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Set
in the elegant Edwardian world of Cambridge undergraduate life, this story by
a master novelist introduces us to Maurice Hall when he is fourteen. We follow
him through public school and Cambridge, and on into his father's firm, Hill
and Hall, Stock Brokers. In a highly structured society, Maurice is a conventional
young man in almost every way, "stepping into the niche that England had prepared
for him": except that he is homosexual. Written during 1913 and 1914, immediately
after Howards End, and not published until
1971, Maurice was ahead of its time in its theme and its affirmation that love
between men can be happy. "Happiness," Foster wrote, "is its keynote.... In
Maurice I tried to create a character who was completely like myself
or what I supposed myself to be: someone handsome, healthy, bodily attractive,
mentally torpid, not a bad businessman and rather a snob. Into this mixture
I dropped an ingredient that puzzles him, wakes him up, torments him, and finally
saves him." |
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| Edward
Morgan Forster was born in London in 1879. He was
the only son of Edward Morgan Llewellyn Forster and Alice Clara Whichelo. They
were an upper middles class family but unfortunately his father, an architect,
died when of consumption before E.M. Forster was two years old. He was raised
by his mother and great-aunt Marianne Thornton. It was his mother (known as
Lily to family and friends) that gave him the awareness of injustice and sense
of propriety that is evident in his novels. E.M. Forster shared a house with
his mother until her death in 1945. Forster's life was one of studies and travels.
He attended Tonbridge School, and throughout his life remained connected with
King's College, Cambridge, even after he graduated. He travelled to Italy, Germany,
Egypt and India, becoming very acquainted with India in particular. These travels
provided many of the settings and situations for his novels
and stories. He had several short stories published in journals such as the
Independant Review and his first novel - Where Angels
Fear to Tread - was published in 1905 when he was only 26 years old.
The "most brilliant, most dramatic and the most passionate of his works" (Lionel
Trilling) and his most autobiographical novel The
Longest Journey was published two years later in 1907. A
Room with a View followed in 1908, the first part having been written
years earlier when the author was in Italy. When Howards
End was published in 1910, Forster, at 31 years of age, was established
as a respected and economically successful writer. He became a part of the Bloomsbury
Group, "a set of Bohemian thinkers and doers who revolted against the manners
and morals of Victorian England" (Jerry Carroll). Besides Forster, other members
of the Bloomsbury Group included Virginia Woolf, John Maynard Keynes, Dora Carrington
and Lytton Strachey. E.M. Forster's last novel, A
Passage To India was published in 1924. The story depicts the complicated
reaction to the British Raj and has been called "a classic on the strange and
tragic fact of history and life in India" (Lowes Dickenson). The book cemented
his literary reputation and despite only writing relatively few novels, E.M.
Forster has been acknowledged as one of the 20th century's greatest writers.
Foster continued to write political essays and biographies and later became
a broadcaster for the BBC. He was known as a great humanist and frequently spoke
out on affairs of the day. He was awarded with membership in the Order of Companions
of Honour in 1953 and he received the Order of Merit in January 1969. E.M. Forster
died on 7 June 1970 in Coventry aged 91. His novel Maurice
written between 1913 and 1914 was published posthumously in accordance with
his wishes. |
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MAURICE - THE NOVEL
Maurice
- Barnes & Noble.com
E. M. FORSTER
'Only Connect'
- The Unofficial E. M. Forster Site
Aspects
of E.M. Forster
HOWARDS END - THE NOVEL
Howards
End - Barnes & Noble.com
WHERE ANGELS FEAR TO TREAD - THE
NOVEL
Where Angels Fear to Tread - Barnes & Noble.com
THE LONGEST JOURNEY - THE NOVEL
The
Longest Journey at Barnes & Noble.com
A ROOM WITH A VIEW - THE NOVEL
A
Room with a View - Barnes & Noble.com
Bjorn Smestad's
A Room with a View homepage
A PASSAGE TO INDIA - THE NOVEL
A
Passage to India - Barnes & Noble.com
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