Purple Prose

May 20, 2017March 31, 2024 Oscar Wilde Blog2 Comments

—Book Review—

Beautiful and Impossible Things: Selected Essays of Oscar Wilde

Notting Hill Editions, UK (2015) | New York Review Books, US (2017)”

…and over our heads will float the Blue Bird singing of beautiful and impossible things, of things that are lovely and that never happen, of things that are not and that should be.”

So said Oscar Wilde in The Decay of Lying, one of the works included in Beautiful and Impossible Things, a new collection of essays plus the odd letter and lecture by Wilde, due for its U.S. release later this year.

Gyles Brandreth, the English writer, broadcaster, actor, and former Member of Parliament, has provided a solid Introduction to the book. Mr. Brandreth continues to bolster Wilde’s popularity in the U.K. and beyond, by efforts such as this, his being Honorary President of the Oscar Wilde Society in London, and not least by his successful Oscar Wilde Murder Mysteries series of novels.

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King’s Ransome

September 16, 2016May 7, 2026 Oscar Wilde Blog4 Comments

A Visit to the Book Fair

A Rare Typescript of “De Profundis”.

On a balmy Sunday lunchtime last Spring I found m yself in the refreshment area of the prestigious New York Antiquarian Book Fair.

A kindly stranger asked me: “Are you a dealer or a collector?” with an air of inevitability that suggested a third alternative did not exist. As I was that third alternative I hoped my response: “I’m just browsing,” would replace the probability of being neither with the possibility of being either.

However, it soon became apparent to me, if not to my new friend, that even the self-imposed rank of ‘browser‘ wildly overstated my standing as a potential customer.

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Turning Points

May 14, 2016October 7, 2026 Oscar Wilde Blog3 Comments

The Judas Kiss focuses on two crucial moments in Oscar Wilde’s life

I was asked by the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) to provide an article for their blog in anticipation of David Hare’s forthcoming play The Judas Kiss. It is republished here, slightly amended, followed by a link to a moving article by Ruper Everett on playing Oscar.

The Judas Kiss, coming to the BAM Harvey Theater May 11—Jun 12, marks a historic return of the Irish poet, dramatist, and wit Oscar Wilde.

This is not a revival of one of Wilde’s works which have been staged several times at BAM over the years. It is a return, in a sense, of Wilde himself—significant because no one has appeared as Oscar Wilde at BAM since Wilde himself did it 134 years ago on a nationwide lecture tour.

The present embodiment by Rupert Everett is a fitting parallel because in 1882 Oscar was also playing a part—masquerading as the poster boy for Gilbert and Sullivan’s Patience, a comic opera poking fun at the aesthetic movement.

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The Modern Messiah

May 22, 2015March 31, 2024 Oscar Wilde Blog7 Comments

A cartoon printed in the satirical magazine The Wasp to mark Oscar Wilde’s arrival in San Francisco

When Wilde arrived in San Francisco he was greeted by thousands of people curious to see him.

The above cartoon, titled “The Modern Messiah,” which appeared in The Wasp on the eve of Oscar Wilde’s third lecture in San Francisco, shows such a crowd, but in satirical style.¹

Heavily featured are sunflowers, one of the floral emblems of the aesthetic movement; another, calla lilies, known to decorate Wilde’s table at dinners in America, serve as the donkey’s ears.

Also depicted in the scene are caricatures resonant of Wilde’s visit, some of whom were thought responsible for bringing Wilde to San Francisco, and therefore supportive of him. Here is a rundown of the personalities depicted:

Oscar Wilde

Oscar is shown arriving in messianic style.

Compare the biblical:

“… your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey” (Zechariah 9:9).

The modern messiah, however, bears a sunflower emblazoned with a dollar sign which reflects the accusation that his motivations were as pecuniary as they were missionary.

The Donkey

Braying, and with sunflower saddle and lily ears, we are reminded of the epithet “ass-thete” that accompanied Wilde across America, but here the donkey symbolizes his visit to San Francisco: attached to the tail is the $5,000 that Wilde was reportedly paid for his series of lectures in California; around the neck, padlocked to the conveyance, is an image of Wilde’s California promoter Charles E. Locke. The words on the padlock are “Bush St. Theatre”, where Locke was manager. Also, at Bush and Montgomery Streets was Platt’s Hall where Wilde lectured four times.

Man With the Goatee Beard

Charles Crocker (1822—1888) railroad executive who founded the Central Pacific Railroad that took Wilde on his journey to California

On April 19, 1882, Wilde wrote to his “Darling Hattie” in San Francisco expressing his love for her. The likely candidate for Wilde’s affection is Harriet, the daughter of Charles Crocker. {Sturgis 246-7]

Man With White Hair

Skulking somewhat appropriately behind proceedings is Ambrose Bierce (1842—c. 1914), who penned a relentless attack on Wilde in The Wasp, March 31, 1882, the text of which can be found at Wilde’s lecture on April 1.

Man at Far Left With Beard

Isaac Smith Kalloch (1832—1887) 18th Mayor of San Francisco serving from December 1, 1879 to December 4, 1881.

Man With Long White Beard (behind sunflower back left)

Maurice Carey Blake (1815—1897) 19th Mayor of San Francisco, serving from December 5, 1881 to January 7, 1883.

Short Man With Mustache

Daniel O’Connell (1849—1899) poet, actor, writer, journalist, and the grand-nephew of Daniel O’Connell (1775—1847), the famed Irish orator and politician.

O’Connell was co-founder of the Bohemian Club where Wilde was feted and had his portrait painted by Theodore Wores. The painting hung in the club until it was lost in the fire following the San Francisco earthquake of 1906.

Man With Broken Sunflower

Possibly impresario Tom Maguire.

Boys in the Foreground

Newspaper sellers, one carrying The Wasp in which the cartoon appeared [1].

Chinese in the Background

While in San Francisco Wilde famously visited Chinatown and expressed his admiration of their decorative arts, such as delicate tea cups.

Footnote:

The Wasp, March 31, 1882 (G.F. Keller) ↩︎

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More on Boys’ Names

March 7, 2015September 13, 2026 Oscar Wilde Blog6 Comments

BEYOND Ernest/Earnest

In an earlier article I noted that John Gambril Nicholson’s 1892 collection Love in Earnest: Sonnets, Ballades, and Lyrics (Elliot Stock, 1892) is a probable source of Wilde’s Earnest/Ernest wordplay.

And I showed how in one poem, Of Boys’ Names, there are other names with Wildean parallels, including the names of Oscar’s own sons: Cyril and Vyvyan.

Research now leads me to a further connections in a back issue of the publication The Book Collector (Summer, 1978).

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