Maurice is a novel that isn't perfect, but that is beautiful in its imperfection. A bit of an unpolished diamond, I might add, like some other classics I remember fondly despite their minor flaws. I admit it's been a while since I read this novel, and I never really found the time to reread it, which is a shame, but I do have an old review of mine at hand, and I will use it to remind myself. Recently I have read Dandy, a contemporary novel with a similar theme of homosexual love set in past times, and since then I couldn't stop thinking about Maurice.

Maurice is a story of homosexual love in twentieth century England. Written in 1913- 1914, and revised a few times, this novel was finally published in 1971. Should we talk a bit about about the date of publication? It is worth mentioning that this book was not published when it was written, but considerably later- due to its controversial nature. Moreover, at the time it was published it was practically illegal and would not have been able to escape censorship. It's an odd things, a book that was written in one time period but published in another.

I always felt that books that have not been published in their time are almost like organisms that never lived fully or rather like those antarctic bugs that can be frozen and come alive again after half a century. By that I mean that these kind of books never got the change to live in their time, be reviewed, and to be put into context. They're like lost ships wondering the seas, until we discover them some day. They're like distant legends one senses but never sees...until they reappear in one shape or other and then you have that feeling of meeting a relic from the past. Even those who read these books immediately after upon publication probably had seen them as a thing past or at least belonging to another time. There is something different about them.

Where to start? Maurice is, in many way, an exceptional novel and I still remember how enchanted I was by it. Perhaps it is best to start with the opening of the story. The story opens up with a fourteen year old Maurice, who already dislikes the idea of future marriage. We follow Maurice through his university days, where he falls in love with Clive, a close friend who shows him the ancient Greek writings about same sex love. Maurice is very committed to Clive, but with time it seems that Clive becomes more open to a standard way of life.

The idea behind the story had great potential. It is clear that it was very important to the writer to get it just right. Fortunately, Forester succeeded. He developed the story to its potential. Not to its fullest potential perhaps, but he has done a great job nevertheless. At times Forster took the explanations a bit to far. While reading, I was sometimes a bit startled to find out that the omniscient narrator is explaining everything (including the things that in my view did not need explanation) but that shows something of a writer's dedication.


The story is not completely credible and perhaps it is not intended to be, especially towards the end. The author said that he wanted the ending that could not happen in real life. He had his reason and I respect that. The ending made the book not publishable, but that was the cost he was willing to pay for his artistic vision to come to life. Sometimes, when authors write semi-autobiographical stuff or to pass on some belief, they ruin the novel. Forester did not do that. The faults in this novel are all minor.

It was an interesting choice to put so much faith in some parts of the novel, or so it seems to me. What I'm trying to say is that some parts really capture the essence, especially towards the end. I had a sense that if one or two scenes did not work out, the novel would not be as good. (Luckily, they did.) On the other hand, the majority of novel everything is spelled out for you. I think I have already said that, though. There is some repetition in the descriptions and the explanations, but it's nothing overbearing.

The characterization is very good. The novel is dominated by man figures, but taking the subject matter into consideration that is no wonder. (I would be nice if there could have been some interesting woman character somewhere in there, but maybe that too does not fit in with the context?). Anyhow, this novel features an interesting set of characters.

Maurice, the protagonist is analyzed in detail. His inner struggled are at the center so it was important that he was credible. For the most parts, he really was. There were some odd moments, when it seems he was trying something just for the sake of the plot. Alex was perfect. Bolt out of the blue, but made sense, really good characterization. He is also the character I must sympathized with, although he does not get much space in the novel. Clive is…somewhat not defined. Maybe Clive is a type character, especially towards the end- he becomes a symbol for somebody set up in his ways, a snob.

One of the themes of this novel is class. Being raised in today's society one has to struggle to understand some things. Modern European societies do not really have such a strong class distinction, so reading about it took some getting used to. In other words, a reader needs to put in some effort to try to look at it from the perspective of characters. Probably modern day England isn't so divided, so they too probably have to look at books like this one from distance. This problem of class is portrayed very clearly in this novel although it comes into focus only towards the end. I would say that the main themes of this novel are personal freedom, sexual identity and class identity. Everything else is in the background or so it seems.

Part four of the novel put a big grin on my face, especially the ending. Who cares if it felt a bit rushed? What matters is that it felt right! The writing was very good, the characters were approachable, and the subject matter was of great interest to me. I would say Maurice is still relevant. The theme of density struggles that often come hand in hand with homosexual love isn't dated. Moreover, this book is well written, intelligent and original. To be candid, Maurice was more than I expected it to be. I wasn't expecting the emotions portrayed to be so vividly, and even if those emotional passages were often short, they had great force in them. Well, I think that is pretty much all I have to say about this novel. All in all, it was a very enjoyable novel.

2,5 stars.

Written in 1913 Maurice could have made a history if the author had had the courage to publish it at that time. A story of a homosexual upper middle class Britain set in the early 20th Century!  And then a bizarre HEA! With his idea and the main message - the acceptance of a human nature - E.M.Forster was for sure ahead of the times.



Unfortunately 100 years later it didn't exert the greatest impression on me. Along with the main characters that I didn't fond of too much, to my problems belonged the old-fashioned language and very clinical and emotionless writing style. I would have probably never managed to finish this book if I wasn't convinced by my friend Irina to put the book on hold and watch the movie. I followed her advice and really enjoyed it.



Having been armed with proper visuals I gave the book a second chance. And I'm glad I did it. The story became more emotional, entertaining and more compelling toward the end.
But something important, something essential, that makes a book to a personal event, that makes a book attractive and interesting for me was still missing.

I wish, I could say that I enormously enjoyed it but, sorry, I didn't. Confusing at times and lacking in eroticism and passion - I just wasn't feeling it.

For me it had more a kind of educational character, a historical document.

But I would highly recommend you the movie.

Mentre Maurice andava errando al di là della barriera con le parole sbagliate sulle labbra e i desideri sbagliati nel cuore e con le braccia piene di aria.

Maurice is said to be Forster's homage to same-sex love. It is so. Belonging to the same lot, Forster must have felt a strong need to express himself through fiction. When he wrote it in the early part of the 20th century, the time was not ripe for its publication. Same-sex love was an offense in England, in which criminal charges can be brought, so Forster had to wait till a better time. It never came during his lifetime, although homosexuality was legalized in England by the end of the 1960s. And though the book was published posthumously, Maurice will remain an important work of Forster and gay literature.

The novel isn't autobiographical. Forster stresses that. He says that he wanted to make his main character, Maurice, so unlike him - "someone handsome, healthy, bodily attractive, mentally torpid, ... and rather a snob". But the emotions are his. You can feel that in every sentence.

The story is focused on Maurice and his awakening to his own sexuality. Maurice doesn't understand his own nature until he was "shocked" into finding the truth about him through his Cambridge friend, Clive. Theirs was a platonic relationship, however, and this continues for few years. But even during this time, they both are aware of their precarious situation. Both young men, out of Cambridge, are expected to carry on the torch that is handed over to them. They are expected to marry and contribute to the next generation. Forster writes about Maurice: "The thought that he was sterile weighed on the young man with a sudden shame". Maurice knows that he is physically alright, but he is mentally impeded and cannot carry on the duties expected of him. The matter is made worse by the knowledge that he cannot live by the accepted notions of society. Although he keeps the knowledge a secret from it, deep down he knows that he is a "social outcast". But the crisis isn't that. It is yet to come to Maurice in the form of a moral blow, mentally agonizing himself to the point of suicide. This is when Clive becomes "normal" (in which it is to be understood that he was becoming attracted to women) and decides to end their "friendship". Now Clive can carry the torch, whereas Maurice had to burn in its flames. The agony that Maurice goes through amounting to utter madness is heartbreaking. Forster's portrayal of Maurice in his crisis is sincere and touching. "I swear from the bottom of heart I want to be healed. I want to be like other men, not this outcast whom nobody wants" is his soul's outcry. But Forster offers Maurice a chance of heeling through Alec Scudder, a man of a lower class than him. Through his relationship with Alec, Maurice experiences a full sexual awakening which helps him ultimately to defy the barriers of class, conventions, and normality to finally find his true self and with it, happiness.

Forster confesses he wanted to write a happy ending for Maurice. Perhaps, he wanted to see people like him having happier futures like other men in their own choosing. To be a homosexual or heterosexual is not a choice. We don't "choose" to be one or the other. It's part of our human nature. It's beyond our doing and cannot be controlled by us. The English lack of understanding of this simple truth comes under severe criticism from Forster when he says that "England has always been disinclined to accept human nature". During Forster's life several attempts were made to legalize homosexuality although not successful till towards the end of 1960s. However, although couldn't be legalized, these legal manoeuvers should have brought social knowledge and through knowledge, sympathy, understanding, and acceptance. But to Forster's utter dismay, none came. When Maurice goes to consult a doctor to find whether he could be "healed" of his homosexuality, he daren't utter the word. Instead, he says “I am an unspeakable of the Oscar Wilde sort!” Imagine how one would feel if one cannot express his own true nature even to a doctor. Forster wants to bring to light through Maurice this unfair social prejudice against a section of men who in return had to suffer "hell" in enduring it.

The centerpiece of the novel is Maurice's story, yet, Forster doesn't abandon Clive. Due to some physiological change, he becomes what we call today a bisexual, and Forster shows us that he has no easy time either. Clive's relationship with his wife is mostly platonic. He suffers from belonging to two different worlds and is desperately trying to find some ground through politics. Through all these expositions, Forster, quite honestly, shows the true side of human nature. He seems to say that being muddled is part of human nature and that it's quite alright. And he invites social sympathy and understanding to heal these confused sufferers.

The story of Maurice is nothing much. And the personalities of the characters make them quite aloof. But Forster catches the attention of the readers with his beautiful, thought-provoking, and emotional awakening writing. He makes us question whether much has changed from his time. We are now in the 21st century, yet, even at present, we can see enough Maurices being persecuted socially. Although in many countries homosexuality is legally accepted, this hasn't completely altered their situation as social outcasts. Some cultures still look at homosexuals with disgust. Legality cannot bring acceptance, only human sympathy and understanding can. And that is what we must thrive to achieve as Forster dreamt in his Maurice.

2022 update:
I appreciate this novel more on this reading, fresh from experiencing the story from the gamekeeper's point of view in Alec, and also fortified with insights from Forster himself in his Terminal Note in Maurice, written in 1960. Forster credits Edward Carpenter for his contributions; I looked into his life as well. All of this to say that these sources were bubbling in the background as I read Maurice.

It no longer reads to me as something unfinished or unpolished. Forster says "the book certainly dates" but that is part of its appeal, being so firmly rooted in the early 1910s when so much of life, seemingly permanent, was to be swept away by world events.

2015 review:
When I originally read this I felt frustrated by the restraint, in the text and especially in the relationship between Clive and Maurice. This time around, blessed with a little more of what I like to call life experience, I appreciated the book more. It is a kind of historical document, a glimpse of a way of life which was soon to be changed by World War I.

I wonder what this book would have been like if Forster had felt that it could be published and he worked on it more seriously with the help of an editor, and had otherwise treated it just like one of his other books. Instead, what we are left with is a glimpse of what might have been.

Me ha parecido un libro extraordinario, de esos que no se olvidan y que merece con el tiempo una o varias reelecturas.

A 'Goldilocks' book: some gay books are too sad, some are too happy, but this one is just right! The 1913 writing feels restrained, yet a great deal of life occurs in this story. Maurice goes through the roller-coaster of acceptance emotions as he comes out in his early 20's to himself and a few acquaintances. He can be ultra happy, and he can be practically suicidal with sadness. This allows the reader to feel the book could oscillate into either territory right up through the final few pages.

A very solid 5 for me. I'll need to buy my own hardcopy!

Spoiler - stop reading.
I like the 6-page 'terminal note' section after the book ends, where Forster says "A happy ending was imperative. I shouldn't have bothered to write otherwise."

I admit that I stayed away from reading any synopsis of this book prior to my reading. Knowing however that a recent 'sequel' called Alec is currently available, led to some ideas. But I really liked the way this book ended on a positive, yet unknown-future note. I have seen this book 'recommended' in lists that contain heartache books, so I was ready for a variety of endings, especially one that led to tears. I am so thankful for this actual ending!

I must now check the movie out from my local library and see if they did justice.

I already have 'Alec' on-hold at my local library.

“I’m an unspeakable of the Oscar Wilde sort.”



Maurice is a tale of a gay young man whose unrequited love opened his heart and mind to his own sexual identity. Through his intimate relationship with Clive Durham, in times when homosexuality was considered a crime (it still is a criminal offence in several countries), he struggles to accept himself as he is and explains how he feels and in an attempt to stay true to himself goes against the society and its rules of class, wealth and politics.

“It comes to this then: there always have been people like me and always will be, and generally they have been persecuted.”

Since Maurice was written a century ago, it is more explicitly gay than any YA book I’ve ever read or than I expected it to be.

Forster was gay and feared Maurice would end his career if published in the year of its completion, 1914. So he requested Maurice be published only after his death along with a collection of short stories about homosexuality, The Life to Come.

Maurice is as relevant as any other book which represents homosexuality. Through Maurice, Forster hopes for a better time and place when and where people can be who they are without the fear of social and political bias and legal consequences.

I don’t have anything else to say in praise or criticism that hasn’t been said already. It was my first Forster read, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, it was beautiful and emotional, and I look forward to reading more of his books.

“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.”

Well, as old English as the writing style is, Maurice is still current and controversial to some readers of certain conservative viewpoints. It’s a coming of age story of a young English gentleman that explores human sexuality as well as class division. Forster wrote this novel in 1913 but forbade its publication until after his death in 1968. Definitely a four star read for me.

DNF @ 58% (2023)

Whelp, I think it's safe to say I'm not a fan of E.M. Forster's writing style. I DNF'd A Room with a View, and now this one. Twice.

Maurice is a pompous, self-involved, bland character. He's designed to be, so good work there. But I didn't like him. He was marginally more interesting when he was with Clive, but then that fell apart in the weirdest way possible. Clive gets pnuemonia and is "cured" of the gay via Nightengale Syndrome. Ooookay. At that point, I quickly lost all interest in the book but I kept reading/skimming for a few more chapters to see if something redeeming happened soon enough to make me keep trying to push through this, and I just gave up.

Plus, Forster's writing is haphazard at best. He does a lot of telling, but it's done in way that you still can't track what's happening from scene to scene. There's no real transitions and the way the characters spoke was often vague and confusing. I've read other books from the time period this was written, so I know it's not just a "product of its time" issue.

I was really hoping I could finish this this time around since this is a gay "love" story (is it really a love story, though?) that was written in 1914-1915, not published until after the author's death nearly 60 years later. Undoubtedly revolutionary at the time, and it paved the way for gay lit afterwards, but my lack of interest in Maurice and the writing ultimately made this a no-go for me.

DNF @ 31% (2016; audiobook narrated by Peter Firth)

I feel bad about this because so many of my friends adore this story, but...

I don't know if it was the narrator's kind of wispy voice or his inability to differentiate the characters so I couldn't always tell who was talking, or just thinking Maurice was a massive dunderhead, or if there was just a tad more telling versus showing than I care for, but this one was not working for me. I know it was revolutionary for its time, and it's considered important and all that, but this plot is pretty standard nowadays. There's a line where the author describes Maurice as a mediocre boy in a mediocre school, and well, I can't help but feel that "mediocre" is a good way to describe this story too.

Possibly my new favourite book of the year so far. I absolutely loved this one - beautiful, moving, such a powerful read.

| |  blog |  tumblr | ko-fi | |

3.5 stars (rounded up)

“No tradition overawed the boys. No convention settled what was poetic, what absurd. They were concerned with a passion that few English minds have admitted, and so created untrammelled. Something of exquisite beauty arose in the mind of each at last, something unforgettable and eternal, but built of the humblest scraps of speech and from the simplest emotions.”

There is much to be admired in E.M. Forster's Maurice. While it saddening to think that although he wrote Maurice in the 1910s he was unable to publish the novel during his lifetime, Forster did at least share it with some of his closest friends.
Maurice follows the titular character of Maurice Hall from boyhood to adulthood. In the opening chapter a teacher, knowing that Maurice's father was dead, feels the need to educate him on sex. Maurice however doesn't find this conversation enlightening, if anything it cements his aversion towards women and marriage. It is perhaps this incident that makes Maurice begin to question his sexuality. Although he never does so explicitly, his otherwise privileged existence is marred by self-questioning and doubt. Throughout the narrative Forster depicts the way in which homosexuality was regarded in the early 20th century: Maurice himself doesn't know what to make of his desire towards other men. The country's general attitude towards “unspeakables of the Oscar Wilde sort” range from pure denial, so they will dismiss homosexuality as “nonsense”, or “condemn it as being the worst crime in the calendar”.
At university Maurice becomes acquainted with Clive Durham. Clive, unlike Maurice, is a scholar, and lover, of ancient Greek philosopher and is apt to quote their teachings. While Maurice is simply enamoured with Clive, Clive wishes to attain a higher form of 'love' (“love passionate but temperate, such as only finer natures can understand,”) and believes that by being with Maurice their “two imperfect souls might touch perfection”. Unlike Maurice, Clive finds the idea of their becoming physical intimate to be distasteful, implying that it would spoil their relationship.
When the two are no longer at university together the two no longer have many opportunities to spend time together. their physical in their relationship, Clive insists on adhering to his ideal of love. Later on, Maurice finds himself pursuing a relationship with Alec, Clive's gamekeeper.
The first half of the novel brought to mind Brideshead Revisited. This is quite likely to the university setting and the various hierarchies there are at play there. Both Maurice and Clive come from wealthy families. They are fairly pretentious, prone to make snobbish remarks, and are fairly misogynistic. Forster himself points out all of their flaws and is unafraid of poking gentle fun at them. Because of this I felt less disinclined towards them, even if I didn't strictly like them.
This isn't a particularly happy novel. There is bigotry, self-loathing, heartbreak, and suicidal contemplation. At one point Maurice is diagnosed with 'congenital homosexuality' and even attempts to 'cure' himself by way of a hypnotist. Yet, Forster's prose is full of beauty. There are plenty of stunning passages in which he discusses and contrasts romantic and platonic love (Clive/Apollonian vs. Maurice/Dionysian), physical and intellectual desire, or where he describes beautiful landscapes. Forster adds a poetic touch to negative emotions such anguish and despair, so that even when his narrative never really succumbs to the darkness experienced by Maurice and his moments of introspection carry definite beauty.
Perhaps the thing that kept from loving this as much as Forster's A Room with a View is the lack of chemistry...Alec appears towards the end and in no time Maurice seems in love with him. Alec's personality is somewhat reduced to his being of a lower class. Still, while Maurice may not join what I consider to be the holy trinity of classic LGBT literature (for those who are wondering: The Charioteer, Giovanni's Room, and The Price of Salt/Carol) I still think that it is a brave and illuminating novel (Forster's afterword alone is worth reading).

Read more reviews on my blog / / / View all my reviews on Goodreads