Where Angels Fear to Tread by E.M. Forster

In a moment of insight, he describes himself as “trivial.” For a brief instant, it appears as if the tragic climax of this clash of cultures might stir him to develop into something more, but this is quickly crushed by one last plot turn, and Philip seems almost relieved that it is so. If there is a narrative center to Angels, it might be Philip’s perspective, although it seems to be overdoing it to call him the protagonist. In some ways, he is a forerunner of the pair of characters in Forster’s masterpiece, Howards End, Tibby Schlegel and Leonard Bast. There is one crucial difference: the Italians in the book somehow find a way to make their way of (not) doing things work (even if this is not enough to forestall a horrible event), whereas Philip aspires to nothing more than honorable failure. Caught between the two sets is Philip, the effete younger son of the suburban Herritons, whose sympathies are easily aroused by Italy and its people, in part because their inclinations coincide with his own. They break like a giant wave against the boulder of indolence that is the hallmark of the Italian set of characters, epitomized by the legend of the patron saint of the village church. At least the English, middle-class set of characters. If you think of the first half, you know what many of the characters do throughout the book. The title of this novel is the second half of a well-known saying.

Where Angels Fear to Tread by E.M. Forster