In this blog, you can expect several posts about the E.M. Forster, his homosexual-themed literature, some of the very interesting social circles he kept, and more. But first, I must address his perhaps best, albeit least known book. And that is not the novel Maurice, but rather the collection of short stories titled The Obelisk.

Where Maurice focuses on a constrained story within the limitations of Edwardian society, The Obelisk breaks out far beyond such boundaries, consisting of stories scoping from colonizers and missionaries right through to the stories one assumes were contemporary when written; deemed an assumption because Forster never published his gay-themed literature before his death in 1970 at the age of 91.

The array of themes and situations covered in this collection is truly astounding. The homosexuality of a President; the post-war condition of a soldier whose heart will fail if it is caused too much excitement and beats too fast; a case of Stockholm-syndrome for a man raped by a band of goths (as they are referred to in the story) existing on the fringes of a provincial town; and a museum curator who gets flustered in proximity to Ancient Greek and Roman statues, with their flurrying leaves of concealment, whilst trying to serve a protecting hand from all this for his son — these are just four of the eight very enticingly and wittily written short stories in the collection.

As far as I know, The Obelisk is only available in the English language. I ordered my copy on Amazon. If you enquire at a local bookstore, I imagine they’d be able to at least order it in for you, but that’s of course something I can’t guarantee. In any case – where there’s a will, there’s a way. Happy reading!