Irish Peacock and Scarlet Marquess: The Real Trial of Oscar Wilde

(Paperback)

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Merlin Holland presents the original transcript of the famous Wilde versus Queensberry trial, containing previously unrecorded details and exchanges that took place in the courtroom. With extensive footnotes and a new introduction, this account brings to life the trial that redirected Wilde's life. The love affair between Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred Bosie Douglas is one of the most famous in history. As a direct consequence of this relationship, Wilde underwent three trials in quick succession in 1895, marking the beginning of the end of his celebrated career. In the first trial, he sued the Marquess of Queensberry for criminal libel, after Queensbury left his card at Wilde's club with "For Oscar Wilde posing sodomite" written on it. Wilde's case collapsed on the third day, when Queensberry's counsel, Edward Carson, started to introduce the evidence of young male prostitutes or "renters" whom the defence had found in London's homosexual underworld. Wilde was arrested the same evening and tried twice for "gross indecency". The transcript of the trial that redirected Wilde's history raises new questions about Queensbury's intentions towards his son, as well as casting new light on Wilde's demeanour throughout the ordeal.

Reviews

PRAISE FOR THE COMPLETE LETTERS OF OSCAR WILDE: "The scholarship of Holland and Hart-Davis is as impeccable as their subject's wit, while the letters themselves bear comparison with any more conventional form of literary art." Times Literary Supplement "Meticulousy edited, intelligently annotated, the letters were a biographer's dream." Irish Times "These letters give us the human side of Wilde's legend and its human cost." Observer "The most comprehensive collection yet of Wilde's correspondence, charting his development from ambitious young man about town to literary dandy and tortured outcast" Guardian "To have the full weight of his letters published is almost like living his life with him...one puts down the letters heavy with mixed emotions - admiration, sorrow and exasperation." Daily Mail "Even those who know it well will once more fall under the spell of Wilde's charmed words as he sings his way to oblivion. This is a marvellous volume, fully worthy of Wilde's own genius." The Times "Oscar Wilde writes his own life in the newly revised and expanded Complete Letters. The one essential book on the subject." The Independent Books of the Year

Author Bio

Merlin Holland is Oscar Wildes grandson and sole executor of his estate. He is a journalist and has been reasearching the life of his grandfather for the last 20 years. He lives in London with his wife and son.