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Mark's Reviews > Maurice
Maurice
by
by
Perfect! There is probably nothing I can write that hasn't been written before about this work from one of our great English authors. It has no doubt been criticised, scrutinised, analysed, investigated, praised and acclaimed, I will just write about how the book made me feel.
The style of English was so refreshing to read. A style and mastery that has been long since forgotten. It has a beauty to it that flows and melts coming from an era where conversation really was an art. Where every word was carefully picked and every sentence construction built to hold, last and sit precisely. A rare treat. Forster manages to describe the emotions of gay love by eluding to it but never the vulgar. I ask myself what would he think about our modern romances and language if he could read them today.
The book itself was like having my own personal time portal, swept back to a time, though noble also ignorant. A look into, class, social etiquette, traditions, and values of an era gone by. Into this was born Maurice and his fight for happiness begins. He goes through a personal hell and back, jilted by Clive who turns to women, here I reckon Clive was probably what we know to be bi today and was easier for him to bow to the pressures of society although quite possibly a sexless marriage to Anne. Maurice finds his absolution and love in the arms of Scudder the game keeper. An unlikely combination but Scudder's naive acceptance of his homosexuality is refreshing in it's nature. A character that creeps out of the background and has a more profound effect on Maurice than originally anticipated. 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. This would be all quite normal for this day and age and attitudes from society, you would have no other choice but to stay firmly in the closet and remain there! An extremely lonely feeling.
This book was far ahead of its time, therefore the publication after the death of the author in 1971, when society was ready to embrace its message. All I can say for anyone who wishes to read a classic from a master then READ THIS BOOK! It was a pioneering work of its day and anyone who takes their m/m romance literature seriously should read it as a shining example of how we've got to where we are today.
The style of English was so refreshing to read. A style and mastery that has been long since forgotten. It has a beauty to it that flows and melts coming from an era where conversation really was an art. Where every word was carefully picked and every sentence construction built to hold, last and sit precisely. A rare treat. Forster manages to describe the emotions of gay love by eluding to it but never the vulgar. I ask myself what would he think about our modern romances and language if he could read them today.
The book itself was like having my own personal time portal, swept back to a time, though noble also ignorant. A look into, class, social etiquette, traditions, and values of an era gone by. Into this was born Maurice and his fight for happiness begins. He goes through a personal hell and back, jilted by Clive who turns to women, here I reckon Clive was probably what we know to be bi today and was easier for him to bow to the pressures of society although quite possibly a sexless marriage to Anne. Maurice finds his absolution and love in the arms of Scudder the game keeper. An unlikely combination but Scudder's naive acceptance of his homosexuality is refreshing in it's nature. A character that creeps out of the background and has a more profound effect on Maurice than originally anticipated. 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. This would be all quite normal for this day and age and attitudes from society, you would have no other choice but to stay firmly in the closet and remain there! An extremely lonely feeling.
This book was far ahead of its time, therefore the publication after the death of the author in 1971, when society was ready to embrace its message. All I can say for anyone who wishes to read a classic from a master then READ THIS BOOK! It was a pioneering work of its day and anyone who takes their m/m romance literature seriously should read it as a shining example of how we've got to where we are today.
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Quotes Mark Liked
“You do care a little for me, I know... but nothing to speak of, and you don't love me. I was yours once till death if you'd cared to keep me, but I'm someone else's now... and he's mine in a way that shocks you, but why don't you stop being shocked, and attend to your own happiness.”
― Maurice
― Maurice
“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.”
― Maurice
― Maurice
“I knew you read the Symposium in the vac," he said in a low voice.
Maurice felt uneasy.
"Then you understand - without me saying more - "
"How do you mean?"
Durham could not wait. People were all around them, but with eyes that had gone intensely blue he whispered, "I love you.”
― Maurice
Maurice felt uneasy.
"Then you understand - without me saying more - "
"How do you mean?"
Durham could not wait. People were all around them, but with eyes that had gone intensely blue he whispered, "I love you.”
― Maurice
“It comes to this then: there always have been people like me and always will be, and generally they have been persecuted.”
― Maurice
― Maurice
“Nothing's the same for anyone. That's why life's this Hell, if you do a thing you're damned, and if you don't you're damned . . . .”
― Maurice
― Maurice
“He was obliged however to throw over Christianity. Those who base their conduct upon what they are rather than upon what they ought to be, always must throw it over in the end . . . .”
― Maurice
― Maurice
“He educated Maurice, or rather his spirit educated Maurice's spirit, for they themselves became equal. Neither thought "Am I led; am I leading?" Love had caught him out of triviality and Maurice out of bewilderment in order that two imperfect souls might touch perfection.”
― Maurice
― Maurice
“He knew that loneliness was poisoning him, so that he grew viler as well as more unhappy.”
― Maurice
― Maurice
“They cared for no one, they were outside humanity, and death, had it come, would only have continued their pursuit of a retreating horizon.”
― Maurice
― Maurice
“He longed for smut, but heard little and contributed less, and his chief indecencies were solitary.”
― Maurice
― Maurice
“He was not sure, but liked it. It recurred when they met suddenly or had been silent. It beckoned to him across intellect, saying, "This is all very well, you're clever, we know—but come!" It haunted him so that he watched for it while his brain and tongue were busy, and when it came he felt himself replying, "I'll come—I didn't know."
"You can't help yourself now. You must come."
"I don't want to help myself."
"Come then."
He did come. He flung down all the barriers—not at once, for he did not live in a house that can be destroyed in a day.”
― Maurice
"You can't help yourself now. You must come."
"I don't want to help myself."
"Come then."
He did come. He flung down all the barriers—not at once, for he did not live in a house that can be destroyed in a day.”
― Maurice
“He would not deceive himself so much. He would not â€� and this was the test â€� pretend to care about women when the only sex that attracted him was his own. He loved men and always had loved them. He longed to embrace them and mingle his being with theirs. Now that the man who returned his love had been lost, he admitted this.”
― Maurice
― Maurice
“I feel to you as Pippa to her fiancé, only far more nobly, far more deeply, body and soul, no starved medievalism of course, only a â€� a particular harmony of body and soul that I don’t think women have even guessed. But you know.”
― Maurice
― Maurice
“I think you’re beautiful, the only beautiful person I’ve ever seen. I love your voice and everything to do with you, down to your clothes or the room you are sitting in. I adore you.”
― Maurice
― Maurice
“You mean that a Frenchman could share with a friend and yet not go to prison?â€�
‘Share? Do you mean unite? If both are of age and avoid public indecency, certainly.�
‘Will the law ever be that in England?�
‘I doubt it. England has always been disinclined to accept human nature.”
― Maurice
‘Share? Do you mean unite? If both are of age and avoid public indecency, certainly.�
‘Will the law ever be that in England?�
‘I doubt it. England has always been disinclined to accept human nature.”
― Maurice
“He had brought out the man in Alec, and now it was Alec’s turn to bring out the hero in him”
― Maurice
― Maurice
“When love flies it is remembered not as love but as something else. Blessed are the uneducated, who forget it entirely, and are never conscious of folly or pruriency in the past, of long aimless conversations.”
― Maurice
― Maurice
Reading Progress
January 29, 2013
– Shelved
January 29, 2013
– Shelved as:
gay-fiction
January 29, 2013
– Shelved as:
classics
February 1, 2013
–
Started Reading
February 1, 2013
–
0.0%
"Time to edumicate meself!
Have been wanting to read this one for a long time being one of the pioneering books of modern gay fiction."
Have been wanting to read this one for a long time being one of the pioneering books of modern gay fiction."
February 2, 2013
–
30.0%
"So happy I've decided to read this book. Absolutely Devine! It's like having my own personal time portal that sweeps me away to an era where conversation really was an art form. Living and loving every page."
February 4, 2013
–
75.0%
"Maurice has been through emotional hell and back, but now Scudder is on the scene which means the HEA needle is now swinging towards the + side! Such a beautiful book and so far ahead if its time."
February 5, 2013
– Shelved as:
absolutely-fabulous
February 5, 2013
–
100.0%
February 5, 2013
–
Finished Reading
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BevS
(new)
Jan 29, 2013 12:46AM
Hey Mark, I remember the film. Some of Forster's stuff is a bit heavy on the old braincells!!
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I know, but I think sometimes you just need to give those old braincells a good workout and challenge one's horizons at times! The one I'm reading at the moment is OK, but I find the plot weak and is only held together by copius amounts of gratuitous sex. This is also more than fine, but like to have a balanced view sometimes.
Good on you Mark, its nice to slip a classic in every now and again! I'm like Bev seen the films but never attempted a book by Forster. :)
Thanks Macky, I'll be sure to let everyone know how I go! Hope I haven't bitten off more than I can chew, but it can't be worse than Shakespeare 
How trueth that be kind sir... But hark what be that glorious tinkle of china I heareth approaching.....................Bloody great a nice hot cuppa!! :)
Mark. Agree about the balanced view, but do like that book cos it's got a HEA, even if I didn't like everything that went on in it.It's always good to take another look at the classics. I think I'll be taking a look at some Dickens stuff again soon. I love David Copperfield and Little Dorrit. Got to try and get away from m/m for a little while, but it's sooo hard! (sent from kindle quickly while Wi-Fi is available and the rest of electric still off!)
Lovely review Mark, it sounds like this really touched base with you
Hey guys, thanks for liking my review, however I have just made some corrections. 
That's the problem with writing reviews at six in the morning and on my iphone with the auto correct. I would just like to know sometimes what it is supposed to correct!
Macky wrote: "Lovely review Mark, it sounds like this really touched base with you"Yeah Macky, it really did.
Awesome review sweet cheeks! Definitely sounds like a book I should read!
Love that one Gina, sweet cheeks!! I'll have to try and use that one in conversation as well!! Great review Mark BTW!!
P.S. Like the way you're blaming your Iphone like I blame my kindle, but that bloody predictive text is a bummer!!
Wow... excellent review David! Perhaps my brain cells are also in need of a work out!
Excellent review! Thank you for bringing this to my attention.
Great review, Mark. I watched the movie first, starring among others, a very young Hugh Grant and Rupert Everett. Then I read the book. I loved both equally. It’s been thirty years since I read “Maurice�, perhaps I should pick it up and read it again. I know when I do, I won’t be hiding the front cover from view. It’s so much easier to be gay now than it was in the homophobic, yuppie, big-haired, Reagan-80s. You know, “Just Say No�?
Thanks guys, it really is an amazing book.@Kris - you won't regret the time taken to read this book.
@Aves - I saw the film first too, didn't even know it was based on a book the first time I saw it. Too young and ignorant I guess. Thank goodness more than enough time has elapsed so I could read the book now without having the film intruding on my enjoyment of the book.
I don't know about what is was like in America under Reagan, but we didn't have it much easier here in the UK with his sidekick Margeret Thatcher, also hard line and probably would have wanted to lead a prsonal witch hunt on the gay community if she was left completely to her own devices.
You're quite right that things are a lot easier today, however I don't begrudge gay youngsters that today. I would like to think that gay people of our age helped to shape what we have today, as did the ones before us too. However, we still have issues still to fight for acceptance.
Hi Mark, just butting in to say Hi and send a big hug. Xoxoxo
Macky wrote: "Hi Mark, just butting in to say Hi and send a big hug. Xoxoxo"Thanks Macky, have left an update in FF in General Stuff. However, I think the notifications are as helpful as ever on GR - NOT! Therefore this quick ping back XOXO
Mark wrote: "Macky wrote: "Hi Mark, just butting in to say Hi and send a big hug. Xoxoxo"Thanks Macky, have left an update in FF in General Stuff. However, I think the notifications are as helpful as ever on ..."
Just got it. :) left you one back. Xoxo
What for a wonderful review! It is really difficult to believe that it was written in 1913-1914. I wish I could feel the same with the writing as you! But I'm struggling through it. :( Even a little pause for watching the movied(BTW, it is almost 30 years old already!) wasn't really helpful.
