SOURCE: "Edward Carpenter and the Double Structure of 'Maurice'," in Journal of Homosexuality, Vol. 8, Nos. 3-4, 1983, pp. 35-46.

In the following essay, Kellogg takes as his point of departure a comment from E. M. Forster regarding the influence of Carpenter on his novel Maurice, and then proceeds to examine that influence with regard to specific structural aspects of the novel.

Maurice remains E. M. Forster's least appreciated novel largely because it is also his least understood novel. Because of the wide attention paid to the book's revelation of Forster's homosexuality, readers have not accorded it the serious attention they have paid to Forster's other works. The novel has been taken simply as a plea for homosexual rights on the part of a homosexual writer. And, as a didactic work, it has been thought to lack the qualities of subtlety and irony that mark Forster's other novels.

Despite Forster's...