The Evolution of E. M. Forster’s Maurice

Abstract

Forty-seven years, to the month, after he had begun Maurice, E. M. Forster described it in his ‘Terminal Note’ of 1960 as still almost retaining ‘its original form’.¹ Since there are, however, three versions of the novel, dated 1914, 1932 and 1959 respectively, I propose here to examine in detail the extent to which Forster’s statement is accurate. A study over the past two years of its three typescripts, in the possession of King’s College, Cambridge, has convinced me that an Abinger Edition of Maurice, with variants, would be of considerable value to students of Forster, and I offer what follows as a prolegomenon to such a work. Whether Maurice would in fact be included in the Abinger Edition seemed to its then editor, Oliver Stallybrass, early in 1978, sadly unlikely; one can only hope, a year later, that a favourable decision will eventually be made.