Merlin Holland Book order

Imagined by Oscar Wilde's own grandson, this fictionalised conversation presents the essential biography of the poet, playwright and gay martyr.

Thursday 14 February 1895 was the triumphant opening night of The Importance of Being Earnest and the zenith of Wilde's career. Less than 100 days later, he found himself a common prisoner sentenced to two years hard labour. So what happened during the trials and what did Wilde say? Was he persecuted or the author of his own downfall? Using the actual words spoken in court, we can feel what it was like to be in the company of a flawed genius - as this less than ideal husband was suddenly reduced to a man of no importance.

So you've always wanted to know what is would be like to meet Oscar Wilde! Well, now you can - by a miracle of time travel. Enjoy his wit, admire his achievements on page and stage, and be moved by his poignant vulnerability.

The narrative centers on Oscar Wilde's tumultuous relationship with Lord Alfred "Bosie" Douglas and the ensuing legal battles following a libel suit against Bosie's father. The publication of uncensored trial transcripts reveals Wilde's eloquence during his trials for "gross indecency," showcasing his intellectual brilliance amidst a harrowing fall from grace. This work serves as both a historical document and a poignant affirmation of the right to love freely, capturing the societal struggles of Wilde's time.

In print since 1948, this is a single-volume collection of Oscar Wilde's texts. It contains his only novel, The Portrait of Dorian Gray as well as his plays, stories, poems, essays and letters. Illustrated with many photographs, the book includes introductions to each section by Wilde's grandon, Merlin Holoand, Owen Dudley Edwards, Declan Kibertd and Terence Brown. A comprehensive bibliography of works by and about Oscar Wilde together with a chronological table of his life and work are also included.

This edition marks the centenary of Oscar Wilde’s death, and is the most complete ever to appear. It contains over 1500 of his letters, and anyone unfamiliar with Wilde as a correspondent will find it packed with unexpected delights. This magnificent collection is a major publishing event. Of all nineteenth-century letter writers Oscar Wilde is, predictably, one of the most sparkling. Wonderfully fluent in style, the letters bear that most familiar of Wildean hallmarks – the lightest of touches for the most serious of subjects. He knew and corresponded with many leading political, literary and artistic figures of the time including William Gladstone, George Curzon, W. B. Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, Frank Harris, Aubrey Beardsley and Max Beerbohm. Wilde’s letters show him at his informal best. They comment openly on his life and his work from the early years of undergraduate friendship, through his year-long lecture tour in America as a striving and ambitious young ‘Professor of Aesthetics’, to the short period of fame and success in the early 1890s followed by his disgrace and imprisonment. The last and most poignant section covers the five long years between his downfall and his early death in exile at forty-six. Even in adversity his humour does not desert him and he is able to share with his readers that greatest of gifts – the ability to smile at one’s own misfortune.