Overview

A REVELATORY LOOK AT THE INTIMATE LIFE OF THE GREAT AUTHOR--AND HOW IT SHAPED HIS MOST BE LOVED WORKS 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 in A Great Unrecorded History, 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. A Great Unrecorded History is a biography of the heart. 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. A Great Unrecorded History invites us to see Forster-- and modern gay history--from a completely new angle.

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9780374166786

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Reviews

<p> [ A Great Unrecorded History is] a well-written, intelligent and perceptive biography . . . [Moffat] uses the sources for our knowledge of Forster's sexuality, including letters and diaries, without reducing the mystery and sheer individuality of Forster, without making his sexuality explain everything. --Colm Toibin, The New York Times Book Review <p> None of [Forster's] biographers have had either the will or the wherewithal to concentrate as closely on Forster's sexuality as Wendy Moffat . . . In A Great Unrecorded History, she offers an insightful, revelatory portrait of a man who deeply resented having to hide such an important side of himself . . . Ms. Moffat's overarching interests are in tracing Forster's attitudes about sex and hypocrisy and in placing this increasingly outspoken figure within the context of his changing times. --Janet Maslin, The New York Times <p> Wendy Moffat's reexamination of E. M. Forster identifies his homosexuality as the essence of his cre

<p>&#8220;[ A Great Unrecorded History is] a well-written, intelligent and perceptive biography . . . [Moffat] uses the sources for our knowledge of Forster&#8217;s sexuality, including letters and diaries, without reducing the mystery and sheer individuality of Forster, without making his sexuality explain everything.&#8221; &#8212;Com T&#243;ib&#237;n, The New York Times Book Review <p>&#8220;None of [Forster&#8217;s] biographers have had either the will or the wherewithal to concentrate as closely on Forster&#8217;s sexuality as Wendy Moffat . . . In A Great Unrecorded History, she offers an insightful, revelatory portrait of a man who deeply resented having to hide such an important side of himself . . . Ms. Moffat&#8217;s overarching interests are in tracing Forster&#8217;s attitudes about sex and hypocrisy and in placing this increasingly outspoken figure within the context of his changing times.&#8221; &#8212;Janet Maslin, The New York Times <p>&#8220;Wendy Moffat&#8217;s

Author Information

WENDY MOFFAT is a professor of English at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. A Great Unrecorded History is her first book.

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