Maurice - E.M Forster

"Maurice is heartbroken over unrequited love, which opened his heart and mind to his own sexual identity. In order to be true to himself, he goes against the grain of society’s often unspoken rules of class, wealth, and politics."

I am going to be honest. I had no idea what this book was about when I reserved it from the library. I knew that it was on a lot of classic to-read lists, and that E. M Forster is considered one of the foremost British authors. So I was quite surprised and happily shocked when I figured out what the book was about. 

When Forster penned Maurice, homosexuality was so taboo that there was no name for it. For a man to be with another man was a criminal offense. One of the most touching things about this book is seeing the protagonist – the closeted, very ordinary stockbroker Maurice – struggling to describe who he is and what he's feeling. He eventually comes up with something vague about Oscar Wilde. 

I appreciate the fact that Maurice, unlike Forster himself, is a very unremarkable man: he's conservative, a snob, not very interested in music or philosophy and rather dull. However, he's living with this extraordinary secret that affects his entire life and the book shows how he deals with it, in his secretive relationship with his Cambridge friend Clive Durham, and later with gamekeeper Alec Scudder. 

It would have been so easy for Forster to write a novel about a sensitive, soulful, brilliant, sympathetic character. How could we not love him, even though he's gay? But that seems to be the point. However, I did find it hard to actually like Maurice at all until the very end. He is emotionally brusque, misogynistic and thoroughly self obsessed. This is on hindsight a brilliant representation of a closeted man's anger and violently subtle rejection of social norms. 

Some details in the book are dated. The language at times feels stilted. The class system isn't as pronounced today as it was then. The influence of time setting is also seen in Maurice's relationship with Clive Durham.  The developing relationship between Maurice and fellow Cambridge student Clive Durham is touching in its intimacy and affection—but then, but then, but then— the relationship stalls at intimacy. Maurice is coaxed by Clive, led on (if you will), only to reach a wall—a wall of this-far-and-no-further. After ‘outing’ himself, Clive seemingly has no ‘out’ to arrive at. His bold confession to Maurice is overstated, leaving Maurice confused and wanting more. While this novel is certainly a matter of time and place, the Platonic relationship just doesn’t ring true for a contemporary understanding and certainly dates the book, it registers as alien in modern readers of anything other than Christian fiction.

Maurice eventually finds his absolution and love in the arms of Scudder the game keeper. An unlikely combination but Scudder's naïve acceptance of his homosexuality is refreshing in it's nature. This relationship did feel very rushed and I wasn't completely convinced about the lasting nature of it.  Scudder is a character that creeps out of the background and has a more profound effect on Maurice than originally anticipated. 

Overall a flawed book but one made a classic by the unusualness of its subject matter at the time. Maurice goes through an emotional hell and back, looking at his sexual orientation as an abomination, a disease that has no cure, though treatments are sought the internal struggle remains until it nearly drives him to suicidal feelings, and eventually acceptance.  It was a moving book, with some excellent passages.  I would say a must read for anyone interested in literary history. 

Age Rating 15+. Very light allusions to sex that you might even miss. Just some more difficult language and themes.