Categories: Contemporary Fiction Classic Books & Novels


Maurice - Penguin Classics
E. M. Forster (author), P. N. Furbank (editor)

Reprint

Paperback (28 Jul 2005)


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. Forsters 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 Clives 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 A tale of passion, bravery and defiance, this intensely personal novel was completed in 1914 but remained unpublished until after Forsters death in 1970.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 mans erotic and political self-discovery.

In his introduction, David Leavitt explores the significance of the novel in relation to Forsters 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 Forsters A Room With a View, also available in Penguin Classics.


Product details

Format Paperback | 272 pages
Dimensions 129 x 198 x 15mm | 202g
Publication date 30 Aug 2005
Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
Imprint Penguin Classics
Publication City/Country London, United Kingdom
Language English
Edition Statement Revised ed.
ISBN13 9780141441139
Bestsellers rank 3,117