Machine Stops

Machine Stops Synopsis

E. M. Forster (1879-1970) was an English novelist, short story writer, essayist,and librettist. He is known best for his ironic and well-plotted novels examining class difference and hypocrisy in early 20th-century British society. Forster's humanistic impulse toward understanding and sympathy may be aptly summed up in the epigraph to his 1910 novel, Howards End: "e;Only connect..."e; His 1908 novel, A Room with a View, is his most optimistic work, while A Passage to India (1924) brought him his greatest success. First published in 1909, Forster's short science fiction work, "e;The Machine Stops,"e; posits a technology-dependent humanity now living underground, its every need serviced by machines. But what happens if--or when--the machines stop? "e;The Machine Stops"e; was named one of the greatest science fiction novellas published before 1965 by the Science Fiction Writers of America.

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