A great unrecorded history : a new life of E.M. Forster
With the posthumous publication of his long-suppressed novel Maurice in 1970, E.M. Forster came out as a homosexual--though that revelation made barely a ripple in his literary reputation. As Wendy Moffat persuasively argues, Forster's homosexuality was the central fact of his life. Between Wilde's imprisonment and the Stonewall riots, Forster led a long, strange, and imaginative life as a gay man. He preserved a vast archive of his private life--a history of gay experience he believed would find its audience in a happier time. Moffat's decade of detective work--including first-time interviews with Forster's friends--has resulted in the first book to integrate Forster's public and private lives. Seeing his life through the lens of his sexuality offers us a radically new view, revealing his astuteness as a social critic, his political bravery, and his prophetic vision of gay intimacy. This book invites us to see Forster--and modern gay history--from a completely new angle.--From publisher description
Print Book, English, 2010
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 2010
Biography
404 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm
9780374166786, 0374166781
428926421
Prologue : "Start with the fact that he was homosexual"
pt. 1. Becoming a "grown up man"
"A queer moment"
Kings and apostles
"A minority, not a solitary"
"The spark, the darkness on the walk"
"Ordinary affectionate men"
"Parting with respectability"
"A great unrecorded history"
pt. 2. Happiness can come in one's natural growth
"Do not forget your ever friend"
"Toms and Dicks"
"A little like being married"
"The last Englishman"
"My dear America"
"I favor reciprocal dishonesty"
"The worm that never dies."