Merlin Holland on Rosebud

MERLIN HOLLAND’S GUEST APPEARANCE ON ROSEBUD Merlin Holland is the grandson of the great poet, playwright and paragon of late Victorian decadence, Oscar Wilde. Merlin’s story, and that of his family, is captivating. Continue reading Merlin Holland on Rosebud

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That's Odd

Quirky images related to Oscar Wilde, or not. © John Cooper, 2024.

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Launching Yellow Nineties 2.0

Launching Yellow Nineties 2.0: A Symposium & CelebrationToronto Metropolitan University’s Centre for Digital Humanities—Virtual Symposium—Thursday, April 18th from 9:30am – 5:00pm EST Continue reading Launching Yellow Nineties 2.0

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Oscar Wilde Archive

The Oscar Wilde Blog — Archive A big thank you to kind users for their private comments about recent posts. To answer a common question raised: yes, all previous blog article are still available. Click on the link below to browse, or scroll the carousel at the foot of each post. All Blog Posts In One Place © John Cooper, 2024.

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The Rops Vignette

not everyone’s kettle of fish Oscar Wilde’s symbolist play Salome is notable for its licentious artwork by Aubrey Beardsley. But Beardsley’s infamous illustrations appeared only when the English edition of the play was released in 1894. When the original French Salomé had been published a year earlier, it contained no illustrations pertinent to the text. The only graphical representation in the…

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Numa Patlagean

Clay bust of Oscar Wilde, 1914. Numa Patlagean (1888—1961). Oscar Wilde’s modeling career has been under discussion recently. I refer, of course, to the art of sculpture, a subject that held a fascination for Oscar: he referenced it in his essays on art, and in his reviews of art galleries; he bought sculptures, commission sculptures, and even had his hair styled after a bust of Nero in the…

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Some Common Prison II

Oscar Wilde Visits Two U.S. Prisons —Updated from its original posting in 2015— State penitentiaries are not generally considered tourist destinations. Yet in a curious twist in Oscar Wilde’s conventional social activity during his lecture tour of North America in 1882, he took the opportunity to visit TWO American state prisons within the space of three days: one during a train stop on his…

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Oscar's Oyster Supper

Tea or Coffee, Mr Wilde? (Give Me The Wine List) Eating oysters in Connecticut is a big thing; and when in Hartford, CT, there was only one place to go: Honiss’ Oyster House. In 1981 the New York Times ran an article about the famous old place, now long since gone: Continue reading Oscar’s Oyster Supper

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Rosebud

Gyles Brandreth’spodcast episode with Rupert Everett A podcast worth noting for Wildeans is Rosebud—a series of interviews conducted by the estimable Gyles Brandreth. Notable not because Gyles is now a podcaster—surely a part preordained for a journalist, novelist, non-fiction writer, publisher, television presenter, after-dinner speaker, theatre producer, university chancellor, former…

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Turn of the Crank

Oscar Wilde on MachineS The irresistible force of the industrial revolution meets the immovable objection of the aesthetic movement. The reasons for Oscar Wilde’s much-heralded lecture tour of America seemed clear enough: to promote Gilbert & Sullivan’s latest operetta, Patience, while conducting a series of lectures on subjects of his own choosing. At least that was the undertaking devised by…

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HE TEST

Oscar Wilde on MachineS The irresistible force of the industrial revolution meets the immovable objection of the aesthetic movement. The reasons for Oscar Wilde’s much-heralded lecture tour of America seemed clear enough: to promote Gilbert & Sullivan’s latest operetta, Patience, while conducting a series of lectures on subjects of his own choosing. At least that was the undertaking devised by…

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Wilde House Fundraiser

Wilde Sunflowers – original painting by Gerard Byrne, Signed.Oil & acrylic border on canvas. Bespoke tray frame. FUNDRAISER EXTENDED INTO THE NEW YEAR —A Chance To Own This Original Painting— VISIT RESTORATION PROJECT RAFFLE The Oscar Wilde family home, built in 1760 at 1 Merrion Square North, Dublin, has embarked on a much-needed restoration to its annex that houses Sir William’s former…

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Gossip II

The Oscar Wilde World of Gossip (American Edition)by Neil Titley (Dan Shepelavy, Vanessa Heron, Editors)Universal Exports of North America. (Philadelphia), 2023. In case it was missing. Here is the link to the original blog post. [To be consumed only with yellow food.] © John Cooper, 2023.

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Gossip

The Oscar Wilde World of Gossip (American Edition)by Neil Titley (Dan Shepelavy, Vanessa Heron, Editors)Universal Exports of North America. (Philadelphia), 2023. ORDER ONLY FROM THE PUBLISHER’S WEBSITE If you are about to start reading hundreds of biographies, memoirs, and diaries in search of informative or amusing (and preferably salacious) anecdotes about the Victorians in general, and…

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Wilde Sunflowers

Wilde Sunflowers – original painting by Gerard Byrne, Signed.Oil & acrylic border on canvas. Bespoke tray frame. —A Chance To Own This Original Painting— VISIT RESTORATION PROJECT RAFFLE The Oscar Wilde family home, built in 1760 at 1 Merrion Square North, Dublin, has embarked on a much-needed restoration to its annex that houses Sir William’s former consultation room, a gallery, and the…

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The Spectator

Max Beerbohm Having begun a personal resurgence of interest in Max Beerbohm (exhibition, article) it would be remiss not to also allude to the special role he had with regard to Oscar Wilde. Max Beerbohm was first met Oscar in 1888 while a student at Charterhouse School, but it was not a moment likely to engender an immediate affinity. For Max it was just a brief introduction. And, as for…

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MiniMax

Sir Henry Maximilian Beerbohm (1872—1956) If you have opportunity to study Max Beerbohm’s satirical sketches in the current exhibition Max Beerbohm: The Price of Celebrity (NY Public Library), it will not escape your notice how the writer and cartoonist ‘Max’, as he was familiarly known, was himself a consummate subject for caricature. As we shall see, the idea of a Beerbohm burlesque was not…

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