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The genesis of Maurice—the novel by E.M. Forster, which became a film that has inspired countless GIFs of a floppy-haired Hugh Grant—is profoundly enduring in literary circles.
During a visit to the home of Edward Carpenter, a poet, philosopher, socialist, and early gay rights activist, Forster had a profound experience. Carpenter’s working-class partner, George Merrill, touched him just above the tush. Forster described this moment as seeming to “go straight through the small of my back into my ideas.” He began writing Maurice soon after, in 1913.
Forster’s explorations of queer love and how it is tamped down by class dynamics are a steady influence on Serviette. There are many ways to find inspiration, but a simple caress on the small of one’s back being the origin of a classic novel, published posthumously in 1971? Impeccable.
Forster’s disdain for class rituals is evident from his 1912 voyage to India, which included a moment where he felt out of place for not following English etiquette. Writing to a friend from the SS Birmingham, he noted, “We began all by not dressing”—for dinner—“but the others have gone over to Society.” Mirroring this experience, Maurice thinks: “It was a dinner-jacket evening… and though he had respected such niceties for years he found them suddenly ridiculous.”
In the novel's closing scene, set in a shadowy grove on Clive’s estate, Maurice confesses his love for his gamekeeper, Alec Scudder. Stunned, Clive seeks a way to preserve Maurice’s social standing. He invites him to his London club for a discreet discussion, reassuring him, “Dinner-jacket’s enough, as you know.” These are the last words Clive will ever say to Maurice, who has vanished into the night, unseen.
Byronic Hero takes inspiration from this world: rose, saffron, oud, patchouli, fir balsam, and a trace of diesel exhaust building a portrait of romance pushing against convention.