#expo63 Asks answered

[expo63]

24+ Maurice fanfic recs for the festive season: a belated advent calendar

Just over a month ago, I received a lovely Ask from @lavenderandheatherfield who’d fallen down the Maurice rabbit-hole and was seeking some fanfic recs. Apologies for my chronic slowness (i.e. semi-hiatus) but, I hope, good things may come to those who wait (if you haven’t read every single fic already by now!)

First, a shoutout for my old Maurice Ficlist (fic-finder) project: it’s not up to date but has its uses: https://mauriceficlist.dreamwidth.org/

The Maurice fics I recommend below are favourites for all sorts of different reasons, and this is not a rigorously ranked list. The list includes short and multi-chapter fics and occasional crossovers, serious Maurice fics, humour and outright crackiness, gen and not. As you might expect from me, there’s a preponderance of Maurice/Alec – but also some of the (IMO) very best Clive fics, occasional Maurice/Clive, some selected very good fics focused on the women of Maurice (Anne, Kitty) – there are more on AO3 – and one Risley (and Risley-esque) tour-de-force.

I’ve purposely picked older Maurice fics, and some beautiful fics not on AO3, on the principle that these won’t be on everyone’s radar. The current/recent Maurice writers active on AO3, whose work I also love, are also very worth reading, but feature only indicatively/tokenistically in this list as I’ve assumed readers are already finding them. Last, I’ve taken the liberty of reccing two of my favourites among my own fics ... not the most ‘obvious’, most-kudos’d ones. Anyway ... enjoy, and festive hope, cheer and health to you all. xx

1) Aurora Mundi by stuffwelike (Yuletide 2010)

After WW1, Clive & Anne travel to Florence & encounter some figures from the past. Healing, affirmative story.

2) Feels Like Snow by sandpipersummer (2009)

Maurice/Alec spend Christmas Day together in their modest cottage, some years after WW1. Beautiful, raw Christmas fic.

3) Bincombe Tunnel by sandpipersummer (2009) [requires AO3 sign-in]

An absolute favourite. (Not sure why the author has locked this; if you prefer it not to be recced, please get in touch.) Alec’s turbulent thoughts and feelings as he travels home after the hotel...

4) Happy Ending by devo79 (2012 on AO3) (earlier on dreamwidth)

Multi-chapter. For those seeking a Maurice/Alec WW1 fic, carefully researched, with very different twists and outcomes from a certain $27 book published this year.

5) Kitty by angie_silvie (2009)

There are a few fics on AO3 centred on Maurice’s sister Kitty Hall, but this predates them and is very good. Inspired by Forster’s abandoned 1914 Epilogue to Maurice.

6) Someone to Last Your Whole Life by chippy8833 (2013)

One for everyone who’s read Forster’s posthumous short story ‘Arthur Snatchfold’ and everyone who hasnt. Maurice and Alec’s first time, reimagined.

7) Someone Else’s Now by aldiara (2013)

A guilty pleasure. One for fans of class-war Alec and uppity Maurice being, ahem, put in his place. Tagged #rough sex #angry sex but consensual.

8) Somebody With Whom to Dance by Ea (eacalendula) (2010)

Post-canon, bittersweet. Clive & Anne on UK holiday in the 1920s. A furtive encounter opens tentative possibilities for Clive.

9) Unless We Remember by MissRizu (2013)

One of a couple of worthwhile multi-chapter Maurice/Alec fics that are solely on ff.net (the other is Bianca Pearl’s The Town Experiment). Some years post-canon, Alec is collared by Clive Durham in the street near the tenement he shares with Maurice.

10) A Most Unpromising Youth by etal (2019)

Inspired, hilarious, cracky, hot, just brilliant. Alec Scudder/Freddy Honeychurch, briefly. etal captures Freddy’s voice to perfection.

11) Jeeves and the Angels Unaware by toodlepipsigner (2010)

Another guilty pleasure. 10-chapter Jeeves & Wooster crossover with Maurice/Alec and a bit of Clive. Not one for the Clive lovers. Definitely one for lovers of pastiche, satire, a bit of smut and a satisfactory ending.

12) The Home Front by kindkit (Yuletide 2009)

Alec-centred with background Maurice, set in England during WW1. Maurice and Alec have refused the draft and live off-grid, subsisting as charcoal-makers.

13) Citizens of the Greenwood by polkadot (Yuletide 2014)

Maurice & Alec’s future together: seven vignettes following them through seven ages of 20th-century/queer history.

14) Alec by Basingstoke (Yuletide 2013)

Post-WW1. Alec, left with a physical disability by the war, is irrepressible as ever.

15) Travels and Investments: Two Gentlemen Abroad by julie_anne (2018)

One multi-chapter story in a wider universe / collection of post-canon works and series by julie_anne. Here, Maurice/Alec, in Italy and wider continental Europe after 1929, amid the rise of fascism.

16) Stories from the Greenwood by annethepancake (2021)

Maurice/Alec, multi-chapter fic post-canon fic, with some lovely ideas, great original characters, and (for me) nice echoes of some earlier Maurice/Alec post-canon fics.

=17) Make You Sorry for It by 12XU (2013)

Blatant self-promotion numero 1. A highly charged reimagining of the non-book-canon scene in the film where (at the suggestion of Ruth Prawer Jhabvala) Alec shows up without warning at Maurice’s stockbroking office in the City instead of writing his second letter. Inspired by a long-ago Tumblr post abou the scene concerned. ;D

=17) A Place I Always Fancied by 12XU (2015)

Blatant self-promotion numero 2. Written for the legendary @fengirl88 in response to the prompt ‘make our boys very happy’. Maurice & Alec at the boathouse the morning after. Alec has planned elaborately to ensure there’s no rush for them to leave.

18) Somewhere to Begin by geoviki (2006)

Early Maurice fic, written for what then seemed a non-existent fandom, and absolutely wonderful. Post-canon, post-WW1: Maurice & Alec, both invalided out of the war, take up employment in Cheltenham. But will their secret be discovered on their first day?

19) Anne Clare Wilbraham Woods by angie_silvie (2009)

Anne learns the truth: about the physical requirements of marriage for women, and more than that.

20) Pan Metron Ariston by athousandwinds (2010)

Or, ‘moderation in all things’, LoL. Maurice/Clive, E-rated.

21) A Breath of Liberty by chippy8833 (2014)

A bit more Maurice/Clive fixing: what might have happened if their creaky-chair UST hadn’t been rudely interrupted.

22) Clive’s Bloody Front Porch by eyeslikerain (2018)

Crack, smut, cheeky af. The Alec/Clive fic (after Maurice/Clive’s break-up, before Maurice/Alec; much reference to dog kennels and holes) you didn’t know you needed.

23) A Gentleman’s Tale by OpelForever (2021)

Contemporary multi-chapter opus starting at the tail-end of the 1990s, feat. Clive Durham, scion of Durham Logistics in Amsterdam, ‘coffee’ houses, Alec, much brand placement, and IDEK. This, and OpelForever’s wider millennium-and-after Maurice!verse, are some of the best fun I’ve had in these past Covid months. Just don’t ask me to explain.

24) Divagations of a Prig, Or: The Risley Reshuffle by HotUtilitarian (2017)

I was honoured to win this in a fic exchange: ‘HotUtilitarian’ is a nom-de-plume of a nom-de-plume of a terrifyingly gifted author. Book’verse, Cambridge: Risley and Clive ‘compete for the affections’ of dark!jock Maurice, ‘hairy as a boar’. Just leaving this here.

[thefoxhuntingman]

Is Cecil Vyse from A Room with a View a closeted homosexual?

To be honest I don’t remember him very well. I read the book three years ago and I remember the first chapter and a part of the second chapter much better than the others because I had to translate them for class,.

I suggest asking our resident Forster experts @expo63 and @tigris88 – they may give you a more satisfactory answer.

[ladyannelister]

I was tagged by @billpottz. Many thanks! :-D

A — age: 29 B — birthplace: Cleveland, Ohio C — current time: 6:39pm D — drink you had last: coffee E — easiest person to talk to: my dearest friend, @speareshakes F — favourite song: Pennies from Heaven - Billie Holiday G — grossest memory: Taking out the trash and finding maggots crawling all over the dumpster. Yuck! I — in love: I can’t answer this ‘yes’ or ‘no’. J — jealous of people: Extroverts’ ability to talk so easily in front of large groups of people. L — love at first sight or should i walk by again: Couldn’t hurt to walk by me again. M — middle name: Marie N — number of siblings: two O — one wish: Move to either Iceland or England P — person you called last: A classmate/friend. Q — question you are always asked: How tall are you? (answer: 5′10″) R — reason to smile: My books...and the friends that share my passion for books. S — song you sang last: Dear Fellow Traveller - Sea Wolf T — time you woke up: 6:00am U — underwear colour: minty green V — vacation destination: Bath or Reykjavik  W — worst habit: Tearing my fingernails  X— x-rays: Uhh, sure. Y — your favourite food: apples Z — zodiac sign: taurus

I tag @speareshakes, @robertsadmission, @thefoxhuntingman, @expo63, @omarandjohnny, @classic-movies-and-series, @wilfredowens, @queersandcommies, @nellietrelawney and @glamorous-polyamorous. No pressure though! :-)

[expo63]

i love and respect anyone who loves and respects Alec Scudder. Good day to you !

*Blush* I am ashamed – I’ve hardly been on Tumblr this year, so your message has been sitting in my inbox for, um, 2 months. :( 

BUT YESSSSSSS. <33

[expo63]

op can you please list any/all of the Maurice sequel books you are familiar with?? Im so curious

Hi there! (I guess ‘op’ means OP?)

There are a number of past posts/reblogs on my blog (tagged, and searchable) about the various Maurice book sequels. (NB: I’m using that term because of course there are numerous fanfiction sequels to Maurice too, most of which really worth reading.)

The full list of book sequels I’m aware of to date is:

Maurice and Alec in America by Fred Carrier (AuthorHouse, USA, 2005)

There’s been MUCH (appalled) past discourse about Carrier’s (vanity-published) book among Maurice fans/readers, stretching way back into pre-Tumblr times. It’s even been called ‘the ultimate badfic’. See, for example, this thread from 2007 on the old Mr Edna May Maurice fan comm. on LiveJournal.

Maurice: A New Beginning by L. R. Spickett (Austin Macaulay, UK, 2006)

Again, vanity-published. I haven’t read this one yet but would like to give it a try, not least as it’s the only book sequel by a British author. Spickett, like Carrier, avoids the supposed ‘problem’ of WW1 by pretending that Forster’s Maurice ends nearly a decade later, after the war, and starting his story in c. 1920. If you’d like to read about Maurice and Alec during WW1 (whether in the trenches or avoiding service), there are some really good fanfics.

End of Story by John M. Bowers (Sunstone Press, USA, 2010)

Published professionally by a small press in Santa Fe, where the author is an academic (though NOT a specialist in Forster or 20thC literature). Actually readable, well-written, and ambitious: it blends a US-set Maurice sequel (bringing Maurice and Alec to – you guessed it – New Mexico) with a 1980s/AIDS-era narrative to try to paint a big, sweeping picture of 20thC gay male experience and history across the generations. The downside? Bowers plainly did NOT gain permission from the Forster estate to use Forster’s characters. So (trigger warning) Bowers opens by killing off Forster’s Maurice (horribly), leaving Alec alone, and instead tells the story of ‘Martin’ and ‘Alan’ (!!!), whom he presents as a real-life pioneering queer couple whose lives Forster nicked as a model for Maurice.

Last, in May 2019 the publishing trade announced the future publication of a further US-authored ‘reimagining and continuation’ of Maurice:

Alec by William di Canzio (Farrar, Strauss, USA, scheduled for winter 2021)

This news was kindly shared on Tumblr by @audreyhheart (from Publishers Marketplace, 31 May 2019).

Unlike the earlier book sequels, Di Canzio’s Alec is being handled by a huge, prestigious publisher and none less than André Aciman’s literary editor, Jonathan Galassi. So, I’m guessing, it will presumably be the first officially sanctioned book spin-off from Maurice. Interestingly, its announcement was described as a ‘pre-empt’ – perhaps implying that there’s interest from other publishers or authors in publishing a Maurice sequel and Farrar Strauss/Galassi wanted to get in there first? I’m no expert on literary copyright and IP law (which differs between the UK and US and also applies differently to works completed or published in different years). But – an obvious point – 2021 falls 50 years after Maurice’s publication and 51 years after Forster’s death.

[expo63]

new (american) reader here, so is Maurice’s encounter with Dickie Barry meant to be read as him lusting after an underage boy or is the use of the word ‘boy’ being used to denote a lesser social standing?

Hi there. If you’re reading Forster’s Maurice, the answer is explained in the text:

Dickie Barry is Dr Barry’s nephew and a few years below Maurice at their boarding school (Sunnington), where Maurice ignores Dickie and fails to protect him from bullying. After school (in his late teens) Dickie becomes a military cadet at Woolwich. So they are from the same social class and Dickie is a bit younger than Maurice. This is all in the novel.

It’s important to take into account a few things. Forster was writing at a date when ALL male homosexuality was illegal in the UK: there was no age of consent that would make it legal. The Classical Greek model of homosexuality (adopted by Clive) was almost the only ‘positive’ model available to middle/upper-class youths of Maurice’s and Clive’s generation – BUT that model was hierarchical, and often pedarastic. Forster’s project in Maurice was to write against the Greek model, proposing instead mutual/equal relationships. (‘Neither thought “Am I led; am I leading?”’ – Maurice and Clive, Ch 18. And this mutuality is developed further and more radically in Maurice’s relationship with Alec.)

This is clear in how Forster writes the Dickie Barry episode. Maurice’s short-lived fever of lust for Dickie only happens because he’s in crisis: dumped by Clive, utterly alone, with no healthy channel for his desires. Maurice doesn’t act on it (though he hopes Dickie might) and immediately feels melodramatically guilty (start of Ch 30). Indeed, Maurice overreacts, rejecting a lunch date from a handsome French business acquaintance who definitely isn’t underage (and, as Lytton Strachey wrote to Forster in 1915, might have taught Maurice a thing or two). What’s equally interesting, though, is Dickie’s reaction as written by Forster in 1913-14. He ‘had rather not’, but has clearly faced situations like this before, perhaps at the military academy (‘he understood the situation perfectly’) and thinks it ‘unsoldierly’ to bolt the door against Maurice.

[expo63]

Hello! I saw that you've read Alec by William di Canzio and I'm trying to get a feel for the book before I seek it out. Based on what di Canzio said in the youtube interview with Wendy Moffat, it seems like he interprets Alec as strictly gay--did you find this to be true in the text of the book as well?

Hi there! Thank you for your Ask. Yes, I have.

Di Canzio’s replies in last month’s Free Library of Philadelphia online ‘in conversation’ book promo event with Wendy Moffat are all very close to what you’ll find in the novel itself, and his reply on this is no exception: his novel expressly treats Alec as really strictly gay, not bisexual.

[more/slight spoilers below cut]

WDiC makes it totally explicit that all of ‘his’ Alec’s early erotic attractions are to males. His novel therefore has to account for Alec’s flirtation with the maids – DiC explains this away as a parallel to Clive’s flip into ‘straight’ marriage rather than actual bisexual attraction. Girls (of course) like DiC’s Alec, and because DiC’s Alec is able to feel some low-key arousal with girls when they ‘touch him the right way’, until he meets Maurice he assumes/hopes he could marry a woman and go under the radar as ‘straight’.

Significantly, perhaps, WDiC gives Alec his first sexual experience with a man from his home village (Van) who does exactly that. Van gets engaged and married rather fast after the experience with Alec, but is written later in the novel as REALLY SUPER GAY.

In the Q&A, WDiC replied to the question about Alec’s orientation by (i) saying that ‘Alec is gay because I’m gay’ (not a literary or textual justification) and (ii) implying that, because, once WDiC’s Alec catches sight of Maurice, he realises that, no, he couldn’t possibly marry a woman instead, this ‘proves’ Alec is gay rather than bisexual. (Obviously a contentious assumption.)

As this review of Alec by Cathy Corman pinpoints, WDiC’s assumptions about early 20thC women and their level of awareness/sexual expectation in such a fake-straight marriage seem rather improbable, and the resulting sex is (as she says) weirdly written. The ‘characterisation’ of Van’s wife in the scene concerned makes her seem little more than a broodmare: she ‘knows’, but will placidly tolerate anything provided Van’s massive arousal merely from seeing Alec again after the war* gives her a second kid. Eeuurgh.

(*Fully clothed. Alec returns briefly to Osmington with Maurice, who instantly detects that Van+Alec have a history – leading to the absolutely bizarre ‘revelation’ that, 5+ years into Maurice+Alec’s relationship, Alec still thinks that Maurice had a sexual relationship with Clive. :O Surely M+A would have cleared that up on their very first night together ... or at the hotel ... or at the boathouse ... or at some point during their whole 10 months together before the declaration of World War I.)

[expo63]

hi wow I love Maurice and I cant believe you have so much content and meta on your blpg thank you so much ;__;

THANK YOU SO MUCH TOO! *blush* :)))

[expo63]

Hi! Thank you so much for your reply on my post. I am very happy to see that a restauration is underway, I can't wait to watch it! And thank you for the links, there are indeed much more edits than I thought and that's GREAT because this film is really worth watching. I guess I didn't know where to search. I'm going to watch all this and reblog, thanks again! x

Hi back! :-) *friendly wave*

I have my fingers crossed VERY hard that next year’s Maurice re-release will match this year’s fanfare around the restoration/re-release of Ivory’s Howards End. Maurice certainly deserves it! But, so far, the restored 4K remaster of Howards End has only screened in cinemas in the US (with a Blu-ray to follow in December), nowhere else. If Ivory/the Cohen Media group repeat that strategy with Maurice next year, I WILL DIE OF FRUSTRATION (or maybe even contemplate a costly trip to the US…) I’ve seen (original) Maurice on the big screen many times in the UK, but a 4K big-screen release will be something else. I’m already fatally overexcited! *EXPIRES*

Re. Maurice in fandom and on Tumblr: there’s also (some) fic, fanvids, meta, and more. (My top menu and tags list will lead you to some of this, if interested…) And Maurice crack. *slaps own wrist* because I’m personally responsible for some of that.

Maurice searches on Tumblr don’t always work too well – partly because the Tumblr search function is a mess anyway, partly because so many other, irrelevant, things are tagged ‘maurice’. For the latter reason, I have a ‘maurice 1987’ tag (and some other specialised ones)…

[expo63]

holmesianhumor said: I adore the Forsyte Saga. My one complaint would be: they skipped years very awkwardly and replaced the child actors with actors that looked nothing like them. Great overall story arch though.

holmesianhumor Hellooo! Sorry – when I tried to send this the usual way Tumblr lost my draft and lost your message. So I’ve had to resort to reconstructing it. *Sighs*

If we’re talking the 2002–3 re-adaptation with Rupert as Young Jolyon, as opposed to the weirdly legendary yet stiff 1967 BBC ‘original’ – and I’m sure we are ;-) – I adored S1, but S2 a little less.

My absolute favourite things are Young Jolyon ‘defying convention’ (LoL) by getting steamy with, then marrying, the French governess – and, above all, the exceptionally acted relationship and lovely chemistry between Young  and Old Jolyon, Rupert and the late, wonderful Corin Redgrave. (Younger brother of Vanessa – who, of course, Rupert has also worked with, most notably on stage in Martin Sherman’s 1989 two-plays-in-one A Madhouse in Goa. Here, I’m slightly sidelining 1997’s Mrs Dalloway – which starred Vanessa R as Mrs D, and Rupert really extraordinary as Septimus Warren Smith – since, strictly, speaking, the two characters lack shared scenes.)

I think I’m slightly allergic to the transition in family-saga story arcs when the attention shifts from the characters I’m invested in to the younger generation (in TFS, Generation 3) who started out as kids! Not because of the child/adult actor mismatch you mention (though that kind of miscalculation exposes a lack of care, IMO) but because I just didn’t care as much about the conflicts and romances of the June–Jon–Fleur generation. A related issue was that S3 required Jolyon/Rupert to stop being the would-be bohemian rebel (Rupert is very funny on this in interviews, btw: he decided Jolyon should be a mediocre painter with delusions of radicalism, and modelled him on Prince Charles) and morph into the forbidding old Dad to facilitate the conflict with June.

I should explain that I saw The Forsyte Saga when first broadcast. Back in 2002-3, hopes were high (among journalist-fans like Andrew Billen, not just silly me) that the role would (re-)make Rupert a huge star he should have been ... but (a recurring theme in his career) that didn’t happen. Looking back, I wonder if this was deliberate (this was a time when personal reasons make it understandable if he needed to keep a low profile). But, for a fan, it was infuriating almost beyond belief: week after week, all the media splash and all the magazine covers focused on Damian Lewis as Soames and Gina McKee as Irene. (You can also see this in the S1 episode synopses on the IMDb, which give the impression that it’s all about Soames...)

Very Important PS: And a BIG thank you for name-checking my blog and saying such awesome, kind things – not just once, but twice! *Sends hug of merriment* I meant to say thank you ages ago, but ... l even forgot my own Tumblr 3rd Birthday this spring. Still wondering whether a late birthday will look too pathetic to countenance...

[expo63]

klarburyvkladison said: Interesting, wow. The reason I asked is because of those kidfics and for some reason I thought Maurice alluded to wanting kids in the book? (Maybe that was just in a fic I read.) I’M never having kids, so I don’t think the “ideal life” involves that.

:)) Supportive and relieved smile for your bold ‘I’m never having kids’ declaration. 

You know what? I couched my post the way I did because I don’t say much about my personal life on here, and I was nervous about being judged – not by you, just by people-in-general – if I came out and said ‘I’m about to turn 50, and I literally forgot to have kids because I still think I’m 35, and I refuse to make a crisis of it.’ Rather than it even being an organised decision. (mr expo and I aren’t even well-organised enough to do the cleaning.) As if that would cause me to be judged (a) inhuman, or (b) disqualified to comment.

You query is making me have an ‘ugh, I need to re-read Maurice from start to finish and stop just over-investing in Part 4’ moment. The references I remember offhand are:

(i) At the Goblin House, when Clive suddenly mentions the family pressure to procreate and produce descendants to an uncomprehending Maurice. ‘These children will be a nuisance’, and ‘eternity in an hour’ (which I take to mean: have reproductive sex once, and your bloodline continues into eternity). Even this early on, it feels to me that Clive is starting to hint that he will ‘have’ to marry. Poor Maurice.

(ii) During the phase when Maurice is desperate to be ‘cured’ and considers trying to marry, you’re right that he does think of having children. (Dr Barry has advised Maurice that he could ‘marry tomorrow’ – on the dubious rationale that he’s examined Maurice’s dick and Maurice doesn’t have an STD. Dr Barry is an authority figure. Ergo it must be true.) I’m not sure, however, how far this is ‘Maurice strongly wants children’, or how far the thought is just part and parcel of his desperate desire ‘to be like other men’. (You may have a better idea than I do on this point!)

(iii) Maurice’s moments of envy/resentment/angst after he first catches sight of Alec, later stoked by Alec’s own goading at the museum. (‘Couldn’t you get a kid of your own, then?’ – ‘It’s not much use wanting’ – ‘I could marry tomorrow if I like.’) Again, I find it ambiguous how far Maurice feels sadness that he can’t reproduce, how far he just longs to be ‘normal’, and how far the issue is that Alec’s (boasted) ability to ‘[be]get a kid’ is destined to be a source of painful insecurity. (Insecurity about Alec’s – perceived – freedom to leave Maurice for a woman any time he likes, more than jealousy because Maurice longs to have a child of his own?)

(iv) The dynamic in (iii) is interesting. Logically, if Maurice longs for a child, he might subdue his jealousy enough to be happy for Alec to beget one ... maybe. But Forster cuts across this by writing that Alec is ‘interested’ by Maurice’s disclosure that he can’t marry like a ‘normal’ man. EMF doesn’t elaborate, but it seems that Maurice’s openness on this point triggers a change in Alec. In the 1914 version of the museum chapter, Maurice urges Alec to marry in Argentina if he ‘has the chance’ and blurts: ‘and if there’s a child, remember me’. This causes 1914!draft!Alec to go weepy (as he does a lot in this version), and declare: ‘I’ll remember you, child or none!’ But, again, it’s possible that the reference to marriage and children here serves mainly to heighten the emotive poignancy. When Maurice, at this point, daren’t even hope to keep Alec, it would be a stretch for him to hope for children...

[expo63]

Question about your OTP (assuming it's Maurice/Alec): do you think they had kids? You may have answered this before, although I know you have suggested some Maurice/Alec kid fics :) I don't think kids were alluded to in the epilogue, and I don't know the feasibility of it in later life?

Hello! Thank you for your ask – and your extreme patience!

To return to canon, Forster doesn’t float the idea of Maurice and/or Alec having children in their life together. For similar reasons to those explored in my OTP reply about housework, I think many of Maurice and Alec’s likely post-canon futures (especially WW1, or living rough or itinerantly in the ‘greenwood’) would make child-rearing impractical.

What I passionately wish for Maurice and Alec is that they would enjoy a long, fulfilled and happy life together – without paying the price of either total isolation (for their own safety) or permanent extreme hardship. Neither of them strike me as naturally solitary characters (and Maurice was damaged enough by loneliness and isolation before Alec found him). They’ll be bonded enough to be blissfully happy as a twosome; but, ultimately, they’ll need other people around them, too; they need friends. However (and this is a matter of gender and queer and wider progressive politics, and a strong belief that the choice to live in varied, non-[hetero-]normative ways is an important part of this), I’m strongly resistant to the idea that Maurice and Alec ‘ought’ to have children, or that they’d remain unfulfilled if they don’t.

 Forster’s vision of the ideal friend – ‘someone to last your whole life’ – was (and still is) radical because it declares that LGBT people have a right to the same ordinary stability, domesticity and companionship available to straight couples if they wish it (as opposed to societies that, in effect, force gay men underground into secret, transient encounters). Interestingly, this point is more explicit in Forster’s earliest-surviving (1914) draft of Maurice than the published novel, in which Maurice declares to Alec: ‘We can’t have the particular thing we want (which is roughly speaking marriage) unless we sacrifice something else.’ (Notes to Ch. 43 in the 1999 Abinger Edition of Maurice, pp.291–2. My italics.)

 However, this does not have to mean that Maurice/Alec’s love and partnership will be modelled on the conventional hetero nuclear family – with, or without, kids – nor that their love is second-best or incomplete if it follows an alternative model. If their future does bring them into contact with children – and make them part of those children’s upbringing – my personal vision is that this would happen in an extended/unconventional ‘family’ context.

As gay men in the 1910s to mid-20th century, I can see Maurice and Alec eventually finding their community or chosen ‘family’ within the queer or progressive subcultural circles of the period  – where they’d be popular, admired and inspirational to others, as trailblazers and role-models – and could be part of the shared upbringing of children with lesbian or bisexual mothers. Broadly, a non-conventional rather than nuclear family set-up. (I don’t want to say more because my thoughts here are influenced by one of the fics!)

I wondered if what your question had in mind is ‘families of choice’ as we conceive of these today: as an LGBT lifestyle choice and right, in this case with two gay Dads forming a (nuclear? married?) family with children. I think that ‘families of choice’ in this sense is a relatively new concept in discourses around LGBT rights and equalities. To me, the term implies something that would have been historically unavailable to Maurice and Alec – both as a concept and as a real-world possibility – whether in the 1910s, or in the (oppressively sexually and morally conservative) 1950s, before the Gay Lib Movement, when Forster put the finishing touches to Maurice. But it also, perhaps, implies an ideal of a gay relationship that – while it’s very popular is slash fiction – is closely modelled on straight marriage and the nuclear family (and hence not too troubling or challenging to heteronormativity).

It’s important to understand that some of the real possibilities for gay men of Maurice/Alec’s generation would result in ‘gay men with kids’ situations that we might find less palateable, less happy – far from the fluffy two-Dads-with-kids of some kidfics! – or less acceptable from a female-centred or feminist perspective.

First, I’m thinking (of course) of Forster’s own personal life from the 1930s onwards (once ‘the great novelist’ stopped publishing fiction but started to have sex), and his complex relationship with the younger policeman Bob Buckingham – the love of his life – as part of a triangle in which there was also Bob’s wife May, and Bob and May’s son (Robin), whom Forster loved, and whose upbringing he played a part in. Forster’s repeated anguish was that the men he loved deeply (working-class, or of colour) got married. With the Buckinghams, he gained great joy from being an unofficial parent to Robin. But we have to balance that joy against the fact that this situation was the product of a society in which Forster’s sexuality was illegal and not accepted, but in which he nonetheless wielded considerable class and gender power. He was making the best of a compromise – but a compromise permitted by his male and class privilege (while being, surely, extremely tough on Bob’s wife May).

Second, another real possibility in gay male culture (then or now) is that for Maurice/Alec’s ‘never be parted’ life partnership might not end up as the monogamous (modelled-on-marriage) pairing of conventional romance (or most female-authored fanfic). How do we feel about the possibility that they might be devoted life partners but in a sexually open relationship? (I very tentatively broached this in one of my fics – but even I couldn’t bring myself to open up the OTP beyond a one-off threesome-without-strings that, ultimately, only strengthened the Maurice–Alec bond.)

Following on from this, one last reason I’m resistant to Maurice/Alec + kids is as a result of seeing how the two male authors of unofficial, book-length Maurice sequels combine this with the gay male promiscuity trope – with (to my mind, as a woman and feminist) unpleasant results. Both books – the late Fred Carrier’s notorious badfic Maurice and Alec in America, and John M. Bowers’ more ambitious and readable End of Story –seem enthralled by fantasies of Alec as a promiscuous babyfather who can’t keep it in his pants (let alone save it all for Maurice).

I infer that both authors are/were gay or bisexual – so it seems that straight-seeming, casually-virile-with-women Alec is a gay/bi male fantasy. (It would be great to have some gay male input on this question, but I’m aware that the ‘straight’ – preferably, working-class – man who happens to like the homosex has history as an erotic archetype in gay male culture.)

I enjoy shag-tastic Alec as much as the next fan – but, from a sexual-politics, equalities or child-oriented perspective, Babyfather Alec as he’s written in these books sucks. Carrier’s Alec is an Irish–Marxist–Anarchist (seriously) whose impregnation of and marriage to an Irishwoman – to the distress of Maurice – is supposedly a mark of his political commitment. But It’s All OK For The OTP In The End because she conveniently dies, gaining Maurice/Alec a son. Bowers’ Alec figure (renamed ‘Alan’) shags anything in a skirt plus the indigenous Mexican males of Santa Fe – in both cases, tolerated to an unlikely extent by Maurice. Bowers gains positive points for writing the only story in which Alec/Maurice have a daughter, not son – but, less palateably, she’s produced by Alec indulging in droit de seigneur with his and Maurice’s Mexican housekeeper. In Carrier’s story, the mother of the child is disposable; in Bowers’, she’s a social unequal…

[expo63]

OH. Thank you! <3 That’s so lovely to hear!

There will be more ‘OTP Ask’ reples (going slowly because I’m poorly), so watch this space. And of course, if you have any questions ... Likewise Clive and his friends ...

*Big happy grin*

[expo63]

How would your OTP divide up household tasks?

Hello! Thank you for your ask (and for being patient about the wait for a reply!)

This is one of the most challenging OTP questions you could ask, as I hate housework and prefer not to think about it. :)

With Maurice/Alec, I think the answer also part-depends on what we think happens next for them in life after the film/Forster’s narrative ends – and, thinking about this, my mind kept getting fogged by the various post-canon futures that fic-writers and (unofficial) sequel-writers have imagined for them together. (As well as Forster’s own Epilogue that he wrote in c. 1914 but then dropped.)

Forster’s idea (in the Epilogue, anyway) was that M/A would drop out of society and live a simple, possibly itinerant, existence together in ‘the greenwood’ – in England, but remote from London, suburbia and ‘civilization’ – working as woodcutters, and probably moving around a lot to escape the radar of society and the law. But by the time he agreed to publish Maurice posthumously and prepared the manuscript of the version that would be published (1959–60), he was fully aware, first, that WWI would have intervened in M/A’s lives in some form very early in their relationship, and and, second, that the England of 1913-14 had changed irretrievably: ‘There is no forest or fell to escape to today’ (‘Notes on Maurice, 1960, p.221 in the 1971 Penguin edition). Forster’s ending (all versions) is subversive because it suggests Maurice would gladly sacrifice his social/economic/class position to be with Alec – but some fic and sequel authors ignore this and show post-canon Maurice remaining wealthy, or at least economically comfortable… 

I’ve gone into this preamble because, if the boys somehow retained a semblance of Maurice’s old standard of living, then they would have a housekeeper – relieving us (OK, me) of the challenge of figuring out who would do the cleaning/cooking/washing-up. :D

Conversely, if M/A lived simply or itinerantly, their ‘household tasks’ would be relatively simple, but survival basics like safe shelter and (hunting? foraging?) food would be the big challenge. If conscripted for WW1, they’d either be catered for (officer class) or told what their tasks were (ordinary soldiers).

In terms of their personalities and capabilities, I’m convinced Alec would be more resourceful and practically skilled that Maurice. I also see Alec as a ‘magical’ character: what is it, if not magic, that he gaydar’d Maurice, came to him in the Russet Room at the perfect moment, proves to be his life match, and is awesomely compatible with him in bed? He’s also bright: even Clive Durham (in the book) calls Alec ‘decidedly intelligent’. Accordingly, in M/A’s life together Alec will prove to have unexpected or hidden talents as well as the obvious ones.

Though ‘my’ Alec isn’t stereotypically femme-y, in my headcanon it’s obvious that he’s good at making a place clean, comfortable, and even seductive. I’m sure he put thought and intuition into arranging the boathouse for Maurice (as well as for his own comfort: ‘cushions the way I arrange them’) – an extra reason for him to be angry at Maurice’s no-shows! He would, obviously be skilled in hunting and trapping food, but I think also at things like carpentry, basic house repairs and (I like to think) furniture-making. Forster’s earliest drafts mention a past apprenticeship (Alec has some kind of a past before he came to work at Penge/Pendersleigh that isn’t elaborated), so that opens up various possibilities…

In contrast, Maurice comes to their life together with almost no practical (let alone domestic) skills – so much depends on how practical he turns out to be with Alec’s love (and fine example) to inspire him! He could keep their household accounts and manage the budget (if they earned money, rather than subsisting as freegans), but beyond that, it’s all down to his capacity to learn. Perhaps basic cookery could emerge as Maurice’s surprise talent (haha, after learning to light a stove in a certain fic). I don’t see either of the boys as naturals at washing, washing-up or mending (exception: unless they learn during WW1) – but why shouldn’t they share those tasks?

What I wouldn’t want to see is for M/A’s domestic roles to divide along gender-stereotypical lines. Not solely because I’m a feminist, but because Forster’s point in matching Maurice and Alec as life partners is their sameness and reciprocation, not difference – ‘In a way they were one person’ (Chapter 44). There’s already the class difference; IMO they don’t need ‘masculine’/‘feminine’ domestic roles imposed on that…