‘An unspeakable of the Oscar Wilde sort’

This chapter explores the ways in which Maurice in 1913 processed the legacy of the Aesthete Oscar Wilde’s imprisonment in 1895. Even though the only direct allusion to Wilde occurs in Maurice’s interview with Dr Barry, the presence of Wilde’s reputation emerges in the ‘aesthetic push’ at Cambridge. In principle, Maurice’s abandonment of Clive marks the moment when the narrative confirms that an aesthetic homosexuality proves unappealing. Instead, Maurice’s intimacy with Alec marks a turn toward a physically intense homosexual desire that takes its cues from Edward Carpenter’s thought. At the same time, the threat of blackmail that haunts the intimacy between Maurice and Alec also recalls the disclosures about Wilde’s involvement with homosexual extortionists. The chapter therefore reveals that the influential argument that Robert K. Martin ventured in 1983 – where he claims that the first half of Maurice focuses on a Platonic homosexuality, while the second half stresses a male same-sex passion derived from Carpenter – is not as clear-cut as he suggests. Forster’s concerted efforts to dis-identify with Wilde point to the considerable degree to which the Aesthete’s plight in 1895 continued to shape understandings of homosexuality through the period leading up to the First World War.