characters.
—Brian Eshleman
