About this episode

This episode explores the life and legacy of E. M. Forster, a prominent British novelist shaped by his Victorian upbringing and experiences in Italy and India.

Subscribe to Extra Bad Gays on Apple Podcasts or Patreon to support our work, get monthly bonus episodes, and join our community of listeners! Live from Sheffield DocFest, it's E. M. Forster: who in his 91 years of life was one of Britain’s most successful novelists. He was raised in a climate of Victorian propriety so extreme he went to university without understanding human reproduction, and then fell in with a secret society known for alternative thinking and "aggressive" homosexuality. Italy — and later India — represented paradises of freedom and liberation in comparison to the cramped, horrid Edwardian upper middle classes. Erotic contact with the working-class/brown Other was the waters of Lourdes for this uptight Englishman, who was never able to transcend his own position. ----more---- SOURCES Wendy Moffat, E. M. Forster: A New Life (Bloomsbury, 2010). https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-a-man-out-of-time-e-m-forsters-a-passage-to-india-at-100-and-the-legacies-of-colonialism-236324 https://www.varsity.co.uk/features/25279 http://www.glbtqarchive.com/ssh/cambridge_apostles_S.pdf https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2014/11/06/forster-love-story/…

Topics covered

• literature
• biography
• LGBTQ history
• Victorian era
• colonialism

More episodes of Bad Gays

• Special Episode: Daniel Dunglas Home · April 2, 2026 · 1h 18m
• TRAILER: Extra Bad Gays February 2026: Mandelson, Gay Mafias, And Liza's Floor Mop · February 27, 2026 · 13 min
• Tom of Finland · February 10, 2026 · 1h 25m
• William Beckford · February 3, 2026 · 1h 9m
• TRAILER: Extra Bad Gays January 2026: Heated Rivalry · January 29, 2026 · 13 min
• TRAILER: Extra Bad Gays December 2025 · December 24, 2025 · 8 min

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Bad Gays podcast page.