I've returned to this book several times over the years. Ever since I first read this, I have been captivated by the life of Dolly Wilde and this book captured the personality of a person of who so few things are really known that I find that alone remarkable. She was fascinating and tragic. An artist of the spoken word who in another era might have become a public figure worshiped like Margaret Cho or other witty women. She was involved in the Natalie Clifford Barney salon of the 1920s in Paris More...

In short: This book has great subject matter but a rather unbearably dramatic style.

Dolly Wilde was Oscar's niece, who hobnobbed with the rich and famous and sponged off them, too; she never had much money of her own or did much work. She was a charming, witty and volatile lesbian or bisexual woman (Schenkar seems to prefer the former interpretation), a passionate lover, an avid reader, and a drug addict prone to depression. She was also a prolific writer of letters -- and nothing else, despite More...

This book about a fascinating life that went "noticed but unrecorded" gets five stars from me as a writer, on the merits of its bold, experimental structure and style which Dolly Wilde would have taken seriously. That shows a respect for the subject, combined with a gutsiness, that is to the biographer's credit.

The biographer was clearly in service to the subject in a way much more profound than one reviewer here dismissed when calling the book a "glorified obituary." Her service to the reader i More...

"Truly Wilde" was a real eye-opener for me. I have always had an interest in early 20th century literature, but have done limited reading in the period. As I read this book, I found myself going to the referenced (the bibliography) and learning more about the other characters in the book. I was able to get a copy of one of the primary references "In Memory of Dorthy Ierne Wilde - Oscaria" from my library (inter-library loan).

I loved the book. Dolly Wilde, mostly a tragic figure, found herself in More...

"Truly Wilde" by Joan Schenkar was not what it could have been. Schenkar's biography style is without chronology, beginning with the subject's death, and then skipping back and forth between the subject's life and how she ended up dead. Despite efforts to avoid writing a glorified obituary, I feel this is precisely what has been done.

While the book is well researched, it is evident at just how little information exists about Miss Wilde's life, as the majority of the book focuses on Natalie Barn More...

Dear Joan Schenkar,

believe it or not, people who reads biographies do anticipate a certain amount of imagining how things were. You don't need to tell us about it at length over and over again. The life of Dolly Wilde seems like it is full and fascinating -- lesbians, famous relatives, bewitching beauty and an unexplained death. How you've managed to make that boring is beyond me, but you sure did. Better luck next time.

I found this book by mistake thinking it was about the famous Wilde. Although the writing is not great, it's easy to look past its deficiencies and be sympathetic and protective about the troubled Dolly Wilde. Not only is she an amazing "character" (fact and speculation blend seamlessly) that you want to get to know everything about, the people in her life were equally as interesting. Definitely worth reading.

This is a weird, somewhat interesting, but mostly tedious and almost surreal book about Dolly Wilde, Oscar Wilde's niece. The author seems infatuated with her and has written hundreds of pages describing the possibilities of her wit and intellect where, in fact, she appears to have never done anything except run around with the fast crowd of Paris and London in the 20's, 30's—-oh and she was one of Natalie Barney's lovers—-in competition with Romaine Brooks—-so that's interesting, of course, but More...

It does run in families. Interesting, confronting and ultimately very sad.

Somewhat repetitive and relies too much on speculation.

Like most people, you have probably never heard of Dolly Wilde, born three months after Oscar's demise. Although she never met her uncle, she seems to have been much like him. Seems like she was an interesting figure to know, involved in Natalie Clifford Barney's historical salon, among other things. She was also a money-grubber and a drug addict, and died rather violently. What really happened to her? An intriguing read, nonetheless. If you like biographies about unusual people, you won't be di More...

I read this book years ago but remember loving it and loving Dolly fiercely.