Oscar Wilde - Complete Works of Oscar Wilde

Merle, Robert. Oscar Wilde ou la destinée de I’homosexuel (Paris, 1955)

Presents the homosexual as suicidal hero.

Mikhail, E. H., (ed.). Oscar Wilde: Interviews and Recollections 2 vols (London, 1979)

First hand recollections of Wilde.

Morley, Sheridan. Oscar Wilde: An Illustrated Biography (London, 1976)

Competent and well written but little or no new research.

Murray, Douglas. Bosie (London, 2000)

Most recent biography of Lord Alfred Douglas, largely sympathetic with some interesting new material.

Nassaar, Christopher S. Into the Demon Universe: A Literary Exploration of Oscar Wilde (New Haven; London, 1974)

Unconventional approach but, some said, too far-fetched in places.

O’Brien, Kevin. Oscar Wilde in Canada: An Apostle for the Arts (Toronto, 1982)

Beautifully researched account of the Canadian part of Wilde’s American tour. Also valuable for the reconstructions of the lectures.

O’Sullivan, Vincent. Aspects of Wilde (London, 1936)

Many personal reminiscences by one who knew Wilde well.

Page, Norman. An Oscar Wilde Chronology (London, 1991)

Invaluable, very detailed chronology of Wilde’s life in 100 pages.

Pearson, Hesketh. The Life of Oscar Wilde (London, 1946)

Still one of the best pre-Ellmann biographies containing much original material but infuriatingly devoid of references.

Pennington, Michael. An Angel for a Martyr. Jacob Epstein’s Tomb for Oscar Wilde (Reading, 1987)

Account of the commissioning, creation and errecting of Wilde’s tomb in Paris.

Powell, Kerry. Oscar Wilde and the Theatre of the 1890s (Cambridge, 1990)

Questions Wilde as ‘innovative’ playwright and examines other writers’ influences.

Queensberry, Francis Marquis of, and Percy Colson. Oscar Wilde and the Black Douglas (London, 1950)

Somewhat disjointed but makes use of Queensberry family archives. Black Douglas refers to family not just to ‘Bosie’.

Raby, Peter. Oscar Wilde (Cambridge, 1988)

Concise and useful textual criticism for the general reader.

Raby, Peter (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Oscar Wilde (Cambridge, 1997)

A collection of essays on the life and works by a galaxy of Wilde scholars.

Ransome, Arthur. Oscar Wilde: A Critical Study (London, 1912)

The first balanced and objective account, but one for which he was sued by Douglas.

Redman, Alvin. The Epigrams of Oscar Wilde: An Anthology (London, 1952)

Wilde’s epigrams grouped under subject headings. Useful but not entirely reliable either for the accuracy of the quotes or the stated sources.

Renier, G.J. Oscar Wilde (London, 1933)

Takes new liberal view of homosexuality. Attempts pseudo-scientific explanations.

Ricketts, Charles. Oscar Wilde: Recollections (London, 1932)

A sympathetic account in the form of letters by the illustrator of some of Wilde’s works.

Saltus, Edgar. Oscar Wilde: An Idler’s Impression (Chicago, 1917)

Personal recollections reproduced mainly as conversations.

San Juan, Epifanio. The Art of Oscar Wilde (Princeton, 1967)

Literary criticism.

Schmidgall, Gary. The Stranger Wilde (New York, 1994)

Wilde from a totally gay perspective. Many interesting insights and a valuable addition to the non-mainstream literature.

Schroeder, Horst. Additions and Corrections to Ellmann’s Oscar Wilde (Braunschweig, 1989; revised and much enlarged edition 2002)

Corrects many slips made in Ellmann’s Oscar Wilde and an invaluable supplement to it.

Sherard, Robert Harborough. Oscar Wilde: The Story of an Unhappy Friendship (London, 1902)

Sherard was the only one of Wilde’s friends on whose accounts we can more or less rely. All his books contain much first-hand and anecdotal material.

Sherard, Robert Harborough. The Life of Oscar Wilde (London, 1906)

Sherard, Robert Harborough. The Real Oscar Wilde (London, [1917])

Sherard, Robert Harborough. Oscar Wilde Twice defended from André Gide’s Wicked Lies and Frank Harris’s Cruel Libels (Chicago, 1934)

Inflammatory pamphlet attempting to defend Wilde’s reputation but in the end doing more harm than good.

Sherard, Robert Harborough. Bernard Shaw, Frank Harris and Oscar Wilde (London, 1937)

Shewan, Rodney. Oscar Wilde: Art and Egotism (London, 1977)

Weighty and heavy going in places but one of the first to credit Wilde with depth and sincerity of purpose.

Small, Ian. Oscar Wilde Revalued (Greensboro N.C., 1993)

Lists much ‘new’ material, long available to scholars but generally overlooked.

Small, Ian. Oscar Wilde Recent Research (Greenboro N.C., 2000)

A supplement to the above.

Smith, Hester Travers. Psychic Messages from Oscar Wilde (London, 1924)

Smith, Philip E. and Michael S. Helfand. Oscar Wilde’s Oxford Notebooks: A Portrait of Mind in the Making (New York; Oxford, 1989)

Part of the nouvelle vague approach to Wilde studies, looking at the early classical influences on his writing and seeing him as a serious professional writer.

Stokes, John. Oscar Wilde: Myths, Miracles, and Imitations (Cambridge, 1996)

Symons, Arthur. A Study of Oscar Wilde (London, 1930)

Tanitch, Robert. Oscar Wilde on Stage and Screen (London, 1999)

An impressive listing, with casts and criticism, of Wilde’s plays as well as plays and films about him. Not comprehensive, but that would take a lifetime to compile.

Whistler, James Abbott McNeill. The Gentle Art of Making Enemies (London, 1892)

Contains the much publicised correspondence between Wilde and Whistler.

White, Terence de Vere. The Parents of Oscar Wilde (London, 1967)

Probably the best book on both Wilde’s parents to date. Maddeningly-short on source references. The Speranza material is now superseded by Melville.

Winwar, Frances. Oscar Wilde and the Yellow Nineties (London, 1938)

Woodcock, George. The Paradox of Oscar Wilde (London, 1949)

Offered at the time as critical companion to Pearson (see above).

Wright, Thomas. Table Talk: Oscar Wilde (London, 2000)

A collection of the stories and prose-poems, which Wilde is supposed to have recounted but never committed to paper, as recalled by his contemporaries.

Copyright

HarperCollins Publishers

77–85 Fulham Palace Road, London w6 8JB

FIRST EDITION

The full text of De Profundis © Estate of Oscar Wilde 1962 and the four-act version of The Importance of being Earnest © Estate of Oscar Wilde 1957, are both reproduced by permission of Merlin Holland. The chronological order of Wilde’s poems was established by Prof Bobby Fong of Hope College, Michigan and is here reproduced with grateful acknowledgement to him. The texts of Wilde’s two American lectures ‘The Decorative Arts’ and ‘The House Beautiful’ were established from manuscript sources and contemporary accounts by Prof Kevin O’Brien of St Francis Xavier University, Nova Scotia, who has kindly allowed their reproduction. The cover photography is reproduced by permission of William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, Los Angeles, as are picture numbers 5, 9, 10 and 16. All other photographs are from the Collection Merlin Holland and are reproduced by permission of Merlin Holland.

© HarperCollins Publishers 2003

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

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