The Autobiography of Lord Alfred Douglas

Cover picture(first published 1929)

Lord Alfred Douglas (1870 – 1945)
Language: English

Lord Alfred “Bosie” Douglas wrote his autobiography in his late fifties, some 29 years after the death of Oscar Wilde. Since the publication of his first memoir, “Oscar Wilde and Myself” (1914), Douglas’s anger at his former lover had cooled somewhat, but he still took the opportunity to strike back at his many perceived enemies. (summary by Rob Marland)

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Oscar Wilde Discovers America [1882]

Cover picture(first published 1936)

Lloyd Lewis (1891 – 1949) and Henry Justin Smith (1875 – 1936)
Language: English

In 1882, Oscar Wilde toured North America from New York to San Francisco and Montreal to New Orleans, lecturing on art and home decoration. The American public was familiar with Wilde thanks to the newspaper cartoons that mocked him and his fellow aesthetes for their peculiar dress and ideas. They were more eager to see his long hair and knee breeches than hear him talk. Oscar Wilde Discovers America [1882] is the first full account of Wilde’s tour. Lewis and Smith create a picture of Wilde at the very beginning of his career, and vividly conjure the cultural milieu of America at the end of the 19th century. (summary by Rob Marland)

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Oscar Wilde Twice Defended

Cover picture(first published 1934)

Robert Sherard (1861 – 1943)
Language: English

Robert Sherard was Oscar Wilde’s friend of 20 years and first biographer. The Life of Oscar Wilde was the last of the four books he wrote about the Irish playwright and wit. Oscar Wilde Twice Defended is a shorter work than his full length biographies (The Life of Oscar Wilde, and The Real Oscar Wilde), in which Sherard responds to other Wildean biographers, including André Gide and Frank Harris. (summary by Rob Marland)

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