Maurice
Audible Audiobook
– Unabridged
| Price | New from | Used from |
|
Audible Audiobook, Unabridged
"Please retry" |
$0.00
| Free with your Audible trial | |
|
Mass Market Paperback
"Please retry" | — | $16.95 |
|
Audio, Cassette, Audiobook
"Please retry" | $59.95 | $19.57 |
- Kindle
$0.99 Read with Our Free App -
Audiobook
$0.00 Free with your Audible trial - Hardcover
$19.21 - $25.653 Used from $19.20 8 New from $19.83 1 Collectible from $41.28 - Paperback
$9.74 - $11.9970 Used from $2.35 31 New from $10.46 - Mass Market Paperback
$16.952 Used from $16.95 - Audio, Cassette
$59.952 Used from $19.57 1 New from $59.95
Exclusively from Audible
'Ah for darkness...not the darkness of a house which coops up a man among furniture, but the darkness where he can be free!'
Maurice Hall knows he must choose between living life in the shadows or denying himself a chance at love and fulfilment. Aware of his attraction to the same sex, in a time where it was considered unlawful and immoral to have homosexual desires, Maurice must decide whether to battle or submit to a prejudiced 20th-century English society.
A passionate and poignant tale, E.M. Forster's Maurice was a masterpiece ahead of its time. Incapable of believing that his contemporaries would accept its content, Forster refused to publish it, fearing that it would expose his sexuality along with his hero's.
Having witnessed, at 16, the very public trial and chastisement of Oscar Wilde, Forster grew up with an acute awareness of the kind of society he inhabited. This affected him immensely and, as such, he refused to publish any further fiction during the last 37 years of his life. Despite being one of the most celebrated authors of British history, Forster's talents were as constrained as his love life. Realising that he could never publically talk or write about the issues he held close to his heart, Forster made A Passage to India his last work.
He wasn't mistaken about his society, and when Maurice was published, posthumously, many were scandalised by the controversial content.
Unfortunately, Forster never experienced the freedom which his protagonist seeks, but Maurice has far outlived an age of bigotry and is now widely celebrated and critically acclaimed.
Narrator Biography
Having started his career as a leading child actor, Peter Firth received a Tony Award nomination for his performance in Peter Shaffer's play Equus (1973) at only 21. He later starred with Richard Burton in its film adaption, earning him a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor and an Academy Award nomination. His other film work has included roles in Pearl Harbor (2001) and The Greatest Game Ever Played (2005).
He is best known for his role as Sir Harry Pearce in the BBC show Spooks (2002-2011), appearing in every episode of the show's 10 series. Recent roles have included Jacob Marley in the BBC's Dickensian series (2015) and Ernest Augustus in ITV's drama series Victoria (2016).
He has narrated several audiobooks such as Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Birdsong and Witness. In 2015, Peter starred in Audible's multicast drama Amok.
- Listening Length6 hours and 22 minutes
- Audible release dateJuly 2, 2010
- LanguageEnglish
- ASINB003VXLSEU
- VersionUnabridged
- Program TypeAudiobook
Your audiobook is waiting!
Enjoy a free trial on us
$0.00$0.00
- Click above for unlimited listening to select audiobooks, Audible Originals, and podcasts.
- One credit a month to pick any title from our entire premium selection — yours to keep (you'll use your first credit now).
- You will get an email reminder before your trial ends.
- $14.95$14.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel online anytime.
Buy with 1-Click
$13.99$13.99
People who viewed this also viewed
- Audible Audiobook
- Audible Audiobook
- Audible Audiobook
- Audible Audiobook
- Audible Audiobook
People who bought this also bought
- Audible Audiobook
- Audible Audiobook
- Audible Audiobook
- Audible Audiobook
- Audible Audiobook
Related to this topic
- Audible Audiobook
- Audible Audiobook
- Audible Audiobook
- Audible Audiobook
- Audible Audiobook
Product details
| Listening Length | 6 hours and 22 minutes |
|---|---|
| Author | E. M. Forster |
| Narrator | Peter Firth |
| Audible.com Release Date | July 02, 2010 |
| Publisher | Audible Studios |
| Program Type | Audiobook |
| Version | Unabridged |
| Language | English |
| ASIN | B003VXLSEU |
| Best Sellers Rank | #78,634 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) #26 in LGBTQ+ Classic Fiction #1,937 in Classic Literature #8,320 in Classic Literature & Fiction |
Important information
To report an issue with this product, click here.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonReviewed in the United States on March 8, 2019
-
Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
Although not published until after E.M. Forster’s death in 1970, Maurice was written immediately after Howard’s End during the years of 1913 and 1914. Forster follows an adolescent Maurice Hall though public school, Cambridge, and the great love affair that transitions him into adult life.
Maurice is an enchantment. A powerful tour de force that challenges the assumptions in which Forster’s highly structured society placed all of their spiritual faith and scientific belief. Although set in an England where, according to Forster, “it was still possible to get lost,” its relevancy to our time and the battle we continue to fight is shocking. The construction of the story, the depth of the main characters, and the sweeping tides of fire that move beneath the still poetry of Forster’s words at once bring you to your feet and drive you to tears.
I am currently in the throes of a paper on Forster. In the last six months I have read through his body of work and live in awe of his irrevocable genius and capacity as a human being. He is a man who loved England, mourned the loss of the “greenwood,” and evoked its memory in the inky realms of its written descendants. In his intelligence and commentary on society, he is an extension of Austen. He is a unique voice that understands, communicates, and ponders the morphing identity of Britain.
Maurice and Clive are psychologies of epic proportion. Their experiences, both together and separate, move the novel forward, one minute gliding smoothly along and the next spiking off course with ferocity. They balance each other so well in growth and magnitude that when they break apart the reader is just as crushed and confused as Maurice. The internal and external restrictions they face are battled with developing self-awareness and an imbedded rejection that Maurice overcomes with the presence of Alec. At the end, Clive remains within the world that he has placed himself in, with a wife and social standing, while Maurice is set free, saved from a life that threatened to entrap him. Even Alec, who is not introduced into the novel until the beginning of the close, is properly flushed out and hints at an individual that at once resonates with the raw reality of earthly beings, while bearing transcendent qualities of the poet’s muse.
At its core, Maurice is a gorgeous tale of the homosexual man’s journey towards identity and companionship. It is also a giant middle finger towards all of the people who promised Forster that homosexuality was a disease, an illness, a crime. It continues to be a middle finger towards all of those bigots that still believe such notions and poison the minds of our children with their discrimination and zealotry. Forster does not punish Maurice. Far from it. Instead, Maurice is rewarded, gifted with the love of another and the love of himself, finding clarity in self-recognition. It is this grand gesture and the author’s notes at the end that give us hope for the future.
It is Clive whose fate is tragic and, at the end of the novel, Maurice states, “I was yours once till death if you’d cared to keep me, but I’m someone else’s now – I can’t hang about whining for ever – and he’s mine in a way that shocks you, but why don’t you stop being shocked, and attend to your own happiness?”
Forster, E.M.Maurice: A Novel.New York:W.W.Norton, 1993.
pageterror.wordpress.com
Everybody thought that the story - even though it was written in 1913 - reflected very modern feelings about being gay and coming out. It mirrored a number of our coming out stories in college. We discussed the very strict class distinctions and how it affects both Maurice and Clive, and then Maurice and Alec. We considered the possibility that Maurice could follow Alec to The Argentine, but decided that the class ties couldn't be broken this way. We also discussed what might have happened to Maurice and Alec after the novel ends. (This is very "Downton Abbey.")
Forster writes people and characters very well. He doesn't describe places and environments as well. We did think that the women's roles, however, were week. Maurice's sister Kitty is only lightly drawn and Clive's mother is conspicuously shallow. Only Clive's wife, Anne, seems slightly interested and interesting in her very Victorian, very well dressed sexless marriage.
We discussed two of our favorite scenes: Maurice and Clive ride off to the country together on a motorcycle to spend the afternoon in a way that would never be re-created. Maurice and Alec meet in the British Museum and are confronted by all of history and their new-found emotion.
While we all understood the visit to the hypnotist (and the emerging Freudian world that was emerging at this exact time), we questioned Maurice's appearance in the open window at night, mystically calling to Alec. This might have seemed out of place, but we were reminded of Maurice's grandfather who had mystic theories about the sun, which were somehow transferred to Maurice.
We discussed why Forster was compelled to write such a novel, even though he knew he couldn't publish it and the comparisons to his life. Richard (thanks for your research!) discovered a discussion of Forster's diaries (entitled "Poor Dear, How She Figures") written by Alan Hollinghurst in the London Review of Books. This explains much of Forster's relationship with his mother and women, and describes the world in which "Maurice" was written.
I also uncovered the Andrew Holleran review in the Gay & Lesbian review (entitled "The Last Englishman") of the Forster biography, which describes Forster's attraction to the lower classes and more about his novels.
While written 100 years ago, "Maurice" has not aged much and still seems relevant, almost more than the James Baldwin "Giovanni's Room," (which we read in the group several months ago) which was written 40 years later and seems much more of the period when it was written.
Top reviews from other countries
Reviewed in Spain on April 9, 2023















