著者

山中 信夫

出版者

東京女子大学

雑誌

東京女子大学紀要論集 (ISSN:04934350)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.26, no.2, pp.P81-119, 1976-03

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Maurice and The Life to Come, Forster's so-called posthumous works, published respectively in 1971 and in 1972, seem to necessitate a revaluation of his whole work, especially his novels, even if it is only that those new publications clarify most obscurities in his novels. This general sentiment is frankly expressed by Colin Wilson in his review of Maurice: "The answer now sticks out a mile." In this short essay the writer intends to reread The Longest Journey in the light of Maurice and grasp its hidden structure. Forster's attitude towards Maurice is the first key. Here he plays a double role, that is, the irresolute father ultimately unable to recognize his illegitimate son for decency's sake and the doting mother never giving up hope for the day of redemption. This implies an ego divided between conventions and freedom, that barely manages to hold out in a muddle at the risk of self-disintegration. Although in maurice he struggles hard in order to integrate "a happy ending", which is a victory of freedom over conventions, in effect a glorification of homosexual love, Forster is not successful; the part of "a happy ending" is really a fantasy chapter forcibly ingrafted into a realistic whole. The explanation for his failure is found in the same mental structure behind Maurice as mentioned above, for similar utter disruptions between those two polarities can be inferred from some evidences in Maurice. It is, therefore, not without reason to assume as a working hypothesis such a mental structure of Forster's behind his novels as well as his concealed theme of homosexual love in disguise. This hypothesis seems quite tenable especially in the case of The Longest Journey, for the novel belongs, as Forster mentions, to a similar climate to that of Maurice. Forster's introduction to The Longest Journey in The World's Classics is well worth notice in this respect. It happenes to coincide in its date with his Terminal note added to Maurice, and, besides, its careful reading shows that the real theme of the novel issupposed to be a glorification of homosexual love in the disguise of illegitimacy. It is inferred mainly from the analysis of the episode on the Rings quoted there. The book itself confirms this supposition. Rickie striving to face Stephen's illegitimacy is a displacement in fiction of homosexual love. The relation between Rickie and Stephen is a very delicate one, but it is explained chiefly by the analysis of the word 'a voice', used twice each time Rickie is at a critical moment. Actually, 'a voice' stands for Stephen's, but Forster deliberately uses an indefinite article instead of a grammatical 'the'. This suggests that 'a voice' should be a voice of universal truth heard simultaneously within Rickie. In spite of Rickie's failure to face this reality of homosexuality, Forster cannot but add an ambiguous redemptive chapter of Stephen, which is a mild counterpart of the happy ending of Maurice.