The Spanish version of E. M. Forster's Maurice: a curious censorship case

Abstract

ABSTRACTAs one of the great British writers of the twentieth century, E. M. Forster has been widely acclaimed for his novels Howards End (1910) and A Passage to India (1924), as well as for a large body of criticism. The posthumous publication of Maurice in 1971 has also attracted the attention of many British critics and has earned Forster a place in the canon of gay fiction. In Spain, a translation of Maurice was published as early as 1973, during the last years of Franco's regime, when a strict censorship system was still being enforced. How did this controversial book come to be authorised in Spain at that time? How did its homosexual content slip past the traditional homophobic views of Franco's censors? Was the Spanish translation softened or self-censored by the publisher or the translator? How does the Spanish reception of Maurice stand in relation to other books by Forster? This article describes information found in the censorship office files in an attempt to provide an explanation for this early Spanish translation of Maurice and the attitudes towards Forster's writings in the Franco era. These files contain valuable data that shed light on the reception of Forster in Spain.