The harsh brainless stupidity of Victorian England collapsed, and Wilde is remembered rightly as an avatar for truth, kindness, and zingy one-liners for every occasion. The particularity of detail is breathtaking and presented always as a coherent, flowing and utterly captivating narrative, and when Wilde emerges from Reading into the beautiful and disgusting world, into a life of humiliation, penury, skin problems, loneliness, and separation in exile, you would need a heart of stone not to laugh at the preposterous imbecilities of the society Wilde was spoofing. Ellmann writes powerfully about Wilde’s trial and incarceration. Parodied and pilloried since he first dared to lecture in knee-breeches, Wilde was always swatting enemies away and poking their hypocrarses, and as his career picked up traction, the vultures suppurated on the sidelines until the blood-axe dropped on the sweaty mattress of boneheaded bastard Bosie. From Wilde’s unhumble beginnings as the son of two reputable writers, to his college days in the thrall of Ruskin and Pater, to his flowerings as a poet and spokesman for aestheticism, Ellmann presents the working Wilde, a complex contrarian and sneak-tongued snark, as he slowly becomes Wilde the Myth and Wilde the Wit. Richard Ellmann’s superlative bio ranks alongside the finest in the genre, with his earlier James Joyce volume already firmly in the pantheon. During the first period he was a scapegrace, during the second a scapegoat. You may also wish to check out the other Oscar Wilde related books currently available in the Windmill Bookshop.Wilde had to live his life twice over, first in slow motion, then at top speed. Please see all photographs for an overview of the book's condition.Īny questions or if you'd like to see more photographs, etc., please drop me a quick message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.
This book is generally in good condition apart from a tear to the upper left hand corner of the dust jacket rear, a diagonal cut to the lower right corner of the dust jacket inner where the original price has been removed, and a 9.5cm square sticker containing a name hand-written in black biro on the opening (blank) page.
This edition: Third Reprint, Hardback, 1987
I am delighted to be able to offer this vintage early hardback edition of 'Oscar Wilde' (a biography) by Richard Ellmann, published by Hamish Hamilton Limited in 1987. Welcome to The Windmill Bookshop, the vintage book section of our Etsy shop.
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