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Maurice was written in 1914 by E.M. Forester but was only published posthumously in 1970. It is a tale of forbidden romance set in the early 20th century and has been described as something ‘deeply personal’ to Forester. Maurice Hall meets Clive Durham when he goes to the University of Cambridge for higher studies.
Clive finds himself being sexually attracted to Maurice and confesses so to him. Maurice, then realizes, that he is homosexual when he understands that he reciprocates Clive’s feelings. The two indulge in a passionate romance but have to eventually split when Clive decides that he cares about his social reputation more. Maurice is heartbroken but when he meets Alec Scudder, a servant at Clive’s house, things take an interesting turn for him.
Introduction
Book’s name - Maurice
Author - E.M. Forester
Genre - LGBT, Romance
Language - English
About the Book
Maurice is a novel centered around its protagonist- Maurice Hall’s life. It is set in the early 20th century and talks about homosexuality, crises of young adulthood, the pursuit of true love, following one’s heart, and what happens when one does not do it and goes against what they truly desire, or rather who they truly desire.
Maurice Hall leaves to study at the University of Cambridge and meets Clive Durham, a fellow student at the university. They develop a close friendship with each other and soon Clive confesses to Maurice that he is sexually attracted to the man. It is then that Maurice realizes that he reciprocates what Clive feels and that he is homosexual.
However, their passionate romance is short-lived because Clive realizes that he cannot stay in a homosexual relationship with someone and that societal repute is of more importance to him. Maurice is heartbroken but in the midst of his grief, he meets Alec Scudder, a servant who works in Clive’s house, and something begins to blossom between the two of them.
About the Author
Edward Morgan Forester was an English fiction writer and essayist. A lot of his work is about class differences and hypocrisy. Some of his other great works include ‘A Room With A View’, ‘Howard’s End’ and ‘A Passage To India’. He was awarded a Benson Award and was also nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in twenty separate years.
Personal Verdict
Maurice is a thrilling, soul-shaking tale of young people and their struggles in love and how society meddles with every decision that they make- be it something to do with their professional or personal lives. Forester beautifully demonstrates the struggles that queer person goes through when they realize that they might not exactly fit the norms of sexual and gender orientation that society has put up for people.
The book follows Maurice Hall from his childhood to his adulthood and the plot picks up momentum when he goes to study at the University of Cambridge and meets Clive Durham. Maurice and Clive fall into a passionate, short-lived romance and it is when Clive realizes that he could not handle the taint that his perfect social reputation would have to sustain should he continue to indulge in a homosexual relationship with someone that Maurice has his first, real heartbreak.
Forester, through Clive and Maurice’s relationship, highlights how fickle young love can be, how societal influences and pressures are real and affect people to an unimaginable extent, so much so that they base all their lives around it.
Clive and Maurice continue to remain friends though, and it is during a visit to Clive’s place that Maurice meets Alec Scudder, a man who rekindles his faith in love and drags out of dormancy his desire for what he truly wants
The book is available in both hardcover and paperback as well as in an e-book format. It is up for sale across the globe and can easily be found on any e-commerce website or bookstore.
Famous quotes from the book
“I am unspeakable of the Oscar Wilde sort.”
“Did you ever dream you had a friend, Alec? Someone to last your whole life and you his. I suppose such a thing can’t really happen outside sleep.”
“It comes to this then: there always have been people like me and always will be, and generally they have been persecuted.”
“I swear from the bottom of my heart I want to be healed. I want to be like other men, not this outcast whom nobody wants.”
The Bottom Line
Maurice is a book that one would not be able to put down once they pick it up. It artistically captures what it was like to be homosexual in a time like the early twentieth century, homophobia in both internalized and externalized forms, and how life for people who fell in love with those who they could not conventionally marry was nothing short of a hassle.
My ratings for the book- 5 on 5
Get your copy from Amazon- Maurice by EM Forester
Written by Smriti Gupta
Edited by Tamanna Rathor
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