Maurice by EM Forster

[forestofglory]

So I read Maurice. R's mother lent me a copy after I saw her watching the movie and went "ooh Cambridge shinny!" (I will read/watch pretty much anything with set at Cambridge.)

I didn't like it as much as I'd hoped. It was a lot grimmer then I expected. This may be a failure on my part -- I should have remembered that being gay in 1913 was dangerous. However there was also less Cambridge then I expected.

The whole character who got the flu and then wasn't gay any more? What was up with that? The flu? really?

Also I totally fail to find the two men desert their families, jobs ect to peruse a relationship that is only a few weeks old to be a happy ending.


Also the current book I'd reading (Dragonhaven by Robin McKinley) is frustrating me to no end. I'm 40 pages in an there has yet to be any story just long rambling info dump. Which might be ok, if only the author knew something about taxonomy -- like say what a clade is or how binomials work. (Hint if a bunch of species binomials have the same 1st word in generally means they are closely related) Also knowing a bit about conservation biology would help too. Also there is no lichen on Mars -- not even a little bit. If it doesn't get better soon I shall give up.

Comments

[lavendersparkle]

I love the book Maurice. I first read it when I was a teenager and it's my 'I want to read melodramatic Mills and Boon type fiction without feeling guilty' type book.

I used to joke a lot about the dangers of straight flue after I first read the book. However, as time has gone on I've been won around by it, particularly in comparison to the film. The flue thing is weird, but the idea that someone who was firmly gay and willing to risk scandal to be in a relationship with another man might gradually find that he likes men more than he used to is really rare in modern fiction. It's completely changed in the film where Clive just gets scared back into the closet by the conviction of one of his friends. However, I know a lot of people who have felt their sexuality shift over time a various points in their lives. I'm quite surprised at the number of gay people I knew in my teens (myself included) who are now in happy mixed sex relationships. Sometimes they met the right boy or girl; sometimes there was a more internal shift. I think particularly in the US there's a strong push to view sexuality as fixed from birth for political reasons, because it makes sexuality more like race so gay rights battles can be fought on equal treatment grounds. One of the things I like about Maurice is that there's a diversity of sexual experiences. Maurice is firmly homosexual no matter how much he tries not to be. Clive's sexuality changes randomly without his wishing it to. Alec is bisexual but decides to risk everything to be with a man. I like that it's not forcing everyone's experience into a politically defined mould.

Does your copy have the Termial note? I think the ending makes more sense in the context of the book being inspired by Edward Carpenter and George Merrill.

[forestofglory]

My copy had the terminal note but I wasn't familiar with Carpenter and Merrill-- but I've now gone and looked them up. The book does make more sense in that light.

I find the suddenness of the "straight flu" more unbelievable then a shift in sexuality over time.

Anyways this may be a book where I let my expectations get in the way of enjoying what the book as it is.