Trigger warning added to EM Forster’s A Passage to India by US publisher: Disclaimer cautions that the 1924 novel contains ‘offensive’ language and ‘attitudes of this time’

Readers opening A Passage to India are confronted with a note warning them of the “offensive“ language and “cultural representations” contained in the book.

The disclaimer adds that publishing Forster’s work in an unedited form does not constitute “an endorsement” of the writer, who is often regarded as one of the greats of the 20th century.

The warning printed in the book has raised concerns that canonical works by British writers are being dragged into “febrile” American cultural conflicts, and unfairly deemed offensive by publishers swayed by “United States sensibilities”.

The warning printed in the opening pages of the 2021 US edition of A Passage to India states: “This book was published in 1924 and reflects the attitudes of its time. The publisher’s decision to present it as it was originally published is not an endorsement of any offensive cultural representations or language.”

The novel concerns a school mistress visiting the fictional city of Chandrapore and the nearby Marabar Caves, where she is allegedly sexually assaulted by an Indian doctor, bringing about a reckoning with racial tensions.