The real trial of Oscar Wilde : the first uncensored manuscript of the trial of Oscar Wilde vs. John Douglas, Marquess of Queensbury, 1895 / Merlin Holland ; foreword by John Mortimer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Holland, Merlin.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900--Trials, litigation, etc.

Wilde, Oscar.

Queensberry, John Sholto Douglas, Marquis of, 1844-1900--Trials, litigation, etc.

Queensberry, John Sholto Douglas.

Queensberry, John Sholto Douglas, Marquis of, 1844-1900.

Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900.

Trials (Libel)--England--London--History--19th century.

Trials (Libel).

History.

England--London.

Physical Description:

xliii, 340 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Edition:

First U.S. edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Fourth Estate, 2003.

Summary:

London's Central Criminal Court Sessions Papers for April 1895 were blunt, declaring that "the details of this case are unfit for publication." The case was Oscar Wilde's first trial, a libel action brought against the Marquess of Queensberry for publicly calling him a homosexual. What unfolded in the court was one of Victorian London's most infamous scandals: the great, doomed love affair between Wilde and Lord Alfred "Bosie" Douglas, the Marquess's son. When it became public, it cost Wilde everything.

Merlin Holland, Wilde's grandson and a noted researcher and archivist, has discovered the original transcript of the trial that led to his grandfather's tragedy. Here for the first time is the true, uncensored record, free of the distortions and censorship of previous accounts.

On 18 February 1895, Bosie's father delivered a note to the Albemarle Club addressed to "Oscar Wilde posing as a somdomite [sic]." With Bosie's encouragement, Wilde decided to sue the Marquess for libel. As soon as the trial opened, London's literary darling was at the center of the greatest scandal of his time.

Wilde's fall from grace was swift: having lost this case, he was in turn prosecuted and later imprisoned. Bankrupt, he fled to Paris never to see his family again. Within five years he was dead, his health never having recovered from the years in Reading gaol.

This remarkable book reveals Wilde on trial for his life, though he did not know it -- his confidence ebbing under the relentless cross-questioning, the wit for which he was so celebrated gradually deserting him under the remorseless scrutiny. The tragic climax falls when Wilde is betrayed by his own cleverness, unconsciously playing into the prosecutor's hands. With that his cause is lost.

Contents:

The First Magistrates' Court Proceedings 2nd March 1895 1

The Second Magistrates' Court Proceedings 9th March 1895 7

Regina (Oscar Wilde) v. John Douglas 3rd-5th April 1895 25

Wednesday Morning 3rd April

Sir Edward Clarke's Opening Speech for the Prosecution 26

Evidence of Sidney Wright 43

Evidence of Oscar Wilde 45

Edward Carson's Cross-examination of Oscar Wilde 64

On Lord Alfred Douglas 64

On The Chameleon 66

On The Picture of Dorian Gray 77

Wednesday Afternoon 3rd April

On The Picture of Dorian Gray (cont.) 80

On the Stolen Letters 103

On Alfred Wood 111

On William Allen 126

On Robert Cliburn 128

On Edward Shelley 134

On Alfonso Conway 143

Thursday Morning 4th April

Edward Carson's Cross-examination of Oscar Wilde (cont.)

On Alfred Taylor 152

On Charles Parker 162

On Frederick Atkins 182

On Ernest Scarfe 197

On Sydney Mavor 200

On Walter Grainger 206

Sir Edward Clarke's Re-examination of Oscar Wilde

On Lord Queensberry's Letters 213

On Edward Shelley 227

Thursday Afternoon 4th April

On Edward Shelley (cont.) 230

On the Other Young Men 237

On Lord Queensberry 242

Edward Carson's Opening Speech for the Defence 249

Friday Morning 5th April

Edward Carson's Opening Speech for the Defence (cont.) 273

The Withdrawal of the Prosecution 280.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 298-331) and index.

ISBN:

0007156642

OCLC:

52334814