Oscar Wilde's Italian dream 1875-1900 : the infamous St. Oscar of Oxford, poet and martyr undecided between the cloister and the café / Renato Miracco ; [introduction, Philip Kennicott].

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Miracco, Renato, author.

Standardized Title:

Oscar Wilde. English

Language:

English

Italian

Subjects (All):

Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900.

Authors, Irish--19th century--Biography.

Authors, Irish.

Travel.

Italy.

Authors, Irish--19th century--Correspondence.

Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900--Travel--Italy.

Wilde, Oscar.

Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900. Correspondence.

Genre:

Biographies.

Correspondence.

Personal correspondence.

Physical Description:

159 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

[Bologna] : Damiani, [2020]

Language Note:

Translated from the Italian.

Summary:

In 'Oscar Wilde's Italian Dream 1875-1900', leading Wilde author Renato Miracco has combined written research with visual iconographic material - from Wilde's earliest heady trips to Italy as an Oxford student to his final days in France and Italy in 1900 after his incarceration in Reading Gaol, and his voluntary exile from Great Britain. Italy, and the larger world outside of London, was essential to the sensitivity and awareness of Wilde's identity, to his contributions to the prison reform, to his challenges to the social norms and sexual stereotypes in his last years. Latin formed the basis of a proper English gentleman's education-and Italy presented a landscape which animated and exacerbated social and personal conflict for young men such as Wilde. It also offered a great deal of sexual liberty compared to the oppressive moral atmosphere of England at that time. The images Miracco has incorporated in this volume (including photos that Wilde received from the gay German photographer, Von Gloeden) are mainly unknown from private collections, and together with letters, reminiscences, magazine and newspaper articles (along with derogatory articles about Wilde written by the Italian press) play a key role in placing Wilde's character, and an entire generation, in a complex context - not only literary, but also visual. Reading about Naples, Rome, Palermo, Sicily, and Capri of that time, you see it as it must have appeared in the eyes of the writer. 'Oscar Wilde's Italian Dream 1875-1900' is a major addition to the canon of one of the world's greatest literary figures.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: Robert Ross and Alfred (Bosie) Douglas

The seduction of Italy in the 19th century

Wilde's Italian "Grand Tour" 1875

1900

Lovers and social life

Wilde and Gide

Sexuality, homosexuality and prostitution in nineteenth-century, England

Homosexual scandals before Wilde

Triumphs and trials

Oscar Wilde in prison

Oscar's life after his imprisonment at Reading

Toward Naples

The fascination of Partenope

Oscar Wilde in Naples

Capri

Dark thoughts

Return to Paris

Constance Wilde (aka Holland)

Back to Italy

Death in Paris.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 150-155).

ISBN:

9788862087148

8862087144

OCLC:

1141033597

Publisher Number:

99986743825