Maurice By E. M. Forster (Paperback, 2005)

Product Description

An astonishingly frank & deeply autobiographical account of homosexual relationships in an era when love between men was not only stigmatised but also illegal EM Forster's Maurice is edited by PN Furbank with an introduction by David Leavitt in Penguin Classics Maurice Hall is a young man who grows up confident in his privileged status & well aware of his role in society Modest & generally conformist he nevertheless finds himself increasingly attracted to his own sex Through Clive whom he encounters at Cambridge & through Alec the gamekeeper on Clive's country estate Maurice gradually experiences a profound emotional & sexual awakening A tale of passion bravery & defiance this intensely personal novel was completed in 1914 but remained unpublished until after Forster's death in 1970 Compellingly honest & beautifully written it offers a powerful condemnation of the repressive attitudes of British society & is at once a moving love story & an intimate tale of one man's erotic & political self-discovery In his introduction David Leavitt explores the significance of the novel in relation to Forster's own life & as a founding work of modern gay literature This edition reproduces the Abinger text of the novel &

Includes:: new notes a chronology & further reading E M Forster (1879-1970) was a noted English author & critic & 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 & dealt with the clash between two families one interested in art & literature the other only in business Maurice was revised several times during his life & finally published posthumously in 1971 If you enjoyed Maurice you might like Forster's A Room With a View also available in Penguin Classics