Fall of the House of Wilde, The

Emer O'Sullivan

ISBN 10: 1543623778 ISBN 13: 9781543623772

Publisher: Audible Studios on Brilliance Audio, 2017

Synopsis

Oscar Wilde owed his most outstanding characteristics - his precocious intellectualism, his flamboyance, his hedonism, his recklessness, his pride, his sense of superiority, his liberal sexual values - to his parents.

Oscar's mother, Lady Jane Wilde, rose to prominence as a political journalist, advocating in 1848 a rebellion against colonialism. Proud, involved and challenging, she became a salon hostess and opened the Wildes' Dublin home at No. 1 Merrion Square to the public. Known as the most scintillating and stirring hostess of her day, she passed on her infectious delight in the art of living to Oscar, who imbibed it greedily.

His father was Sir William Wilde, one of the most eminent men of his generation. Acutely conscious of injustices in the social order, Sir William laid the foundations for the Celtic renaissance in the belief that culture would establish a common ground between the privileged and the poor, Protestant and Catholic. But Sir William was also a philanderer, and when he stood accused of sexually assaulting a young female patient, the scandal and trial sent shock waves through Dublin society.

After his father's death, the Wildes moved to London, where Oscar burst irrepressibly upon the scene. The one role that didn't suit him was that of the Victorian husband, as his wife, Constance, was to discover. For beneath the swelling forehead was a self-destructive itch: a lifelong devourer of attention, Oscar was unable to recognise when the party was over.

The Fall of the House of Wilde for the first time places Oscar Wilde as a member of one of the most dazzling Anglo-Irish families of Victorian times and in the broader social, political and religious context. A remarkable and perceptive account, this is a major repositioning of our first modern celebrity, a man whose own fall from grace in a trial as public as his father's marked the end of fin de siècle decadence.

About this title

About the Author:

John Telfer is best known for playing the character of Willy Pettit in five seasons of "Bergerac". He has appeared many times in various television dramas, while his parallel theatrical career has involved him in leading roles at the Bristol Old Vic, the Royal National Theatre, the Old Vic in London, and many regional theaters. He has made hundreds of radio broadcasts, and he plays the part of Alan, the vicar, in "The Archers".

Review:

"Emer O'Sullivan has made an indispensable contribution to Wildean literature. She goes back to the beginning and finds out where Oscar came from. Where he really came from. O'Sullivan's detailed portraits of Wilde's father, mother and brother are, at every page, compelling, informative and fascinating--especially to one who made the vain mistake of thinking he just about knew it all. The meticulous scholarship and insight she brings are fantastically valuable. This is a book that reminds us how very unlikely it is that a genius will be born in a vacuum: Oscar was, O'Sullivan demonstrates, every inch his parents' child." - Stephen Fry

"[A] success worthy of celebration . . . O’Sullivan’s impressively comprehensive biography is equal parts political history, literary criticism, and Shakespearean tragedy." - Starred Review, Publishers Weekly

"Deeply researched . . . O’Sullivan’s book is strongest when she positions the Wildes within the larger framework of Irish history; many Wilde biographers glide over not only his mother but also his Irishness." - New York Times Book Review

"It is perhaps Emer O'Sullivan's greatest achievement that her characters come to life, bringing with them the world and culture in which they lived. She is generous with her details, putting her fingers down on many maps and tracing them for us, enlightening us about the politics of the day, and the way that the world seemed to those about whom she is writing. In short, Emer O'Sullivan's The Fall of the House of Wilde: Oscar Wilde and His Family seems the Oscar. And isn't that the greatest thing that any biographer can achieve?" - New York Journal of Books

"[O’Sullivan] has an eye for good details . . . and she renders memorable scenes." - The Wall Street Journal

"Without Wilde’s very modern genius for self-promotion, conceivably, there would have been no David Bowie or, indeed, Kim Kardashian . . . Absorbing." - The Observer

"A lively biography . . . A brisk narrative of the family's, and Ireland's, troubles. A familiar portrait of Oscar with a fresh look at his eccentric relatives." - Kirkus Reviews

"Another Oscar Wilde biography may seem supererogatory, but it isn’t. Indeed anyone interested in Wilde should find it as fully fascinating as any of its predecessors. . . . A book to be wild about." - starred review, Booklist

"Meticulously researched . . . Her extensive journey into Wilde’s family background is . . . a necessary, even vital one . . . Considering the fascinating new material it unearths in every chapter, this book’s understated tone is striking . . . . Brilliant." - The Times Literary Supplement

"What makes O'Sullivan's narrative so intriguing is how she cleverly links the Wildes' story against the historical background of fin-de-siècle Dublin and London . . . This is a remarkable piece of work. And the best non-fiction book I’ve read all year." - J.P. O'Malley, Sunday Independent

"Sumptuous and perceptive . . . This richly detailed, smoothly readable and suspenseful biography is mesmerizing and tells old tales in a wider, broader context that fascinates." - Providence Journal

"The glory of Emer O'Sullivan's new family biography The Fall of the House of Wilde is that at last we see the shiny icon Oscar as part of the constellation Wilde. . . . wholly absorbing." - The Bay Area Reporter

"A valuable addition to the scholarly reclamation of the Wilde name . . . The Fall of the House of Wilde does justice to the name of Wilde." - The Irish Times

"Thoroughly researched and rich with scholarship . . . O'Sullivan's narrative opens onto a glittering, fractious, endless argument. The subject is art and artists, the world of literary and dramatic criticism, the Pre-Raphaelites, poetry, Ruskin, Whistler and the aesthetic influences and pretensions of a world in which Oscar not only flowered but eclipsed most of his contemporaries. O'Sullivan's observations brighten in a spirited and authoritative commentary." - Irish Examiner

About this edition

• Publisher: Audible Studios on Brilliance Audio
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 1543623778
• ISBN 13: 9781543623772
• Binding: MP3 CD