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Oscar Wilde and His Circle
One of literature's most flamboyant and witty personalities, the much-quoted Oscar Wilde captivated London society with his works of drama, poetry, and fiction. His sharp social observation coupled with his elegant writing style assured him popular success both in Britain and the USA.
Wilde was a pioneer of celebrity whose contributions to intellectual and artistic life swiftly secured him a place in high society. His friends and contemporaries included Aubrey Beardsley, Lillie Langtry, James McNeill Whistler, Sir Max Beerbohm, and Ada Leverson, but Wilde is perhaps best known for the circumstances of his love affair with Lord Alfred Douglas ("Bosie"). The subsequent libel case against Bosie's father, the Marquess of Queensbury, and Wilde's own tragic imprisonment made him a social exile and were to be his downfall.
In this perceptive appraisal of Wilde and his circle, Simon Callow brilliantly captures the spirit of one of Britain's most celebrated, but ultimately tragic, literary figures.
Wilde was a pioneer of celebrity whose contributions to intellectual and artistic life swiftly secured him a place in high society. His friends and contemporaries included Aubrey Beardsley, Lillie Langtry, James McNeill Whistler, Sir Max Beerbohm, and Ada Leverson, but Wilde is perhaps best known for the circumstances of his love affair with Lord Alfred Douglas ("Bosie"). The subsequent libel case against Bosie's father, the Marquess of Queensbury, and Wilde's own tragic imprisonment made him a social exile and were to be his downfall.
In this perceptive appraisal of Wilde and his circle, Simon Callow brilliantly captures the spirit of one of Britain's most celebrated, but ultimately tragic, literary figures.
128 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 22, 2024
rip oscar wilde you would have loved Twitter
June 4, 2019
A lovely book made with the National Portrait Gallery, so Oscar's circle are bought to life with paintings, drawing and photographs. I'm a big fan of Oscar Wilde and this book put some flesh on otherwise scrawny bones.
March 17, 2017
A small booklet written by the actor and Dickens' admirer, Simon Callow. This slim volume was produced for the National Potrait Gallery.
Very often, when you come across tie-in's like this; the result is a disappointing, light-as-air, mess.
Therefore, I am pleased to report that this is not the case! Whilst it does not yield a huge amount of detail into the main runners and riders of the Wilde affair, it does give some very adroit and witty pen portraits which help to frame their role with respect to Oscar. The treat though is in the acutely observed photo captions which bring a wry grin to the old boat-race.
Very often, when you come across tie-in's like this; the result is a disappointing, light-as-air, mess.
Therefore, I am pleased to report that this is not the case! Whilst it does not yield a huge amount of detail into the main runners and riders of the Wilde affair, it does give some very adroit and witty pen portraits which help to frame their role with respect to Oscar. The treat though is in the acutely observed photo captions which bring a wry grin to the old boat-race.
April 14, 2026
Oh to be witty and iconic.
A conversationalist, controversialist, anti-conventionalist; ethereally contemplative, sensually humorous, preposterously satirical, extravagantly outrageous, intimately expressive, irresistibly complex, intellectually superior, supreme.
(One of) Wilde's favourite characters in all of literature: Lucien de Rubempré.
A conversationalist, controversialist, anti-conventionalist; ethereally contemplative, sensually humorous, preposterously satirical, extravagantly outrageous, intimately expressive, irresistibly complex, intellectually superior, supreme.
(One of) Wilde's favourite characters in all of literature: Lucien de Rubempré.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews