Oscar Wilde - Oscar Wilde - A Life in Letters

Each address from which Wilde wrote is given in full the first time it occurs, and thereafter abbreviated to the essential minimum. No distinction has been made between printed and written addresses. In letters where he failed to indicate the place of writing it has been conjectured between square brackets, but in some instances this has not been possible, as for example when he was on tour in America, and the address has been omitted. For convenience the address is always printed on the right, and the date, in standardised form, on the left.

Wilde seldom dated his letters. Postmarks have often helped (though occasionally letters have strayed into wrong envelopes), and other dates have been deduced from internal evidence or cross-reference. All dates editorially supplied are enclosed within square brackets: doubtful ones are preceded by a query. Such editorial decisions, unless self-evident, were explained in the footnotes to The Complete Letters.

I considered carefully whether or not to include Wilde’s long letter (50,000 words) from prison to Alfred Douglas, De Profundis, and reluctantly decided against it. I realise that this may seem inconsistent with the idea of this selection, since of all his letters it is the one in which he lets us see most deeply into his innermost thoughts. However, since its first integral publication in 1962, it has been made widely available and its inclusion here would have made this volume, intended to be reader-friendly both in size as well as in content, unmanageably large. As an account, though, of his relationship with Alfred Douglas and of the debacle with the Marquess of Queensberry, as well as a reflection on his past glories and excesses, his misery in prison and at his aspirations for the future, it is an intimate and powerful document which should be read alongside this selection.

I have benefited over the years of working on Wilde’s letters from the generosity and kindness of many scholars, collectors and friends, all acknowledged at length in The Complete Letters; for reasons of space it is not possible here to reiterate my thanks in detail, but they know who they are and I hope that they will accept a general expression of my profound gratitude once more. To Rupert Hart-Davis I owe, together with my family, more than mere words can express; I have dedicated this selection to his memory with much love and respect. It was his decision fifty years ago to publish the first edition of Oscar Wilde’s letters which helped to put my grandfather back into the position which he lost in 1895 as one of the most charismatic and fascinating figures in English literary history.

Lastly my thanks to Mitzi Angel and Catherine Blyth at Fourth Estate for their old-style professionalism as true publisher’s editors, friends and advisers.

MERLIN HOLLAND

St Martin-sous-Montaigu

August, 2003

1854— 16 October Oscar Wilde born at 21 Westland Row, Dublin

1855— June Family moves to I Merrion Square North

1864–71—At Portora Royal School, Enniskillen

1871—Wins scholarship to Trinity College, Dublin

1873— June Wins Trinity Foundation Scholarship

1874—Wins Berkeley Gold Medal for Greek

June Wins Demyship in Classics to Magdalen College, Oxford

October Goes up to Magdalen

1875— June Travels in Italy with his old Trinity Classics Tutor, J. P. Mahaffy

1876— 19 April Death of father, Sir William Wilde

5 July Gains first class in Classical Moderations (Mods)

1877 March-April Visits Greece with Mahaffy, returning via Rome

1878 10 June Wins Newdigate Poetry Prize with ‘Ravenna’

19 July Gains first class in Literae Humaniores (Greats)

28 November Takes BA degree

1879 February Takes rooms with Frank Miles at 13 Salisbury Street, London

1880 Writes and publishes Vera

August Moves with Miles to Keats House, Tite Street, Chelsea

1881 June First edition of Poems published by David Bogue

24 December Sails to New York for lecture tour of the United States

1882 Lectures in US and Canada all year

1883 February-May In Paris, at Hotel Voltaire where he writes The Duchess of Padua for the American actress Mary Anderson who then turns it down

?July Moves into rooms at 9 Charles Street, London

August-September Visits New York briefly for first production of Vera with Marie Prescott in the lead; it is not a success September Begins lecture tour of UK which lasts off and on for a year

26 November Becomes engaged to Constance Lloyd while lecturing in Dublin

1884 29 May Married to Constance Lloyd in London

May-June On honeymoon in Paris and Dieppe

1885 January Moves into 16 Tite Street, Chelsea

May ‘The Truth of Masks’ published in the Nineteenth Century

5 June Cyril Wilde born

1886 Meets Robert Ross who remains lifelong friend and after his death becomes his literary executor

3 November Vyvyan Wilde born

1887 February-March ‘The Canterville Ghost’ published in the Court & Society Review

May ‘The Sphinx without a Secret’ published in the World and ‘Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime’ in the Court & Society Review

June ‘The Model Millionaire’ published in the World

November Becomes editor of Woman’s World

1888 May The Happy Prince and Other Tales published

December ‘The Young King’ published in the Lady’s Pictorial

1889 January ‘The Decay of Lying’ published in the Nineteenth Century and ‘Pen, Pencil and Poison’ in the Fortnightly Review

March ‘The Birthday of the Infanta’ published in Paris Illustre

July Gives up editorship of Woman’s World. ‘The Portrait of Mr W. H.’ appears in Blackwood’s Magazine

1890 20 June ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ appears in Lippincott’s Magazine

July-September Both parts of ‘The Critic as Artist’ published these months in the Nineteenth Century

1891 26 January First production of The Duchess of Padua under the title Guido Ferranti. It opens anonymously in New York and runs for only three weeks

February ‘The Soul of Man under Socialism’ published in the Fortnightly Review

April The Picture of Dorian Gray published in book form with additional chapters and a preface

2 May Intentions published (comprising ‘The Truth of Masks’, ‘The Critic as Artist’, ‘Pen, Pencil & Poison’ and ‘The Decay of Lying’)

?June Meets Lord Alfred Douglas (Bosie)

July Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime and Other Stories (the other stories being ‘The Sphinx without a Secret’, ‘The Canterville Ghost’ and ‘The Model Millionaire’) published in book form

November A House of Pomegranates published. It included ‘The Young King’, ‘The Birthday of the Infanta’, ‘The Fisherman and his Soul’ and ‘The Star Child’, the last two of which had not been published before

November-December Writes Salome in Paris

1892 20 February Lady Windermere’s Fan produced at St James’s Theatre

June A production of Salome with Sarah Bernhardt in the title role is banned by the Lord Chamberlain July Takes cure at Homburg