From Publishers Weekly
On November 30, 1900, Wilde, 46, died in self-exile in Paris. This centenary volume of his correspondence, edited by Wilde's grandson (Holland) and the late editor of earlier volumes of Wilde's letters, includes many Hart-Davis omitted from previous volumes, explaining that they were "often to unidentified people, of no literary, biographical, or other interest." This book furnishes all of these and more. Of the 200 that appear for the first time, the most moving may be a brief letter to Scottish writer-adventurer R.B. Cunninghame Graham, to whom Wilde writes of "the many prisons of lifeDprisons of stone, prisons of passion, prisons of intellect, prisons of morality, and the rest." (By 1898 he had experienced them all.) Printed in full are also some letters previously available only as extracts. The most significant and amusing may be Wilde's original scenario for The Importance of Being Earnest, sent, when desperate for cash, to actor-manager George Alexander. Almost everything in it but the governess, Miss Prism, and the rivalry between estranged brothers, fails to survive in the play as performed. Wilde's wit, charm and genius for paradox often surface, but the letters of his postprison years, from 1897 to 1900, expose a pathetic and paranoid derelict unwilling or unable to control his bent for self-destruction. The correspondence, including letters to Wilde from his adoring, then estranged, wife and several literary colleagues, compels in the way one is drawn to the sinking of the Titanic or the crash of the Hindenburg. This title may see a sales bump if shelved or displayed with Barbara Belford's forthcoming biography (Forecasts, Oct. 2) and with the classic Richard Ellmann bio. Illus. not seen by PW. (Nov. 30)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
'The year's unputdownable joy.' Jonathan Keates, Spectator 'Almost like living his life with him! One puts down the letters heavy with mixed emotions -- admiration, sorrow and exasperation.' Peter Lewis, Daily Mail 'You get a wonderful sense, such as even the best biography couldn't quite give, of Wilde in action from day to day -- living in the thick of society, hustling his career forward. A monument to his great personality.' John Gross, Sunday Telegraph 'The long serpentine line of Oscar Wilde's career is traced here like some fiery scarlet thread. This is a marvellous volume, fully worthy of Wilde's own genius.' Peter Ackroyd, The Times 'These letters give us the human side of Wilde's legend and its human cost.' Philip Hoare, Observer 'A whole world is here. *****' Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday 'The most comprehensive collection yet of Wilde's correspondence, charting his development from ambitious young man about town to literary dandy and tortured outcast.' Guardian 'Oscar Wilde writes his own life in the newly revised and expanded Complete Letters. The one essential book on the subject.' The Independent Books of the Year 'The scholarship of Holland and Hart-Davis is as impeccable as their subject's wit, while the letters themselves bear comparison with any more conventional form of literary art. They are filled with the terror and the pity of Wilde's extravagant career, not untouched by pathos, and irradiated always by perpetual and wilful laughter.' Times Literary Supplement 'Meticulously edited, intelligently annotated, the letters were a biographer's dream.' Irish Times 'These 1,500 letters are always candid, always humorous (even in adversity) and add substantially to Wilde's reputation not only as a wit but as an intellectual heavyweight.' The Times Books of the Year
--This text refers to an alternate
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