An astonishingly frank and deeply autobiographical account of homosexual relationships in an
era when love between men was not only stigmatised but also illegal E.M. Forster's Maurice is
edited by P.N. Furbank with an introduction by David Leavitt in Penguin Classics. Maurice Hall
is a young man who grows up confident in his privileged status and well aware of his role in
society. Modest and generally conformist he nevertheless finds himself increasingly attracted
to his own sex. Through Clive whom he encounters at Cambridge and through Alec the
gamekeeper on Clive's country estate Maurice gradually experiences a profound emotional and
sexual awakening. A tale of passion bravery and defiance this intensely personal novel was
completed in 1914 but remained unpublished until after Forster's death in 1970. Compellingly
honest and beautifully written it offers a powerful condemnation of the repressive attitudes
of British society and is at once a moving love story and an intimate tale of one man's erotic
and political self-discovery. In his introduction David Leavitt explores the significance of
the novel in relation to Forster's own life and as a founding work of modern gay literature.
This edition reproduces the Abinger text of the novel and includes new notes a chronology and
further reading. E. M. Forster (1879-1970) was a noted English author and critic and a member
of the Bloomsbury group. His first novel Where Angels Fear To Tread appeared in 1905. The
Longest Journey appeared in 1907 followed by A Room With A View (1908) based partly on the
material from extended holidays in Italy with his mother. Howards End (1910) was a story that
centred on an English country house and dealt with the clash between two families one
interested in art and literature the other only in business. Maurice was revised several times
during his life and finally published posthumously in 1971. If you enjoyed Maurice you
might like Forster's A Room With a View also available in Penguin Classics.
