An Electronic Journal for the Exchange of Information
on Current Research, Publications and Productions
concerning
Oscar Wilde and His Circles
Vol. II No. 2
February 2002
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Notice of the eighth (January) issue of THE OSCHOLARS was transmitted to 467 readers. Since then ,the number of those registered as readers of the journal has risen to 523 in thirty-five countries, the great majority in one or other of 210 universities or university colleges from Charles to Charles Sturt. THE OSCHOLARS is also subscribed by the City Library, Ystad, Sweden; the National Library of Ireland; the Library of Trinity College, Dublin; and the Library of the Instituto de Artes del Espectáculo, University of Buenos Aires.
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Plans are maturing for 'Staging Wilde', the first OSCHOLARS colloquium on Oscar Wilde, which will take place in Senate House, University of London, on Tuesday 25th June in collaboration with the Institute of English Studies. Expanded details of this will continue to be given in THE OSCHOLARS. The fee for the day will be £25.00, £15.00 concessions. Coffee/tea and biscuits will be provided, and lunch facilities are available in Senate House at the Macmillan Restaurant. We hope that the day will conclude with a reception. Please regard this notice as a Call for Papers. All those giving papers will have the option of publishing them in a special supplement to THE OSCHOLARS. Numbers are limited to one hundred; all bookings up to 1st May will be at the concessionary rate. (Cheques, money orders should be made out to THE OSCHOLARS.) Speakers so far engaged are Yvonne Brewster, director of the Talawa Theatre Company, who will talk about her 1989 all-black production of The Importance of Being Earnest; Robert Gordon, Reader in Drama and Head of the Drama Department at Goldsmiths College, on the staging of the 'society plays' in Britain the last decade; and Robert Tanitch, author of Oscar Wilde On Stage and Screen (London: Methuen 1999). |
As always, suggestions for improvements, additions and above all corrections, to THE OSCHOLARS are very welcome.
A new feature in this month's issue of THE OSCHOLARS is a section called 'The Other Oscar'. This will chart the various myths and errors that infest studies of Wilde and construct gradually a biography of a quite different Oscar Wilde. We hope readers will contribute to this, attributing the source of the information.
We also draw American readers' attention to an important announcement below.
Nobody has found anything untoward in the idea of our publishing short essays culled from our own research, so the new section 'And I? May I say nothing?' will begin in March. Readers who wish to publish articles should first consider The Wildean, contacts for which are to be found below. As a print journal, The Wildean is more substantial than THE OSCHOLARS, although we each believe the other is complementary to our own endeavour. That said, readers may wish to submit articles for consideration that are too long for the Notes and Queries section and too short for The Wildean or elsewhere, to this section. We are certainly not going to publish our own musings and refuse those of others.
Nothing in THE OSCHOLARS© is copyright to the Journal (although it may be to individual writers) unless indicated by ©,and the usual etiquette of attribution will doubtless be observed. Please feel free to download it, re-format it, print it, store it electronically whole or in part, copy and paste parts of it, and (of course) forward it to colleagues.
As usual, names emboldened in green in the text are those of subscribers to THE OSCHOLARS, who may be contacted through Melmoth@aliceadsl.fr. Underlined text in blue can be clicked for navigation through the document or to other addresses.
The Dutch translation of 'There is only one thing worse than being talked about' has been kindly supplied by Eva Thienpont of the University of Ghent.
The technical assistance of Dr John Phelps of Goldsmiths College has been invaluable; but the errors remain the Editor's.
Editor: D.C. Rose
THE OSCHOLARS is very pleased indeed to carry this announcement:
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Announcing the foundation of The Oscar Wilde Society in America, a new society organized to promote the study, understanding, and dissemination of research about Oscar Wilde and his Times. The Society will be especially engaged in fostering a wider awareness of Wilde's 1882 American lecture tour and of the artists, educators, and other individuals he encountered. Inaugural events will be held in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, on the weekend of St. Patrick's Day 2002, in commemoration of the 120th anniversary of Oscar Wilde's visit to the Twin Cities. All interested persons are welcome to join. For more details, please contact Joan Navarre and Marilyn Bisch, by post at The Oscar Wilde Society in America House, Half Moon Park, 332 Eleventh Street East, Menomonie WI, 54751 USA, or via e-mail to |
We heartily congratulate Dr Navarre and Dr Bisch on this initiative and look forward to co-operating in every way.
TABLE OF CONTENTSClicking on the
subject will take you directly to the section |
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5. Broadcast |
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III. THE CRITIC AS CRITIC |
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1. Film |
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2. Exhibitions |
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3. Talks |
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4. Conferences |
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6. Award |
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3. Interrelations:
Irish Literatures and other forms of knowledge |
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9. Theatre |
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10. English Studies |
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16. Delirium: An
Interdisciplinary Webzine of Culture and Criticism |
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18. Partial
Answers: A Journal of Literature and the History of Ideas |
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1. Obituary |
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10. Wilde in
Texas |
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VII. 'MAD, SCARLET MUSIC' |
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IX. THE OTHER OSCAR |
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XII. A WILDE FEBRUARY |
I. GUIDANCE FOR SUBMISSIONS
Publication is on the last day of each month(or if this is not possible, the first day of the next); copydate is not later than the 25th.
Please specify if you wish your e-mail address to be included.
Work in Progress: Please give the provisional title, status (e.g. article, book, M.A. Dissertation, Ph.D. thesis etc.)and where appropriate your university affiliation.
Publications: Full title, publisher, place and date of publication as usual, ISBN if possible.
Notices: If you are kindly submitting notices of events, such as conferences, productions, broadcasts or lectures, please include as many details as you can: venue, date, time, and contact address if possible or relevant.
Notes & Queries: These can include points that you might like to see discussed in a 'Letters to the Editor' column.
II. NEWS FROM SUBSCRIBERS
1. Publications and Papers
Rod Dungate writes 'I've recently started a site with co-editor Timothy Ramsden www.ReviewsGate.com. We've been public for a few months now, but have built up a considerable base of reviews (we cover as much of the UK as possible). There are a few mentions of Wilde on the site at present . . . reviews of the LipService The Importance of being Earnest and the Leicester Selfish Giant . . . but these will increase.'
Lucy McDiarmid (Villanova University) writes that her article 'Oscar Wilde's Speech from the Dock' was published in Textual Practice 15 (3), November 2001, 447 to 466
Simon Redington writes from Hanoi that his illustrated edition of The Selfish Giant has been published in a facsimile version in Vietnamese and English by the government children's educational book publisher, the Kim Dong Publishing House.
This was first published in July 2000 by Kamikaze Press Bow Arts Trust, London, in a limited edition of 60 with 10 artist proofs, case bound with a slip case (page size 340mm x 380mm), and 6 exhibition folios. It contains 32 pages including 14 woodcuts, (7 colour and white blocks) on 200mg Stockwell cartridge paper. The endpaper was handmade by Doa Van Chi, Bac Ninh Province, Hanoi, Vietnam. The illustrations can be seen at
www.kamikazepress.com/images/prints/selfishgiant/giantgallery/index.htm
and we reproduce the title page by kind permission of Mr Redington.
Some copies are still available at £600.00.
Eva Thienpont (University of Ghent) is giving a paper on 'The Subversion of Melodrama Stereotypes in The Importance of Being Earnest' at the Gender In Culture Conference of the Southwest/Texas Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association 13th-17th February at the Albuquerque Hilton in Albuquerque, New Mexico. We reprint the abstract, by kind permission:
Oscar Wilde apparently wrote his plays starting from a conventional melodrama story and gradually working them up to the comedies as we know them. In doing so, he subverted the gender stereotypes as found in 19th century melodrama. The Importance of Being Earnest is arguably the play in which this technique, found in all of Wilde's four comedies, culminates.
In this paper I propose a comparison of the two printed versions of Earnest, namely the four act version as edited by Robert Ross, and the three act version we know so well. The differences between the two versions are not generally given much attention, but they tell us a lot about Wilde's proceedings when subverting gender stereotypes. It will be shown that the three act version, which Wilde favoured himself, is far more radical than the one edited by Ross.
In my approach I situate Wilde's play(s)in their historical and sociological context, and this is combined with a close reading of the text.
Doric Wilson's play Now She Dances! based on Salome can be downloaded from www.doricwilson.com/shedances.htm
Miss Salome (Sally Eaton) and the mask of
Moloch - TOSOS, 1976
Photo: Jack Logan
2. Visits and Occasions
Donald Mead (Oscar Wilde Society) has sent the Society's events programme for the first half of 2002. These events are only open to members of the Society, but details of membership may be obtained by reference to the Society's section of THE OSCHOLARS (see below).
23rd February: Visit to Reading Gaol.
17th to 19th May: Weekend in Dieppe and Berneval
20th July: Lunch at Magdalen College, Oxford
3. Wilde on the Curriculum
No further information to hand.
4. Work in Progress
Marie Noëlle Gibert (Goldsmiths College, University of London) writes 'My subject is "Theatricality and the body in Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest and The Picture of Dorian Gray." My tutor (who is a specialist in modern theatre) wants me to see how Wilde handles the concept of theatricality in one of his plays and then in his novel.'
Katrine Lygren (University of St Andrew's) writes that her M.A. dissertation 'The Real and the Ideal in Oscar Wilde' was completed in January.
Rachel McNaughton writes 'I am a final year undergraduate at the University of Glamorgan reading History and Literature. I am working on a dissertation on "Oscar Wilde, Walter Pater: Decadence at the fin-de-siècle".'
5. Broadcasts
Merlin Holland has recently broadcast on the Swiss wireless station World Radio Geneva (WRG FM 88.4). We know of no broadcasts planned for February.
III. THE CRITIC AS CRITIC
We hope to carry at least one review in each issue.
Salomé in Amsterdam
Roselinde Supheert
In January, De Nederlandse Opera staged a series of performances of Salomé at the Muziektheater in Amsterdam. The sold-out performances were a revival of a production that was first staged in Amsterdam in 1988 and directed by Harry Kupfer. Indeed, the stage showed signs of the 1980s with high black walls, steel pillars and office furniture with black leather cushions and steel frames, while Salomé (Inga Nielsen) was barefoot and dressed in black pants and a white jacket. A perspex staircase that overhung the pit from which Jokanaan emerged was put to good use by Salomé: lying down on the stairs, she could peek into his prison. The powerful voice of Jokanaan (Albert Dohmen) rose up from the pit with much effect before the prophet himself became visible. When he did, bulky and dressed in a grey uniform, suspension of disbelief was much needed, especially when Salomé referred to his wasted, ivory look. Nielsen's Salomé was a playful young girl who fell in love with Jokanaan almost innocently, but became insistent and obsessed as she was rebuffed time and again. This was acted out movingly in the early scene in which she begs Jokanaan for his love, while he rejects her and preaches the gospel. In her later scenes with Herod, Salomé developed into a sensual temptress who knew exactly how to manipulate her stepfather.
Herod (Chris Merritt)provided some comic relief. He was presented as a faint-hearted bon vivant with a laurel crown and bow tie, who enjoyed his banquet. Anja Silja was a convincing Herodias, reacting first with anger, later with fear and despair to Jokanaan's accusations. She haughtily ignored Salomé's dance of the seven the veils, while Herod followed the dancer around the stage. The dance ended in Salomé being discretely clothed in a decent white nightie after she had flung her last veil into Jokanaan's pit. The nudity on stage came from the unexpected side of the executioner who is ordered to bring the head of Jokanaan. While a ripple went through the audience, he appeared totally naked, bearing just a sword and a tray. He went down into the pit and returned equally naked but splattered with blood, carrying Jokanaan's head. By this time, Salomé's obsession had evolved almost into madness reminding one of Ophelia as, still dressed in her white nightgown, she repeated her desire over and over again to Jokanaan's head.
Although the Nederlands Philharmonisch Orkest directed by Edo de Waard produced a reliable, sonorous sound, nuances were lost and the singers had to work hard to make themselves heard. After nearly two hours of non-stop performance, one could not escape the feeling of having been on a roller-coaster and wanting toget off. The impression was created that Strauss knew only one volume: loud, and one register: dramatic. Of course, Salomé invites drama, but the lack of contrast undermined the effect in this case. The audience must have been aware of this because after the standing ovation, which seems to have become a custom in Dutch concert halls, there wer eno further curtain calls.
v Roselinde Supheert teaches in the English Department of Utrecht University.
Historical footnote: Anja Silja sang Salome to Astrid Várnay's Herodias in the 1963 Berlin production. 'Her singing was wild and wayward [. . .] sometimes enthralling, sometimes plain ugly and off-pitch[. . .] There was nothing statuesque or restrained about her acting style[. . .] as Salome, she lay on her back, her head dangling over the edge of the stage. She was openly and convincingly erotic.' Rupert Christiansen: Prima Donna : A History. London: Bodley Head 1984 p.169.
David Geary, who runs the Várnay website tells us that Madame Várnay herself sang Salome in 1953, a Bavarian radio production conducted by her husband, Hermann Weigert. Then Herodias was Margarethe Klose. We must now discover if Madame Klose ever sang Salome. http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/Strasse/7321/astrid1.html,
We look forward to reviewing Inge Nielsen's Herodias in 2041. Your Editor will be 99 ...
IV. NEWS FROM ELSEWHERE
1. Film
News of the Oliver Parker Importance of being Earnest.
Karen Rosenberg writes 'The movie is scheduled to open in the US at the end of May/beginning of June, but the UK date (unconfirmed) might be on August 30th. A clip from the movie was recently shown on television in the UK in the Bafta honors program for Dame Judi Dench. I will try to keep in touch if further information comes my way.'
Readers are referred to Ms Rosenberg's well-illustrated and very informative website
http://www.spring.net/karenr/mdbro/earnest.html
Information can also be found at http://hem.passagen.se/lmw/earnest.html
2. Exhibitions
Oscar Wilde: A Life in
Six Acts
This exhibition at the Morgan Library, New York has now ended.
We did not feel it appropriate to commission a formal review, but we should like to print a selection of responses to the exhibition by readers if anyone would like to send in about 250 words.
The website of the Exhibition is still (25th January) at http://www.morganlibrary.org/exhibtions/current/html/main.html
The original British Library website of this exhibition is at
The British Library curator was Sally Brown; the Morgan curator was Christine Nelson.
Yinka Shonibare
In THE OSCHOLARS I/3 we carried a short piece about Yinka Shonibare and his Dorian Gray photographs. These are being shown in the Museo Hendrik C. Andersen in Rome to the 3rd March in an exhibition arranged by the British Council, and are described in their Press Release as follows:
Inspired by the film version of The Portrait [sic] of Dorian Gray (1945, USA, directed by Albert Lewin, with George Sanders and Angela Lansbury) - the most famous literary work of the dandy par excellence, Oscar Wilde - is the cycle of photographic tableaux that completes the Roman exhibition. In the twelve large images in black and white, Shonibare himself appears in the guise of Dorian Gray, emblem of the dark side of dandyism a potent brew of narcissism, degeneration and hedonism.
For the complete Press Release go to http://www.e-flux.com/decode.php3?cid=73 and click on the link Gallery Programme of The British School at Rome.
Yinka Shonibare's series of photographs 'Diary of a Victorian Dandy' also forms part of the current exhibition of Mr Shonibare's work at The Studio Museum, Harlem, New York. This exhibition is the first major installation of Mr Shonibare's work in New York City.
Complimenting the sculptural work, Shonibare's photographs are at once subversive, theatrical, humorous and seductive. Inserting himself as the 'dandy' (the sexualized anonymous black male character often found in period images) Shonibare moves this traditionally marginalized character from the background of the image to center stage.
- From the Press release.
This exhibition runs to 31st March. The Studio Museum in Harlem is located at 144 West 125th Street, between Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard and Lenox Avenue.
We are grateful to Ms Christine Kim of The Studio Museum in Harlem for this information.
3. Talks
Saturday 9th February 10.00-5.15 pm Day Colloquium on Gender in the Nineteenth Century. Nineteenth Century Studies Series.
School of Advanced Study, Senate House, Malet Street,
London WC1E 7HU. Tel: 020 7862
8675; Fax: 020 7862 8673. e-mail: ies@sas.ac.uk.
http://www.sas.ac.uk/ies/Seminars/Nineteenth%20Century%20Studies%20Seminar%202001-2.htm
Saturday 16th February, 2.15 pm. Rob Allen: The Making of William Morris: The Red House Years.
Red House, the home of William Morris from 1860 to 1865, is now owned by the Hollamby family. In this talk, Rob Allen, a Trustee of Red House, will describe the history of this seminal building, its present position and its possible future.
Tickets £3 for William Morris Society members, £4 for non-members. Address all applications for tickets, enclosing a stamped addressed envelope, to Judy Marsden, The William Morris Society, Kelmscott House, 26 Upper Mall, Hammersmith, London W6 9TA.
The Sidney D. Gamble Lecture series for 2001-2002 will explore a wide range of Arts and Crafts themes for those in the Pasadena, California area.
Monday 19th February. 7:30 pm: Derek Ostergard: At the Crossroads of Empire: Vienna, Modernism and Design.
Reservations in advance are recommended, as space is limited.
For more information, please contact the Gamble House directly at 4
Westmoreland Place, Pasadena, CA 91103.
Tel: 626/ 793-3334. Fax: 626/577-7547.
Email: gamblehouse@usc.edu.
VICTORIAN SOCIETY events for February. Please check with the Society for availability of places.
E-mail: admin@victorian-society.org.uk.
The Victorian Society, 1 Priory Gardens, Bedford Park, London W4 1TT, England.
(If you write to us and would like a reply, please include a stamped, addressed envelope.)
Telephone 020 8994 1019 Facsimile 020 8747 5899.
Tuesday 5th February 6.30 pm. Oonah Kennedy: Architects of the Belle Epoque: Mewès and Davis
Mewès and Davis were an international practice whose wide-ranging English work includes the Ritz in London, Luton Hoo in Bedfordshire, and Polesden Lacey in Surrey.
v Oonah Kennedy is writing the definitive biography of the practice.
Art Workers' Guild, 6 Queen Square, London WC1. £6.
Wednesday 6th February 4.15-5.15 pm. Guided tour of Middlesex Guildhall
Now used by the Crown Court Service, we offer a rare opportunity to visit this finely detailed Art Nouveau building, prominently located on Parliament Square (near Westminster Abbey). Designed by JS Gibson &Partners to contain the Middlesex Guildhall and Middlesex Sessions (held on the site since 1762), it cost £111,000 to build in 1906-13, with sculptural embellishments inside and out by HC Fehr. Tube: Westminster. £6 + SAE.
Monday 11th February 6.30 pm. John Earl: Edwardian Theatres
Many London theatres were built or remodelled in the Edwardian period. The potent combination of melodrama on stage and lavish architecture off-stage means the Edwardian period is one of the most important in theatre design.
v John Earl co-edited the Theatres Trust's Guide to British Theatres 1750-1950.
Art Workers' Guild, 6 Queen Square, London WC1. £6.
Saturday 16th February 10 am. The Royal Automobile Club, Pall Mall
A guided tour of Mewès & Davis's building of 1908-11. This was 'intended to be the club to end all West End clubs -the imposing exterior is echoed in a series of grand public rooms on the largest scale' (Alastair Service) £6 + SAE. Very limited numbers. Dress code: jackets and ties, no jeans or trainers.
Tuesday 19th February 6.30 pm. Sasha Gerstein: 'Modernised Baroque': the work of Lanchester and Rickards.
v Sasha Gerstein is completing a PhD on Lanchester and Rickards, whose work includes Cardiff Town Hall and Law Courts and the Methodist Central Hall in Westminster.
Art Workers' Guild, 6 Queen Square, London WC1. £6.
Tuesday 26th February 6.30 pm. David Crellin: Sir Edwin Lutyens and the Grand Manner: his work up to 1914.
Buildings such as Heathcote, Ilkley, and unexecuted designs for London County Hall and memorials to Edward VII show the development of Lutyens's approach to monumental classicism up to the First World War.
v David Crellin is the Society's Northern and Welsh Architectural Adviser, and is completing a PhD on the work of Lutyens.
Art Workers' Guild, 6 Queen Square, London WC1. £6.
4. Conferences
Constructions of Irishness
22nd to 24th March. European Studies Research Institute, Centre for Irish Studies, University of Salford, Salford, Greater Manchester, England. Web site www.esri.salford.ac.uk/irishness
Papers include:
K.S. Bohman (Princeton): 'Debatable Degrees of Irishness: Authenticity at Home and Abroad.'
S. Ward (Bradford): ‘The Cult of Respectability.’
Further information from Wendy Dodgson, Conference Administrator, European Studies Research Institute, University of Salford, Salford, Greater Manchester M5 4WT UK. Telephone: + 44 (0) 161 295 4862 Fax: + 44 (0) 161 2955223. e-mail: w.a.dodgson@salford.ac.uk.
The Irish Revival
The 10th international conference of the Society for the Study of Nineteenth-Century Ireland (SSNCI) will take place at All Hallows College, Dublin, on 28th to 30th June. Taking as its theme THE IRISH REVIVAL REAPPRAISED, the conference will feature presentations by Roy Foster, P.J. Mathews, Fintan Cullen, Alex Davis, David Gardiner, Brian Griffin, Christina Hunt Mahony, Siobhan Kilfeather, and Lucy McDiarmid.
The Irish revival had its roots in the 1880s and flourished until the 1920s. While not neglecting the great figures or key texts of the age, special emphasis will be placed during this conference on the social, economic and political contexts, such as journalism, theatre and the arts, politics, education, religion and business, which informed the intelligentsias ofthe period, and contributed to the emergence of movements as diverse as the Gaelic League, the Anglo-Irish literary renaissance, the co-operative movement and Sinn Féin.
Registration forms can be obtained from a link on the Society's webpage at http://www.qub.ac.uk/english/socs/ssnci.html.
or from:
Dr E.A. Taylor-FitzSimon, Department of English, All Hallows College, Grace Park Road, Drumcondra, Dublin 9. E-mail: tayfitz@indigo.ie.
5. Papers and Publications
Aoife Leahy (University College Dublin) is giving a paper on 'The Importance of Ernest's Pink Satin: A Reading of The Importance of Being Earnest' at the conference NEW VOICES 2002 Trinity College Dublin, 2nd February.
The (American) William Morris Society http://www.morrissociety.org has announced an update to its web site for 2002, with events and news in the U.S. and U.K. until July 2002.
This announces items of interest to scholars, researchers, and everyone interested in William Morris, his circle, and the Pre-Raphaelite movement.
The University of Wisconsin Press announces a new series of books Irish Literature and Culture:
General Editor: Michael Patrick Gillespie
Advisory Board: Nicholas Fargnoli, Marjorie Howes, Maria Pramaggiore, Eamonn Wall, Guinn Batten, David Hayman, Thomas Dillon Redshaw, James Rogers, Elizabeth Cullingford, Adrian Frazier, Cheryl Herr, Charles Fanning.
This Irish Literature and Culture Series will seek out the best manuscripts and book proposals in the field. While it will draw upon the strengths already evident in the existing Irish studies list at the University of Wisconsin in film, Gay/Lesbian Studies, the works of James Joyce, plastic and performing arts, biographies/memoirs, and Irish American authors, the series will consider the widest range of scholarship, writing, and research in this field with no prescriptive or exclusionary guidelines. The series will consider a wide range of manuscripts and book proposals including works of scholarship and works for the general reader, anthologies, thematic readers, monographs and works of synthesis, as well as fiction and non fiction.
Please direct all inquiries to:
Professor Michael Patrick Gillespie, Louise Edna Goeden Professor of English, Department of English, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI. e-mail: michael.gillespie@marquette.edu or to:
Dr. Robert Mandel, Director, The University of Wisconsin Press, 1930 Monroe Street, Third Floor, Madison, WI 53711. E-mail: ramandel@facstaff.wisc.edu
The following books have recently been placed on line and may be found through following the link:
Oscar Wilde: The Picture of Dorian Gray
http://www.books-on-line.com/bookdisplay.cfm?BookNum=3503
This is the 13-chapter version, 1890 (Project Gutenberg)
Corelli, Marie: Thelma.
http://www.books-on-line.com/bookdisplay.cfm?BookNum=18743
Huysmans, Joris-Karl: Against the Grain.
http://www.books-on-line.com/bookdisplay.cfm?BookNum=116
The Dover edition, first published in 1969, is an unabridged republication of the English translation published by Three Sirens Press, New York, in 1951. [This translation was published much earlier and is no longer under copyright.] The introduction by Havelock Ellis, also from the Three Sirens Pres sedition, has been slightly abridged for this edition. A photograph of J.K. Huysmans has been added to the Dover edition as a frontispiece.
Ibsen, Henrik: The Master Builder.
http://www.books-on-line.com/bookdisplay.cfm?BookNum=18506
Loti, Pierre: Madame Chrysanthème.
http://www.books-on-line.com/bookdisplay.cfm?BookNum=18752
Shaw, George Bernard: Androcles and the Lion.
http://www.books-on-line.com/bookdisplay.cfm?BookNum=18718
Shaw, George Bernard: Candida.
http://www.books-on-line.com/bookdisplay.cfm?BookNum=18694
Shaw, George Bernard Man of Destiny.
http://www.books-on-line.com/bookdisplay.cfm?BookNum=18695
Swinburne, Algernon Charles: Songs Before Sunrise.
http://www.books-on-line.com/bookdisplay.cfm?BookNum=18508
Wagner, Richard: Parsifal, A Mystical Drama.
http://www.books-on-line.com/bookdisplay.cfm?BookNum=15548
The following can now be found on the Bibliothèque électronique de Lisieux (http://www.bmlisieux.com/) for February
Mendès, Catulle (1841-1909): Le mangeur de rêve(1883).
Tellier. Jules (1863-1889): 'Autour de l'Ecole décadente', three articles from 1887 and 1888.
Ulbach, Louis (1822-1889) : L'âne par Victor Hugo, conférence faite à Courbevoie, le 7 novembre 1880 au profit de la bibliothèque populaire.
The Victorian Review, an interdisciplinary journal promoting the study of all aspects of the nineteenth century, announces its latest issue.
The articles in this special issue on 19th century visual culture include:
Andrew Stephenson: 'Anxious Performances: Aestheticism, the Art Gallery and the Ambulatory Geographics of Late Nineteenth-Century London'
Individual subscriptions (Canadian and US) are $25CDN / year. Overseas subscriptions are $30CDN / year.
For further information, or to send an order, please contact Dr. Susan Hamilton, Editor, Victorian Review, Department of English, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2E5. Fax: 780-492-8142. E-mail: susan.hamilton@ualberta.ca
Victorians Institute Journal, Volume 29 (2001) has just been published. VIJ is a scholarly annual sponsored by the Victorians Institute. Membership $15 per annum, and includes the journal. http://www.people.vcu.edu/~dlatane/VI.html
Articles include
Charles Brownell: Review of E. W. Godwin, Aesthetic Movement Architect and Designer, ed. ;SusanWeber Soros; and The Secular Furniture of E. W. Godwin, witha Catalogue Raisonné by Susan Weber Soros
Srdjan Smajic: Review of The Victorians and the Visual Imagination by Kate Flint;
Nicholas Frankel: Review of The Fin de Siècle: A Reader in Cultural History c. 1880-1900, ed. by Sally Ledger and Roger Luckhurst; and New Woman Poets: An Anthology, ed. Linda Hughes
Copies of this issue may be ordered directly ($15 check payable to Victorians Institute Journal)
VIJ, Department of English, Box 842005, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 23284-2005
6. Award
Eithne Woodcock has been shortlisted as Best Supporting Actress in The Irish Times/ESB Irish Theatre Awards for her rôle as Cecily Cardew in the Spring 2001 production of The Importance of being Earnest by the Dublin company Guna Nua, directed by David Parnell.
V. BEING TALKED ABOUT: CALLS FOR PAPERS
« Er is maar éénding erger dan dat
er over je gepraat wordt, en dat is dat er niet overje gepraat wordt »
We hope these may attract Wildëans.
Any specific papers on Wilde will be noted in future issues of THE OSCHOLARS.
[To jump to the end of this section: click here on any Green Carnation in the text.]
1. CALL FOR PAPERS: Literary London.
A Conference on Literary London will be held at Goldsmiths College, University of London, 4th to 7th July.
The Academic Director of the Conference is Lawrence Phillips (Goldsmiths College).
2. CALL FOR PAPERS: Final call for papers for Women's Poetry and the fin-de-siècle (1875-1914)
An international conference to be held in London on 14th June 2002.
Abstracts of no more than 300 words (E-mail is preferred) should be sent as soon as possible to:
Marion Thain, Department of English, The University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, England. E-mail: M.Thain.2@Bham.ac.uk
Ana Vadillo, School of English and the Humanities, Birkbeck College, University of London, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HX. E-mail: a.parejovadillo@eng.bbk.ac.uk
Papers that consider fin-de-siècle women's poetry in relation to issues such as The New Woman, British Æstheticism, Decadence, Poetics and Modernity are especially sought, but papers that either address the work of single authors or that focus on fin-de-siècle women's poetry and social and critical concerns such as Religion, The City, Gender, Class, Race, Mass-culture, Empire, Socialism and Social Darwinism are also welcome.
Hosted by the Institute for English Studies in conjunction with The Birkbeck Centre for Nineteenth-Century Studies and The University of Birmingham.
3. CALL FOR PAPERS: Interrelations: Irish Literatures and other forms of knowledge
São Paulo, 28th July 28 to 1st August. Extended deadline for proposals for papers (approx. 300 words) and previously organized panels: 15th February.
This conference aims at developing an interdisciplinary approach to the study of Irish Literatures. It looks at literary connections with History, Psychology, Philosophy, Science, other Arts (such as music, dance, cinema, painting), Critical Theory and Translation.
Papers and panels may also address the following issues:
v intertextuality
v cultural encounters
v Irish images abroad
v Irish culture
All proposals and c.v. (one paragraph) must be submitted to the organizers electronically:
Munira H. Mutran & Laura Izarra, Universidade de São Paulo- DLM, Av. Luciano Gualberto 403 05508-900 São Paulo SP, Brasil. Fax: 0055-11-3032 2325. iasil@usp.br
Programme and further information at: http://www.fflch.usp.br; then click on EVENTOS and IASIL 2002
4. CALL FOR PAPERS: Women and Literature Session
Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association, Western Washington University Bellingham, Washington.
8th to 10th November
Please submit proposals with a 50-word abstract by 15th March. E-mail submissions (and queries) welcome.
J. L. Bartlett. E-mail: jamibart@aol.com
5. CALL FOR PAPERS: Children's Literature
The Children's Literature Section of the Midwest MLA invites proposals for papers devoted to the study of children's literature for MMLA 2002, to be held from 8th to 10th November in Minneapolis, MN.
We are interested in a variety of scholarly or pedagogical approaches, and welcome topics including, but not limited to:
v Changes in Children's Literary Genres
v Multiculturalism and Children's Literature
v Children's Literature and Film
v Literature and the Classroom
v Gender Politics and Children's Literature
v Children's Literature for Adults
Please send a 1-page abstract by 15th March to John McCombe, Department of English, The University of Dayton, 300 College Park, Dayton, OH 45469-1520
E-mail submissions are also welcome and should be addressed to john.mccombe@notes.udayton.edu
6. CALL FOR PAPERS: New Scholarship in Book History and Print Culture
An Interdisciplinary Conference.
The University of Toronto Collaborative Program in Book History and Print Culture invites submissions for its first annual conference to beheld at the University of Toronto on 4th and 5th October.. The conference is targeting graduate students and recent PhDs and is meant to be a forum for innovative work being undertaken by scholars in the developing field of book history and print culture. The organizers are hoping to attract proposals from a variety of disciplines dealing with all aspects of the production, dissemination and reception of texts from the Middle Ages to the present.
Please send submissions to bhpc@hotmail.com consisting of an abstract (no more than 250 words) and a one-page c.v. in the body of the text. The deadline for submissions is 1st March.
Brought to you by the Toronto Centre for the Book and the Collaborative Program in Book History and Print Culture.
7. CALL FOR PAPERS: American Society for Aesthetics
2002 ASA Annual Meeting, 30th October to 1st November, Miami.
The Program Committee of the American Society for Aesthetics invitessubmissions for presentation of papers or panels at the 60th annual meetingof the Society at the Hyatt Regency, Miami (Coral Gables), Florida. TheSociety welcomes submissions from persons in all arts-related disciplines,as well as from graduate students.
Papers on all topics in aesthetics are welcome. We particularly encourage submissions on the following themes:
v Nineteenth Century Aesthetics
v Art and Religion
v Crossover Culture: The Aesthetics of Identity Formation
v Gay and Transvestite Culture
v Dance Aesthetics
Persons submitting paper or panel suggestion for review by the Program Committee must be members of the American Society for Aesthetics. E-mail submissions are encouraged, but hard copies should be sent to ensure receipt. All submissions will be subject to blind refereeing; enclose a cover sheet and do not include identifying information in the body of the paper.
Presentation time for papers will be limited to twenty minutes, strictly enforced. Proposals for two-hour panel sessions are also invited. Panel proposals should describe the topic and list names and qualifications of the prospective participants.
Deadline: 15th February.
Cynthia Freeland, Department of Philosophy, 513 Agnes Arnold Hall, University of Houston, Houston TX 77204-3004. E-mail: cfreeland@uh.edu
8. CALL FOR PAPERS: Victorian Poetics and Politics
Panel organized by the MLA Division on the Victorian Period
2002 MLA Convention (New York, 27th to 30th December)
Papers on the 19th-c circulation of poetry in public, in oratory, onstage, at school, in prose; cultural politics of the Poet/ess; poetics of nation, province, empire.
1-page abstracts by 1st March to
Yopie Prins, Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature, 3187 Angell Hall, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1003. E-mail: yprins@umich.edu
9. CALL FOR PAPERS: Theatre
Book-length manuscripts are invited for two new book series published by the Presses Interuniversitaires européennes / Peter Lang S.A. (Brussels): 'DRAMATURGIES' and 'NEW COMPARATIVE POETICS.' Both series will welcome manuscripts examining the relationship between theatre and drama, literature and cultures.
For submissions and inquiries, contact
Prof. Maufort, English Department CP 175, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 50, av. F.D. Roosevelt, 1050 BRUXELLES, Belgium. E-Mail: mmaufort@ulb.ac.be
10. CALL FOR PAPERS: English Studies
English Studies is the leading referee journal on English Language and Literatures in Europe outside the UK. It is interested in articles from all fields, genres and periods, including linguistics (in all its variants),English and American literature, and new literatures in English. In particular, it favours traditional 'Philology' in its broadest sense, including liberal humanist literary criticism. It puts a premium on good writing as well as on solid scholarly research. It encourages both young and established scholars to submit articles. Articles will be refereed within 8 weeks of receipt and, if accepted, will be published within 18 months.
Articles from Belgian contributors should be sent to:
Prof. Kristiaan Versluys, University of Gent English Department, Rozier 44, B-9000 Gent, Belgium. Tel : +32 9 264 3697 Fax : +32 9 264 4184. E-mail : Kries.Versluys@rug.ac.be
11. CALL FOR PAPERS: Crime and Punishment
The Victorian Studies Association of Western Canada invites proposals for papers to be delivered at its thirty-first annual interdisciplinary conference. The conference will be held in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and will take place on September 27-29, 2002. Our keynote speakers will be James Eli Adams, Professor of English, Cornell University, and Martin J. Wiener, Professor of History, Rice University.
Victorian culture expresses and documents a range of attitudes towards crime and punishment. We invite papers on any aspect of crime and punishment in the Victorian period and we welcome submissions from scholars working in the fields of history, theatre, music, literature, art history, philosophy and law. Papers could analyze domestic, social and psychological forms of punishment; crimes such as domestic violence, forgery, bigamy, prostitution and theft; legal, religious or personal responses to criminal activity; or the criminalization of certain identities, such as those relating to economic status and sexual activity. Possible topics for consideration also include guilt and shame, morality and moral panic, crime reporting, jails and asylums, celebrity criminals, exile and forced migration, censorship, and detective fiction. Papers might also address questions of a more narrowly theoretical nature. How, for instance, are distinctions between misdeeds, misdemeanors and felonies established, maintained and/or challenged? On a related note, how are the processes and motivations of punishment conceptualized and justified? The conference's co-convenors are Arlene Young and Vanessa Warne, both from the Department of English at the University of Manitoba. Proposals should consist of an abstract of approximately 350 words, a one-paragraph synopsis (100 words maximum), and a brief CV. (The abstracts are sent to vettors; the 100-word synopses are used for grant applications by the conference convenors.)
Proposals are due on or before 1st March and should be sent to the address below. E-mail submissions are welcome.
Dr. Lisa A. Surridge, President, VSAWC, Associate Professor, Department of English, University of Victoria, P.O. Box 3070, STN CSC, Victoria, B.C. V8W 3W1. Phone: (250) 721-7246 Fax: (250) 721-6498. E-mail: lsurridg@uvic.ca
12. CALL FOR PAPERS: Deviance in Culture and Society
Nikolay Schitov and Alexei Lalo, USIA and OSI Faculty Incentive Fellowship Program fellows in 1998-2000 Setting up a Collaborative Research and Curriculum Development Program in Culture and Society at the European Humanities University in Minsk and Far Eastern National University in Vladivostok. International Project co-Sponsored by the Open Society Institute in New York City, European Humanities University in Minsk (EHU), Far Eastern National University in Vladivostok (FENU), Columbia University, and Duke University.
Within the framework of the aforementioned project, we take pleasure in announcing a call for contributions to a major collection of essays/reader tentatively entitled DEVIANCE IN CULTURE AND SOCIETY This publication aims to enhance interdisciplinary research activities and serve as a textbook(reader) on the issues of sociology of deviant behavior, social control, punishment, culture studies, and gender/sexualities from a comparative sociocultural perspective for interested undergraduate and graduate students, younger faculty and general public in the former USSR countries. The publication will consist of two volumes: Volume 1. Deviant Behavior and Society (edited by Dr. Nikolai Schitov; to be published in Vladivostok by the FENU Press). The volume will comprise the following sections: 1. Sociology of Deviant Behavior: Theory and Practices. 2. Issues of Social Control and Deviance. 3. Crime and Punishment. 4. Gender and Deviance. 5. Gender and Violence. Should you be interested in contributing to the volume, please contact Nikolai Schitov at: schitov@ext.dvgu.ru
Volume 2. Deviance in Literature and Culture (edited by Alexei Lalo; to be published in Minsk by the EHU Press). It will include the following sections: 1. Deviance and Violence in Contemporary Literature. 2. Visions of Social Control in Modern Literature. 3. Reflections on Crime and Punishment. 4. Cultural Studies and Deviant Behavior. 5. Sexualities in Literary and Cultural Contexts. Should you be interested in contributing to the volume, please contact Alexei Lalo at: lalo@ehu.unibel.by.
The contributors we envisage will be younger faculty, postgraduate and advanced MA and BA-level students from the FENU, EHU and other universities in ex-USSR. We also intend to translate and publish essays and other materials by several established Western, Belarusian, Ukrainian and Russian scholars, some of whom have actively collaborated with both EHU and FENU. Both volumes will be published in Russian. However, we encourage submissions in English too as we plan to translate a number of materials into Russian. Contributions from undergraduate and graduate students are strongly encouraged. The size of a submitted essay should not exceed 12,000 words. The average contribution will range between 5,000 and 8,000 words.
Please submit your paper via email as a Word (PC version) file. Use font Times New Roman (or TNR Cyrillic) 12 and 1.5 line spacing (no spacing between paragraphs). Please enclose a short autobiographical paragraph of 5-10 sentences including your educational background, present professional position, and research interests. The deadline for emailed contributions to both volumes is 19th May. Should you have any questions and comments, please email those to either of the editors.
We would be delighted to answer your queries!
13. CALL FOR PAPERS: (Dis)Junctions: the Ninth Annual Humanities Conference of the University of California, Riverside.
The conference will be held at UC Riverside on the fifth and sixth of April. Papers for this panel may consider topics such as domestic power relations, proper/improper codes of female behavior, amazons, the implications of a female monarch, or women in other positions of power in a patriarchal society, common stereotypes, the education of women, conduct literature, and witchcraft as a means of female deviance or power, or other pertinent topics.
Abstracts of one page may be e-mailed with the text in the body of the message to disjunctions@hotmail.com, or sent to the following address:
(Dis)Junctions: UCR's Ninth Annual Humanities Conference, Department of English, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521-0323, USA. Fax: (909) 787-3967. E-mail: ahowe@mail.ucr.edu.
All abstracts should be received by 15th February. For more information, please visit www.geocities.com/disjunctions.
We are also currently accepting abstracts for a proposed panel about Victorian poetry. Papers may address any aspect of Victorian poetry, including poetics, women writers, and working class writers.
Abstracts (one page) should be e-mailed to disjunctions@hotmail.com (text in the body of the message; please no attachments). If sending by snail mail, please be sure the submission arrives by the deadline (15th February):
(Dis)Junctions, UCR's 9th Annual Humanities Conference, Department of English. UC Riverside Riverside, CA 92521-0323.
14. CALL FOR PAPERS: Image and Imagery, Frames, Borders, Limits
A multidisciplinary exploration of the intersection or interdependence of the visual, textual and oral/aural modes of expression in the arts.
16th to 18th October, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario.
We welcome submissions of 200 word abstracts from the disciplines of fine arts, music, modern and classical literatures, film and communications studies, drama and philosophy. Proposals should consider works that test or challenge the boundaries of the mode of expression in which they are cast. Papers will be given in English.
Deadline for submission of abstracts: 28th February.
Conference organizers:
Prof. Corrado Federici, Prof. Leslie Boldt-Irons and Prof. Ernesto Virgulti, Dept. of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario Canada L2S 3A1.
Please send abstracts to the following e-mail address: image@www.brocku.ca.
15. CALL FOR PAPERS: Dangerous Letters
A special session for the 2002 MLA Annual Convention in New York, will look at questions such as:
What constitutes a dangerous letter? Do generic formulas for this writing exist? —how does the dangerous letter allow novels to explore issues of pornography, blackmail, treason, the line between censorship and protection, authorized and unauthorized surveillance, fact and fiction? —how do these texts approach the writer of the dangerous letter? Does this figure speak to authorial inhibitions or transgressions, limits set by or on gendered, ethnic, or national voices? —how would we write the history of the Post Office and its relationship with and in 19th- and/or 20th-century novels?—in what genres does the Post Office and its rhetoric of protection most often appear and why?
These questions are not the only possible ones to consider; I encourage a diversity of approaches. Please send 1-page abstracts and curricula vitæ by 15th March to ler556@mizzou.edu
or
Laura Rotunno, Department of English, 107 Tate Hall, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211.
Also feel free to write me with any questions.
Note: All participants in convention sessions must be MLA members by 1st April.
This seems to suggest a paper on De Profundis.
16. CALL FOR PAPERS: Delirium: An Interdisciplinary Webzine of Culture and Criticism
Delirium (http://www.deliriumjournal.org), a new 'webzine', seeks submissions in any genre or form, and from any disciplinary perspective, on any issue related to popular culture. We are particularly interested in multimedia explorations of any relevant issue or idea, especially issues of cultural hierarchies (highbrow, lowbrow, middlebrow, no brow), the democratization of culture on the Web, history of popular culture, popular culture and aesthetics, popular culture and advertising, popular culture and religion, popular culture and neo-colonialism, popular culture and business, popular culture responses to 9/11, globalization and cultural identity, national/local tensions, new definitions of the popular, and personal narratives. Prose submissions should be jargon-free.
We prefer queries first, which should be addressed to
Jessica Shaw, Managing Editor j-shaw1@onu.edu.
The deadline for submissions is 31st January.
We regret that we did not receive this early enough for inclusion in the January issue of THE OSCHOLARS.
17. CALL FOR PAPERS: Writing Lives in the Nineteenth Century
RMMLA English Literature 1800-1899, 10th to 12th October, Scottsdale, Arizona.
Deadline for submission: 1st March.
I am seeking paper proposals for the RMMLA English Literature 1800-1899 session. Abstracts of 300 words should be sent in the body of an e-mailto me at ljm18@psu.edu or by snail mailto the address below; abstracts addressing the theme of 'Writing Lives in the Nineteenth Century' will be especially welcome but all submissions will be considered. Please contact me for any further details.
Lucy Morrison, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of English, 76 University Drive, Penn State Hazleton, Hazleton, PA 18202.
18. CALL FOR PAPERS: Partial Answers: A Journal of Literature and the History of Ideas
Partial Answers, a biannual journal sponsored by the School of Literatures of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, is devoted to the interdisciplinary study of literature and the history of ideas. It welcomes contributions that explore the ways in which
literary texts can be perceived both as works of art and as testing grounds for ideas;
literary works participate in the history of ideas, whether understood as a continuous line of development, as a process of inheriting and correcting schemas, or as a sequence of archeological layers;
v literary texts negotiate ideological changes;
v period concepts and debates impinge on the shape of the literary texts;
v the evolution of ideas affects our reading of the literature of the past; individual texts reflect the changing ideas about literature itself.
Partial Answers is published in a region where the need for consciousness of the contingency of one's ideological position is intensely felt. The journal encourages contributors to be explicit regarding their partialities and their philosophical agenda.
The editorial board will consider articles of 3,000 to 10,000 words, written in accordance with The Chicago Manual of Style and a consistent system of reference. Two printed copies of each article and an abstract must be submitted for preliminary evaluation and refereeing; an electronic copy will be requested at a later stage. Articles must be accompanied by self-addressed envelopes and International Reply Coupons, or they will not be returned.
Mailing address: Partial Answers
c/o Department of English, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91905, Israel
Inquiries: partial_answers@h2.hum.huji.ac.il.
19. CALL FOR PAPERS: Interdisciplinary Crossroads: Contact Zone
Twelfth Annual EGAD Interdisciplinary Symposium
6th April
Texas A&M University, Commerce, Texas
Deadline: 28th February
An interdisciplinary look at all aspects of literature, creative writing, poetry and pedagogy, including, but not limited to cultural views, historical influences, feminist viewpoints, goddess imagery, political ideals, and images of citizenship. This includes composition and rhetoric, children's literature, gender studies, popular culture, bilingual texts, historical perspectives, theory, linguistics and social constructs. These are open topics. For example, they can refer to poems, plays, film, novels, non-fiction, scholarly works, travel writings, as well as imaginative political writing around issues of race, region or religion.
Papers are welcome from English, History, Political Science, and Sociology departments.
Please provide a 250 word abstract and CV via e-mail to Lawton@neto.com.
with the subject line as EGAD prior to February 30 [sic].
Or send your abstract and CV to
Rachel Lawton, Texas A&M University-Commerce, Literature and Languages, P. O. Box 3011 Commerce, Texas 75429. E-mail submissions preferred.
20. CALL FOR PAPERS: Victorian Journalism
Entries for the 2002 Van Arsdel Prize for the best student paper on, about, or extensively using Victorian periodicals must be received by 1st April.
Students are reminded that the papers should be 15-20pp. and should not have appeared in print. The winner receives a plaque, a check [anglice, cheque] for $300.00, and publication of the prize essay in Victorian Periodicals Review.
Submissions are to
William H. Scheuerle, Editor, 'VPR', Department of English, CPR107, University of South Florida, Tampa 33620
21. CALL FOR PAPERS: Irish Writing Today: Literature and Poetics (and beyond)
It is a great pleasure to invite you all to the third biannual NISN (Nordic Irish Studies Network) conference in Bergen 15th to 16th(and 17th) May.
NISN2002 will be hosted by the University of Bergen, Norway, with the possible support of other academic institutions and take place at Rica Travel Hotel. The conference takes place on 15th and 16th May and all guests are encouraged to enjoy the felicitous celebrations of the Norwegian National Day on 17th May. We wish all delegates welcome.
If you would like to give a paper, the conference will focus on literature and poetics, but papers from all fields of Irish studies are welcome. The conference will be organised into plenary addresses, poetry readings and (parallel) panels of 20 minutes papers according to the number and interests of the delegates.
Guest Speakers:
v Edna Longley, Professor, Queen's University, Belfast.
v Michael Longley, Whitbread Poetry Prize Winner.
v Paul Muldoon, Oxford Professor of Poetry,
v Howard G.B. Clark, Professor in Humanities at Princeton University,
http://www.uni-leipzig.de/~angl/muldoon/muldoon.htm
Deadline for abstracts: 15th February
Fees: 1000 NoK (approx. £80) include 2 lunches, conference dinner on 15th May, coffee breaks, conference facilities, etc. Please deposit 1000 NoK in Den Norske Bank (DnB) Acc. no.: 54700501666 by 30 March. State NISN2002 + your name as reference.
Conference banquet on 16 May: 400 NoK (£35)
For further information please contact: Papers and conference agenda: Ruben Moi Ruben.Moi@eng.uib.no Tel. + 47 55 58 23 69
Accommodation and general information: Bianca Ross bianca@fi.uib.no Tel. + 47 55 32 92 18
22. CALL FOR PAPERS: 'Their shops are dens, the buyer is their prey': Retailers and consumers in historical perspective, 1500-2000
CHORD CONFERENCE 12th to 13th September, University of Wolverhampton, England
CHORD (the Committee for the History of Retailing and Distribution) welcomes proposals focusing on any aspect of the relationship between consumers and distributors/retailers. Possible themes are: shop fronts, interiors and advertising, credit and hire-purchase, the place of shopkeepers and middlemen in society, consumer attitudes, and the cultural and economic roles of shopping. However, proposals on other topics are also very welcome.
The deadline for the submission of proposals (which should include an abstract of c.200 words) is 28th February.
Proposals should be sent (preferably in electronic form) to Dr. Laura Ugolini, Room MQ 203/4, Quadrant Chambers, University of Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton, WV1 1SB. E-mail: L.Ugolini@wlv.ac.uk
CHORD web-site: http://www.wlv.ac.uk/shass/chord.html
23. CALL FOR PAPERS: Forum on 'Jamesian Arts'
Submissions are invited for a Fall 2002 Forum on 'Jamesian Arts.'
Contributions may address any aspect of the topic, including James and the visual arts--experiences, analogies, tropes, and borrowings; illustrations of and in James's work; James's art criticism, the critic as artist, James and Ruskin, James and Pater; the art of fiction, 'The Art of Fiction,' Jamesian style, Jamesian guile, strategy, design, and artfulness; museums in James, representations of arts and artists, the sister arts; the painter's eye; James and Impressionism, Mannerism, Realism, Modernism, Decadence, Classicism; Sargent's James/James's Sargent; William Wetmore Story; music, sculpture, painting; the theatrical arts--dramaturgy, staging, setting; private collections/public arts, aristocratic patronage, middle-class culture, mass entertainment, the work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction; caricature; ekphrasis. HJR forums provide a flexible space for critical conversation about a specific topic and allow for shorter, less formal contributions. Contributions should be submitted in duplicate and produced according to current MLA style. Please enclose return postage with your manuscript'.
One-page proposals or short (10-12 pages) essays should be sent by 1st March to:
Susan M. Griffin, Editor The Henry James Review, Department of English, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40292. E-mail: hjamesr@louisville.edu.
24. CALL FOR PAPERS: Biography/Autobiography
The South Central Modern Language Association (SCMLA) 59th Annual Convention, Austin, Texas, 31st October to 2nd November. Abstracts due by 15th March.
Papers with a reading time of 15 minutes are invited for the Biography/Autobiography session of the annual meeting of the SCMLA, 31st October to 2nd November. Please submit a 200-word abstract by 15th March via e-mail or regular mail.
Papers on any aspect of research or teaching of biography and autobiography are sought, but those which emphasize the use of global contexts are especially encouraged.
Natasha L. Whitton, Department of English, Southeastern Louisiana University, SLU 10861, Hammond, LA 70402’
25. CALL FOR PAPERS: Discourses of Desire / Discours du désir
The Twenty-Eighth Annual Nineteenth-Century French Studies Colloquium, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 24th to 26th October.
The Department of French and Italian of the Ohio State University, which hosted the third NCFS colloquium in l977, is pleased and honored to welcome the colloquium back to Columbus for the twenty-eighth annual meeting. Much has changed in a quarter century. The colloquium has grown and flourished, and Columbus has developed a vibrant arts and entertainment district around its bold new Eisenman-designed convention center, where the colloquium will take place. The theme of the colloquium derives from and develops Mallarmé's evocation in the Faune of 'tout l'essai éternel du désir.'
Suggested topics are:
v Theories of desire: desire as lack, satisfaction of desire; feminist theories.
v Politics of desire: desire for power, desire to succeed, ambition, opportunism, arrivisme, le/la parvenu/e. Socioeconomics of desire: proletarian, bourgeois desire; greed, consumerism, collecting, le bibelot.
v Langue/s du désir: semiotics, semantics of desire.
v Poetics of desire: (con)figuring desire; allegories, symbols, metaphors, metonymies, oxymorons of desire. Desire for pleasure, happiness, immortality, God; the sacred and the profane. Desire to leave, flee, travel, le voyage; escapism, drugs, opium, laudanum; suicide.
v Appetite: hunger, eating, food, la gourmandise, la gastronomie; drinking, wine, spirits, l'absinthe, alcoholism.
v Types of love: platonic, spiritual, divine, secret, unrequited, romantic.
v Erotic desire: desiring subjects; objects, victims of desire; libido, lust, prurience, titillation.
v Seduction: flirts, vamps, don juans, machismo.
v Obsessive desire: jealousy, rejection, revenge; fetishism, narcissism.
v Violent desire: crime/s passionnel/s; sadomasochism.
v Forbidden desire: adultery, ménages à trois, voyeurism; prostitution, courtesans, la lorette, gigolos; go-betweens, l'entremetteuse, le maquereau. (En)gendered desire: straight, queer, gay, lesbian, homo, hetero, bisexual desire. Sublimation, suppression, repression, denial of desire.
v Desire in art (fine, poster, folk); music (piano, chamber, symphonic, voice, opera, cabaret, music-hall, popular).
Sessions will be organized on special subthemes, including: 'Salomé,' a privileged figure of desire in the nineteenth century; representations of desire in the art of Gustave Moreau; female desire; 'Carmen' (of Mérimée, Bizet); Hugo bicentennial; Zola centennial. Open subjects include: 19th-century roots of authors (artists) bridging two centuries; linguistic approaches to literature; colonialism.
The picture inset at top right is Moreau's
Salomé
The conference theme is not restrictive. Any topic relevant to 19th-century French studies will be considered. Interdisciplinary approaches are welcome. Sections will be formed from papers accepted.
Proposals for papers, sessions, and other discursive formats are invited. Submissions should be in the form of an abstract (300-350 words), sent as an e-mail attachment formatted in Word, although hard copies may be faxed or sent by post. The due date for all submissions is 15th March.
Professor Charles D. Minahen, NCFS 2002 Colloquium Coordinator, Department of French and Italian, 248 Cunz Hall, 1841 Millikin Road, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210-1229. E-mail: minahen.1@osu.edu.
Web site: For updated information, visit us at: http://www.frit.ohio-state.edu/ncfs.
26. CALL FOR PAPERS: Translation Problems
3rd Annual Translation Conference 9th May.
Escola Superior de Tecnologia e Gestão de Leiria, Instituto Politécnico de Leiria, organized by the Humanities Department of E.S.T.G.
The purpose of this conference is to examine the different types of problems one comes across when translating.
There are no specific restrictions on subject matter within the arena of the theme itself.
We invite proposals for papers of 20-30 minutes in length from individuals or panels. Please send abstracts of 200-300 words and a one-page CV to mgoreti@estg.iplei.pt or cila@estg.iplei.pt or ricardo@estg.iplei.pt. Fax: (00 351) 244 820 310
Abstracts should be sent until 22nd February.
27. CALL FOR PAPERS: Gay and Lesbian Studies
Submissions are sought for the Gay and Lesbian studies panel at PAMLA 2002 in Bellingham, WA, November 8-10. While submissions in any area of gay and lesbian studies or queer theory are encouraged, papers that interrogate literary and cultural representations of homosexuality or homosexual identity formation, homosexuality and the law, or homosexuality and politics are especially desirable.
Presenters must be members of PAMLA. Publication as part of conference proceedings is a possibility.
Send 250 word abstract and brief C.V. by 1st March to:
Jon Adams, Faculty Fellow, English Department, University of California, One Shields Ave., Davis, CA 95616. Send queries to: adamsengl@aol.com.
______________________________
« Er is
maar éénding erger dan dat er over je gepraat wordt, en dat is dat er niet
overje gepraat wordt »
VI. NOTES AND QUERIES
1. Obituary
We note with regret the death on 29th January of Stratford Johns, who played an actor playing Herod in Ken Russell's 1988 film, Salome's Last Dance (1988)
v Alan Stratford Johns, actor, born Pietermaritzburg, South Africa
22nd September 1925; died Heveningham, Suffolk, 29th January 2002.
2. The Picture of Dorian Gray.
In the January edition, we asked 'Is there any literature that explores the differences between the two versions?'
Richard Pine writes 'Isobel Murray's edition for OUP (1974) is the obvious starting point. In my Oscar Wilde (Gill & Macmillan 1983) pp.69-71 I attempted, in albeit a necessarily constrained format, to show that, while Wilde did indeed "tone down" some of the more provocative homosexual suggestions, he also ADDED phrases which indicate that he had met Lord Alfred Douglas between the publication of the Lippincott version and the revision for publication in book form. One of the most interesting examples of this was the substitution of the phrase "curious artistic idolatry" in place of "extraordinary romance" to describe Hallward's feelings for Dorian.'
Geoff Dibb points out that a 'source of PoDG differences is the lengthy list published by Stuart Mason in his Art & Morality (Frank Palmer 1912)' adding 'Haven't we all got a copy of the Norton Critical Edition? It's got both texts plus loads of notes of the differences & lots else - and it's available in paperback.'
[This is the edition edited by Donald L. Lawler and published by W.W. Norton, New York 1988]
John Cooper adds that the Norton edition can now be found at
http://www.wwnorton.com/college/english/NCE/NCEDOR/overview.htm
'Students will now have their first opportunity to read the original version of the novel, as well as to read the two texts comparatively. Throughout, they will be guided by the annotations of a Wilde scholar.'
We are grateful for these responses, which still seem to leave room for a close reading and analysis of the changes with the conclusions that may be drawn.
3. Thomas Bell / Richard Le Gallienne
Angela Kingston (University of Adelaide) writes 'A quick note re Thomas Bell's Oscar Wilde Without Whitewash (see 1. in the January 'Notes and Queries' section):
'British Library manuscripts Add. 58079 ff.15-43 contains correspondence of Thomas Hastie Bell, author of Oscar Wilde Without Whitewash 1901-1939. I looked at this briefly the last time I was in London but don't recall anything specific.'
Clearly there is need for some ferreting here!
Ms Kingston also asks 'I am trying to locate a poem by Richard Le Gallienne entitled "The Decadent to His Soul" (1893), which has been interpreted as a satirical attack on Wilde. Can any Oscholar tell me where it appeared, i.e. in which journal or anthology of poetry?'
Angela Kingston lookingatthestars@hotmail.com.
4. Lord Alfred Douglas
The Catalogue of the Winston Churchill Papers in Cambridge is being placed on line. References to Churchill's entanglement with Lord Alfred may be found at
Unfortunately the search engine when asked to produce Alfred Douglas does not seek the phrase but the two words individually, so other Alfreds and Douglases come up.
The following Wilde items are notable from the same source (http://www.chu.cam.ac.uk/churchill_papers/)
CHAR 20/193A/30
Letter from Churchill to François Le Lann thanking him for his gift of an "exquisite edition" of Oscar Wilde's poem 'The Ballad of Reading Gaol' [carbon].
CHAR 1/17/4 12 Mar 1896
Retraction and apology by A C Bruce Pryce, withdrawing 'all and every imputation' against Churchill's character [Pryce had accused Churchill of 'acts of gross immorality of the Oscar Wilde type'.]
CHAR 1/3/16-17
Letter from Colonel John Brabazon, Santa Clara Hotel,
Funchal, to WSC, on the success of Churchill's libel action for defamation
against A C Bruce Pryce, stating that he was right to take the case to court,
as 'preposterous as it was, it would have been impossible to leave such a
charge unchallenged'
5. Felix Greve
Following Andrea Linnenbröker's information about this German translator of Wilde, we draw attention to a work by Beate Hermes, Felix Paul Greve als Übersetzer von Gide und Wilde - eine Untersuchung zum Ubersterstil. Frankfurt/Main: Peter Lang 1997.
6. Rupert Hart-Davis
A correction to Oscar Wilde to Robert Ross April 1898: Rupert Hart-Davis (ed.): The Letters of Oscar Wilde. London: Hart-Davis 1962 p.731. Reference to Félix Fénéon.
Hart-Davis for some reason gives Fénéon's dates as 1861-?1943, and this is left undisturbed in the Holland edition. Perverse to the end, Fénéon died on 29th February 1944.
7. Violet Hunt and another Lane
From Violet Hunt: The Flurried Years. London: Hurst & Blackett n.d. pp.119-20 (but not mentioned by Ellmann or Montgomery Hyde).
My mother's lawyer had sent his chief clerk [. . .] Mr Lane had been chosen probably because of his sympathy with [. . .] all those on whom, for one reason or another, tribulation had found a billet. He was a man so kind and understanding that when poor Wilde [. . .] had been brought up from Reading to appear re his bankruptcy, the grateful poet had given him, in gratitude for his petits soins, an original manuscript poem of two stanzas which I had the pleasure of selling for him to Robert Ross.
Can anyone identify either Lane or the poem?
A further line from the same source deserves currency: 'When the Englishman goes into war he reads in the trenches Comic Cuts and La Vie Parisienne, while all the German officers have Wilde and Nietzsche in their pockets' (p.232). Given the number of German officers . . .
And a further correction to Ellmann. On p.221 he writes that Wilde proposed marriage to Hunt 'perhaps in 1880. She does not mention it in her autobiography.' But she does, on p.173 of The Flurried Years: 'I nearly as possible escaped the honour of being Mrs Wilde'.
There is a dearth of material on Violet Hunt, and at present she can only be usefully approached through the attention given to her lover Ford Madox Hueffer (Ford Madox Ford). Joseph Wiesenfarth (University of Wisconsin - Madison) has asked us to draw attention to a conference on 'History and Representation in Ford's Writings' next September. Details may be found at http://www.rialto.com/fordmadoxford_society/
Ford wrote slightingly of Wilde on a number of occasions, and we shall report any developments in uncovering the Wilde/Hunt/Ford nexus.
8. Dorothy Parker
In a phrase that hardly brooks dissent, Catherine Burr has asked us 'Would you please confer web sainthood on Dorothy Parker, who said
If, with the literate, I am
Impelled to make an epigram,
I never seek to take the credit;
We all assume that Oscar said it.'
This may not be widely known outside the Anglophone world.
9. Georges Petit / George Petrie
In what has been justly regarded as a pioneering work on the influence of Wilde's Irish background (Oscar Wilde: The Importance of being Irish. Dublin: Townhouse 1994), Davis Coakley writes on p.28 of Sir William Wilde's friend George Petrie:
He was a gifted painter, book illustrator and historian [. . .] As an artist Petrie is remembered for his watercolours of Irish scenes. Oscar Wilde almost certainly derived 'Georges Petit', the name he gave to the French art connoisseur who was to arrange an exhibition for Basil Hallward in The Picture of Dorian Gray, from the name of his father's friend.
Perhaps so. But might not Wilde have derived the name Georges Petit from that of Georges Petit (1835-1900), the French art connoisseur who arranged an exhibition for Whistler in 1887 in his gallery in the rue de Sèze?
A generation earlier, the rue de Sèze had been the scene of a crime passionel, the murder of an English journalist whose name was one that Wilde clearly associated with crime: Saville. The man acquitted of the murder, Elliot Brewer, was still living in the rue de Sèze when Wilde was staying in Paris in 1882. These associations were certainly available to Wilde.
We shall publish the news of the article's publication in due course.
11. Linguistic inquiry
Richard Dury (University of Bergamo) writes 'I was about to write 'the word "strange" was a code-word of Decadents and Aesthetes used as a term of praise to mean 'troublingly pleasant' or 'pleasantly troubling'' - and am wondering if the use of word has been analysed before. It seems to me that it might have a campish meaning of winking complicity.'
Richard Dury richard@interac.it.
12. Wilde's Parisian acquaintance
Bill Hammel writes from the USA 'For some research that I'm doing that doesn't (so far) have to do with the beloved Oscar directly, it's become important to know any personal relationships between O. and any of the persons listed below. I thought perhaps that some of THE OSCHOLARS might be able to help by pointing me in right directions, or even (dare I hope?) know exactly of any such relationships or meetings, of whatever kind with perhaps a citation.
The central group in the list are the frequenters of the soirées of Mallarmé, mostly of French symbolist poets; this list is surely incomplete. Expansions and additions would be welcome.
The second group is a collection that is specifically associated with Debussy which happen to be of a Hermetic persuasion, that was also current in Mallarmé's circles - and then some. I do not know of any connection at all in this group with O. Maybe, someone else does.'
Bill Hammel bhammel@graham.main.nc.us.
|
O. Wilde William Butler Yeats Stefan George Paul Valéry Andre Gide Marcel Proust Debussy |
Victor Hugo Emma Calvé Emile Hoffet Josephin Péladan Marquis Stanislas Guaita Jules Bois McGregor Mathers Doctor Gerard Encausse (Papus) Maurice Barrès |
13. Notes towards an Iconography of Wilde
Not surprisingly the Oscar Wilde Centre for Creative Writing at Trinity College Dublin uses an image of Oscar.
14. Oscar in Popular Culture
Imelda Dyas writes from Dublin that there is a new restaurant in Rathmines called Carmines with its walls decorated with Wilde quotations 'beautifully copied out and sunflowers and lilies for decoration all over'. The artist is Carol Collins.
Linda Dryden (Napier University) reports an interesting and rather sophisticated
conflation between Dorian Gray and Jane Eyre. 'There was an oblique reference to The
Picture of Dorian Gray in The Archers [an English daily serial on BBC Radio
4] in the week ending 4th January.
Moaning about the grumpiness of his sister Helen, Tommy Archer mused
that perhaps she had hidden away a '"portrait of a warm and friendly girl
in the attic."'
15. Wilde as Unpopular Culture
'An unpleasant subject not sufficiently well handled to make one forgive its unpleasantness. The story has no claim to originality and the striving after originality of treatment is too patent throughout, too much strained.'
v Kate Terry Gielgud: A Victorian Playgoer. With forewords by John Gielgud, Val Gielgud and Elinor Gielgud. Edited by Muriel St Clair Byrne. London: Heinemann 1980 p.7. This refers to A Woman of No Importance. Kate Terry was a niece of Ellen and Marion Terry.
VII. 'MAD, SCARLET MUSIC'
In 1988 Roger Doyle was asked to compose the music for the Gate Theatre's production of Salome. On the opening night much of the music was improvised but through the years and after many performances the music has become more fixed. Performed by the composer, the music on this recording has undergone small changes so that it can exist independently to the theatre production. This can be ordered from the Contemporary Music Centre, Dublin.
In the January edition of THE OSCHOLARS we alluded to versions of The Selfish Giant by Charles Wilson, Julia Perry and Debbie Wiseman. A little more information about these has come our way.
Charles Mills Wilson's The Selfish Giant(1972) is a Children's Opera with 1 adult soloist, 6 child soloists/children's chorus and instrumental ensemble/ percussion, piano.
On Julia Perry, Suzanne Flandreau, Librarian and Archivist, Center for Black Music Research, Columbia College, Chicago (http://www.cbmr.org), writes
I have not been able to find any indication that Julia Perry's The Selfish Giant was ever performed or recorded. It was written in 1964 and the manuscript is with Perry's publisher Peermusic in New York. I have a call in to them about performances and I'll let you know if I learn anything further.
Late this afternoon I called Helen Walker-Hill, an authority on Perry, whose book on black women composers, From Spirituals to Symphonies: African-American Women Composers and Their Music is due out in April 2002 from Greenwood Press. She says that she has no knowledge of performances, although she has seen the manuscript, and she discusses the piece in her book. That may be the only discussion of the work in publication.
J. Michele Edwards, Music Director, Calliope Women's Chorus (Macalester College, St. Paul, MN) has also written:
I've done quite a bit of work with Perry; see, for example, my article in The New Grove Dictionary (2nd ed) and my essay in International Dictionary of Black Composers, ed. Samuel A. Floyd, Jr., pp. 914-22. Chicago and London: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1999.
The Selfish Giant 1964: Peer-Southern is sometimes listed as a publisher; however, I think it is more accurate tosay that the score is held at Peer-Southern.
It is in 3 acts, and an opera/ballet. In a document held at Peer, "Works by Julia Perry," 9 June 1978, this work is listed as "A Sacred Musical Bable [=Fable] in Three Acts, Vocal Score." Also in a letter from Julia Perry to Mr. Freed at Peer, 2nd October 1971, she mentions a complete orchestra score (also the title page confirms this and lists orchestration).
I believe a photocopy of the MS score is held at the American Music Resource Center at the University of Colorado-Boulder.
I don't believe I have any documentation of any performances.
Bethany Harvey adds 'Significant information about Perry may be found in Black Women Composers: A Genesis by Mildred Denby Green'.
Finally we are grateful to Anita Hanawalt for the following:
I'm sorry to report that I have no information regarding Ms. Perry's opera-ballet of Oscar Wilde's The Selfish Giant. However, I did write a brief article on Julia Perry for a forthcoming encyclopedia on Women in Music, which I have pasted below. It includes my bibliography and suggestions for further reading. Maybe it will be helpful in some way. All best wishes on your quest for further information.
‘Successfully melding the music of her African American heritage with twentieth century European influences of her teachers Nadia Boulanger and Luigi Dallapiccola, Julia Perry's compositions area significant contribution to American music. Born to a musical family, in 1924, Perry knew from an early age that she wanted to become a composer. In 1948, after completing bachelor's and master's degrees at Westminster Choir College, studying piano, voice, violin, conducting, and composition, Perry moved to New York to continue studying composition at the Julliard School of Music. Composition was her greatest skill, while conducting washer chosen medium of performance. Conducting afforded Perry opportunities to experiment with sounds, exploring the musical effects of her compositions in performance. Between 1952 and 1958, Perry studied conducting at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, and composition with Nadia Boulanger, in Paris, where she won a Boulanger Grand Prix for her Viola Sonata. She was also awarded 1952 and 1955 Guggenheim Fellowships to study with Luigi Dallapiccola, in Italy. In 1957, Perry organized and presented a concert tour of Europe ,sponsored by The U.S. Information Agency.
‘After returning to the United States in 1959, Perry continued to compose, winning the American Academy and National Institute of Arts and Letters award in 1964. From 1967-1968, she taught at Florida A & M College, and she was a visiting lecturer at Atlanta College Center from 1968-1969. In 1971, Perry suffered a series of severe strokes, leaving her paralyzed on her right side. Eventually, she taught herself to write with her left hand, continuing to compose, before moving back to Akron, Ohio, where she died in 1979.
‘Perry's only extant piano piece, Prelude, appears in Black Women Composers: A Century of Piano Music (1893-1990), edited by Helen Walker-Hill, and published by Hildegard Publishing Company. It reveals a richly intense keyboard compositional style. Four other piano compositions remain unlocated.
‘Her more experimental large scale work, Homunculus C.F. (1960), the Stabat Mater (1951), and A Short Piece for Orchestra (1952) have been recorded. Homunculus C.F. is published in the Historical Anthology of Music by Women, edited by James Briscoe.
‘Several songs by Perry have been published by Galaxy Publishing Company. Facsimile editions of many chamber and orchestral works are available from Peer-Southern Concert Music through Theodore Presser, Bryn Mawr, PA. The American Music Center in New York City also holds works by Perry.’
Marnie Hall of Leonarda Records writes 'We recorded Julia Perry's "Prelude for Piano." (our CD#LE 339: Kaleidoscope: Music by African-American Women). Information can be found at www.leonarda.com/le339.html'
We are grateful to all these correspondents and to Ron Baltimore, Deborah Hayes and Bernadette Speech. It would seem that Julia Perry's Selfish Giant is a neglected work by an important composer.
Debbie Wiseman's music for The Selfish Giant and The Nightingale and the Rose (narrated by Vanessa Redgrave and Stephen Fry) played by the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, conducted by Sir Neville Marriner, is available on a CD issued by Teldec ref. 8573-81506-2. This was nominated for Best Spoken Word Album for Children - Grammy Awards, 2002.
Ms Wiseman also composed the music for the film Wilde which is available on CD in UK/Europe: MCI MPRCD 001 and in the USA: Sonic Images SID 88.
We also referred to Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco's music for The Importance of Being Earnest, and asked for further information. Faye-Ellen Silverman (Mannes College of Music, New York) writes 'I actually heard the setting of The Importance of Being Earnest at a Castelnuovo-Tedesco festival at LaGuardia Community College in the 1970s. In fact, I performed several of C-T's piano works on that festival!' Has anybody else encountered this?
There have been a number of versions of The Canterville Ghost, about which more details are eagerly sought.
Toys in the Haunted Castle is a two-act musical comedy for a cast of four men and four women by Pat Zawadsky inspired by The Canterville Ghost (although from the description that goes with it, the inspiration had become somewhat laboured, and expiration might be more apt). This was published by I. E. Clark Publications in September 1977 as both a paperback and tape recording (playing time: 40-60 minutes) ISBN#: W1923.
A ballerina doll named Janette and a Jack-in-the-Box have been left in the deserted playroom of a British castle for years. The castle is haunted by three ghosts: the Duke, who carries his head in his hands; the Creep, who skips rope with his chains; and the Duchess, who screams a lot. The ghosts also sing and dance a lot in their spooky way to the delight of young audiences. Jack and Janette can't get to the Great Toyland in the Sky because they haven't fulfilled their earthly purpose: to make children happy. Jack thinks you win friends by playing tricks and scaring people. Janette tries to make children happy by showing off. With the help of two American children and their astronaut doll, Jack and Janette learn that the only way to win friendship and love is to be friendly and loving.
Jaroslav Krecka's The Canterville Ghost [as 'Bily Pan' ('The White Gentleman')] was written in 1929 and revised as 'Today's Ghosts have a Difficult Time' in 1930. It was performed in Breslau 14th November 1931
Das Gespenst von Canterville by the Swiss composer Heinrich Sutermeister (1910-1995) is an opera in one act, written as incidental music for a television production and broadcast by Schweizer Fernsehens DRS, Zürich 1959 and in Germany 6th November 1964. It is published by Schott Musik International.
Heinrich Sutermeister
A 1974 Russian opera Kentervilskoye privedenie (three acts, seven scenes and prologue) by Alexander Knaifel (b.1943), of which there is a German version by Jörg Morgener (published by the international music publishers Hans Sikorski).
There is also Croatian version Kentervislki duh (1979) by Boris Papandopulo (dates given as 1906-1991 at www.timdebrie.myweb.nl/p/PapandopuloBoris.html but as 1906-1989 at www.bravo-la.com/Boris_Papandopulo.htm).
To Oscar: A Collection of Aesthetic Melodies is a CD and Booklet compiled & arranged by D.S. Irvin. A selection from To Oscar is available for download and streaming play at www.MP3.com. The collection is as follows:
Track 1: The Sunflower Waltz (1:37)
Track 2: The Aesthetic Dude (1:46)
Track 3: The Violet March (2:14)
Track 4: I’m An Utterly Utter Young Man (2:03)
Track 5: The Sarah Bernhardt Galop (3:07)
Track 6: Oscar Wilde, Forget Me Not (Waltz) (6:40)
Track 7: Oscar Dear! (2:43)
Track 8: Utterly Utter, An Aesthetic Duet (4:34)
Track 9: The Oscar Wilde Galop (2:48)
Track 10: Loved Forevermore (3:31)
Track 11: The Aesthetic Maiden (1:40)
Track 12: The Patience Quadrille (4:57)
Track 13: Too Utterly Utter, The Aesthetic Girl (5:17)
Track 14: Lily Redowa (1:06)
Track 15: Utterly Too Utter (1:40)
Track 16: The Jersey Lily Waltz (3:40)
Track 17: Wilde Oscar Wilde (2:12)
Track 18: The Flippity Flop Young Man (12:27)
More information about this music can be found at http://www.threecatsgraphics.com/to_oscar.htm and at
VIII. GOING WILDE: PRODUCTIONS DURING FEBRUARY 2002
Contributions to this section of THE OSCHOLARS from anywhere in the world will be very welcome indeed. We will do our best to arrange reviews, and volunteers are sought.
Belgium
'De Profundis', a group of young people, presents Love That Dare Not Speak Its Name. Ode aan Oscar Wilde in Theater Tinnenpot (Tinnenpotstraat 211, 9000 Ghent) on 21st, 22nd and 23rd February.
'De Profundis' are: Elise De Vliegher, Mieke Laureys, Marc Stroobants, Tom de Hoog, Tom Vreriks (word); Wen Bellens (song); Tim Bellens (piano); Frederik Caelen (accordion). The translations are by Rudi Meulemans, and music written by Tim Bellens.
Salome will be staged in Ghent/Gent/Gand at the Arca Theatre, on 8th and 9th February; and on 21st Februaryat Kunstencentrum Netwerk in Aalst. This is directed by Gil Renders. No casting is available at time of going to press but the actors are Sara Van Boxstael, Marijke Blancquaert, Daniël Janssens, Johan Verlinden, Wouter De Backer and Manoe Frateur.
We shall be carrying reviews in the
March issue.
Canada
On the 2nd and 5th February there is a revival of a Canadian Opera Company signature production of Salome (a co-production with Houston Grand Opera and Vancouver Opera) in German with English SURTITLES™ last performed by the Canadian Opera Company in September 1996 (this was also staged on 18th, 23rd, 27th and 31st January this year).
|
Conductor |
David Atherton |
|
Director |
Atom Egoyan |
|
Set designer |
Derek McLane |
|
Costume designer |
Catherine Zuber |
|
Lighting designer |
Michael Whitfield |
|
Projections designer |
Phillip Barker |
|
Choreographer |
Serge Bennathan |
|
|
|
|
Salome |
Helen Field |
|
Jochanaan |
Tom Fox |
|
Herod |
Robert Tear |
|
Herodias |
Karan Armstrong |
|
Narraboth |
Roger Honeywell |
|
The Page of Herodias |
Krisztina Szabó |
Set design by Derek
McLane
Denmark
There will be performances of Salome on the 2nd, 6th, 9th and 15th February at the Kongelige Teater, København (Royal Theatre, Copenhagen). This is a reprise of Mikael Melbye’s successful staging of Salome with the Danish National Opera in Aarhus. This will be reviewed in the March issue of THE OSCHOLARS.
|
Herod |
Stig Andersen |
|
Herodias |
Lone Koppel |
|
Salome |
Tina Kiberg |
|
Jochanaan |
Kjeld Christoffersen |
|
Narraboth |
Niels Jørgen Riis |
|
Page |
Elisabeth Halling |
|
|
|
|
Choreographer |
Bill Holmberg |
|
Lighting Designer |
Ib Asp |
|
Stage Director, Set and Costume designer |
Mikael Melbye |
|
Conductor |
Michael Schønwandt |
Co-Production with the Danish National Opera, Aarhus.
Tina Kiberg
England
Lady Windermere's Fan, directed by Peter Hall, opens at the Theatre Royal, Bath, 4th to 9th February before transferring to the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, London where it previews from 13th February and opens on 21st February 2002 at the Theatre Royal Haymarket.
Sir Peter directs a cast led by Joely Richardson as Lady Windermere and Vanessa Redgrave as Mrs Erlynne with Jack Davenport as Lord Darlington, Googie Withers as the Duchess of Berwick and David Yelland as Lord Windermere.
The production is designed by John Gunter, lighting design is by Jon Buswell.
Vanessa Redgrave and
Joely Richardson
Photograph kindly supplied by
Gareth Richman, EPO On-Line
A Woman of No Importance, directed by Elijah Moshinsky with Kate O'Mara as Mrs Arbuthnot began its tour on the 22nd January at the Theatre Royal Windsor, where it will run until 9th February. On 11th February it moves to the Festival Theatre, Malvern. It transfers to the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford 25th February to 2nd March. Its further peregrinations will be recorded in future editions of THE OSCHOLARS. As Ms O'Mara is described in the publicity as 'a sultry temptress', this may possibly be a revisionist interpretation of the play.
|
Mrs Arbuthnot |
Kate O'Mara |
|
Lord Illingworth |
Oliver Tobias |
|
Lady Hunstanton |
Josephine Tewson |
|
Mrs Allonby |
Deborah Grant |
|
Gerald Arbuthnot |
Cameron Fitch |
|
Hester Worsley |
Sarah Wateridge |
|
Lady Caroline Pontefract |
Catherine Kanter |
|
Sir John Pontefract |
Clive Walton |
|
Mr Kelvil |
Antony Gabriel |
|
Archdeacon Daubeny |
David Brierley |
|
Farquhar/Francis |
Walter Hill |
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Alice |
Angela Pymm |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Kate O'Mara
Image and other information
kindly supplied by Sarah Swanson, Bill Kenwright Ltd
Salome
In 1977 Lindsay Kemp directed a famous (not to say notorious) production of Salome. The Lindsay Kemp Company will be at the Peacock Theatre in London 29th January to 9th February with a production called Dreamdances, which features sequences from Salome.
The Importance of being Michael will be at the Wimbledon Theatre, London SW19, on the 24th and 25th February with John Keyes as Micheál Mac Liammoír. It is written and performed by Mr Keyes.
Patience
A production by the Barrow Savoyards will be at Forum 28, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, 25th February to 2nd March.
France
Le portrait de Dorian Gray returns again to Au Bec Fin, 6 rue Thérèse, Paris, directed by Diane Delmont with Ivan Lambert, Séverine Chabrier, Eric Jansen, Gonzague De Lamotte and Sarah Lambert. This version was first produced at the Bec Fin in 1990 and has had over eight hundred performances.
Germany
Deutsche Oper am Rhein is producing Salome (Richard Strauss) in its two homes at Düsseldorf (4th, 24th February) and Duisburg (1st, 15th February)
|
Conductor |
Hans Wallat |
|
Salome |
Morenike Fadayomi |
|
Herodias |
Renée Morloc |
|
Herod |
Wolfgang Schmidt |
|
Voice of Jochanaan |
Bodo Brinkmann |
|
Jochanaan |
Falco Kapuste |
|
Narraboth |
Manfred Fink |
|
Page |
Taru Sippola |
|
Set and costumes |
Gottfried Pilz |
|
Producer |
Jochen Ulrich |
Morenike Fadayomi
Salome is also at the Badisches Staatstheater in Karlsrühe 16th and 19th February.
|
Conductor |
Kazushi Ono |
|
Producer |
Thomas Schulte-Michels |
|
Sets, Costumes |
Wolf Münzner |
|
Herod |
Mario Muraro / John Pickering |
|
Herodias |
Wilja Ernst-Mosuraitis / Cornelia Wulkopf |
|
Salome |
Ursula Prem |
|
Jochanaan |
Klaus Wallprecht / Claudio Otelli |
|
Narraboth |
Klaus Schneider / Stuart Skelton |
|
Page |
Rosemara Ribeiro / Ewa Wolak |
We also draw attention to the touring production of The Importance of being Earnest, but add that the information should be confirmed locally.
18th February Schwalbach
19th February Stadttheater Rüsselsheim
20th February Hessisches Landestheater Marburg
21st February Städttheater Kassel
22nd February Nagold
25th February Südostbayerisches Städttheater, Landshut
26th February Stuttgart
27th February Will
28th February Theater Casino in Zug
Ireland
A Woman of No Importance, directed by Elijah Moshinsky with Kate O'Mara (see above) will be at the Grand Opera House, Belfast from the 18th February.
USA
An Ideal Husband
The University of Delaware production (directed by Sanford Robbins) that had its opening run in December, is now given a second airing, the 1st, 3rd, 7th, 9th, 14th and 16th February.
Salome is being produced by the Hawai'i Opera Company, Honolulu, 15th, 17th 19th February. This is accompanied by two lectures, 6th and 9th February, at the Honolulu Academy of Arts: ('learn about the opera, meet the cast and more') and a lecture on Salome at Borders Books and Music on 10th February. This production will be reviewed in the March issue of THE OSCHOLARS.
The Importance of Being Earnest
A production at the Hilberry Theatre of Wayne State University, Detroit will be staged on the 8th, 9th, 14th, 22nd, 23rd and 28th February.
Patience
A production by Lamplighters will be at the Yerba Buena Center, San Francisco, 8th to 17th February.
- and for the record:
Le portrait de Dorian Gray was produced at the Espace Château Landon (Paris) 8th to 26th January, directed by Alexandre Vaz with Magali Bros, Tangi Colombel, Christophe Dauphin, David Le Rheun, Steve Tchistoganoss.
Daniel Frezza's adaptation
of The Picture of Dorian Gray was given in November 2001 by the Southern
Utah University Department of Theatre and Dance
|
Basil Hallward |
Matt Bennett |
|
Lord Henry Wotton |
Shad Tyra |
|
Dorian Gray |
Sean Bott / Lucas Millhouse (double cast) |
|
Lady Agatha |
Lacy M. Nielsen |
|
Gwendolyn |
Wendy Milam |
|
Prostitute |
Kay Lynn Townsend |
|
Theatre Manager |
Brett R. Ihler |
|
Sibyl Vane |
Morgan Eliza Hill |
|
James Vane |
Brent T. Barnes |
|
Alan Campbell |
Mark Matthews |
|
Francis |
Kristopher Wentworth |
|
|
|
|
Director |
Terry Lewis |
|
Costume Designer |
Chris L. Lusk |
|
Set Designer |
Doug Molash |
|
Lighting Designer |
James Parker |
|
Sound Designer: |
Jared Ullman |
|
Production Stage Manager |
Amanda Ree Hughes |
(Can anyone throw light on why Gwendolen is so often spelled Gwendolyn in the United States?]
— We apologise for not having had early enough notice of these productions to arrange reviews
IX. THE OTHER OSCAR
'With three recent biographical plays about the 18th-century Irish writer, Oscar Wilde is all the rage.'
v Washington Post Friday, May 22, 1998.
'Oscar Wilde studied at Magdelen College at Oxford University, until he was 'sent down' for reading a homoerotic story into the Latin mass.'
v
Website of
The Oscar Wilde Society at Oxford University http://users.ox.ac.uk/~sedm1657/oscar.html January 2002.
'Wilde was taken by some friends to Dieppe, but [. . .] he had at last to leave the city, and take a villa some miles away in the village of Petit Berneval, under the assumed name of Sebastian Melmouth.'
v Mario Borsa: The English Stage of To-day. Translated from the original Italian and edited with a prefatory note by Selwyn Brinton M.A. London: John Lane The Bodley Head 1908 p.93.
To be continued . . .
X .WEB FOOT NOTES
A monthly look at websites (contributions welcome).
http://www.caltanet.it/html/dossier/arte/wilde/ is an Italian site, not very large, well-designed, with a biography of Wilde by Diana Letizia, a useful filmography, a bibliography of those works published in Wilde's lifetime, and a small selection of aphorisms. There are a number of photographs, mostly familiar.
http://www.artofwilde.hpg.ig.com.br/ is an elaborate new Brazilian Oscar Wilde site, O Retrato de Oscar Wilde, with biography, links, list of works, many photographs and The Picture of Dorian Gray in Portuguese. There is also a guest book and an associated discussion group, presumably also in Portuguese. This is the brainchild of Sheyla de Campos, and well demonstrates the appeal of Wilde into places that would surely have surprised even him.
The programme of the celebrations of the Wilde Centenary in Oxford can still be found at http://wilde.magd.ox.ac.uk/Wilde100/Introduction/index.html, but the e-mail address if used only brings a 'user unknown' reply from Mercury or Hermes or whoever controls the destiny of e-mails in the ether.
Essential reading for the social background to Dorian Gray's East End can now be found at The Charles Booth Online Archive http://booth.lse.ac.uk, a searchable resource giving access to archive material from the Booth collections of the British Library of Political and Economic Science (the Library of the London School of Economics and Political Science) and the University of London Library. The archives of the British Library of Political and Economic Science contain the original records from Booth's survey into life and labour in London, dating from 1886-1903. The archives of the University of London Library contain Booth family papers from 1799 to 1967. One can also usefully consult http://www.umich.edu/~risotto/.
Irish Literature [IrLit] is a moderated forum for the discussion of topics relating to the literature of - and about - Ireland. Related subjects are acceptable where they bear some relevance to the core purpose of the list. IrLit is a member of Irish Quaternary Studies Online [IRQUAS]. Other,r elated, IRQUAS member lists include: Irish Linguistics, Irish Social History, Irish Art History.
You can subscribe to any of these from the IRQUAS website: http://www.maqqi.supanet.com.
Dickens's Dictionary, 1879 (first edition), a guidebook to Victorian London compiled by Charles Dickens (junior) is now online as an e-text at www.victorianlondon.org under Publications - Directories. The direct link is http://www.victorianlondon.org/publications/dictionary.htm.
XI. SOME SELL AND OTHERS BUY
Recently seen in the Gower Street (London) branch of the bookselling chain Waterstone's, reduced from £18.50 to £3.99 as a special offer: Oscar Wilde's Last Chance, The Dreyfus Connection by Mark Hichens. Bishop Auckland: Pentland Press 1999.
Books in print mentioned in THE OSCHOLARS can be ordered from:
John Wyse Jackson at John Sandoe (Books) Ltd, 10 Blacklands Terrace, London SW3 2SR books@jsandoe.demon.co.uk.
v John Wyse Jackson is editor of Aristotle at Afternoon Tea: The Rare Oscar Wilde. London: Fourth Estate 1991; paperback edition retitled Uncollected Oscar Wilde 1995.
Oscar Wilde Buchhandlung und Versand at Alte Gasse 51, 60313 Frankfurt Tel.: 069/28 12 60 Fax: 069/297 75 42. Contact Harald.
Internet: http://www.oscar-wilde.de; e-mail: shop@oscar-wilde.de
Dorian Bookstore, 802 Elm at Madison,Youngstown, Ohio 44505-2843. Contact Jack Peterson.
Internet: http://alt.youngstown.org/dorian.html; e-mail: dorianbooks@cboss.com.
The Oscar Wilde Book Shop, 15 Christopher Street, New York, NY 10014. E-mail: wildebooks@aol.com.
Ebay is an online auction house where many Wilde items are offered, from second-hand paperbacks to playbills to limited editions. We have set up this link which should take you straight to ebay's Wilde pages:
Some of the more interesting offers on ebay this month were
Wilde, Oscar De Profundis Being the First Complete and Accurate Version of 'Epistola in Carcere et vinculis' the Last Prose Work in English of Oscar Wilde. Philosophical Library, 1950 Hardcover. Very good dust jacket turning a little brown on spine and a couple of tiny tears on the top of the spine. The $4.00 price is intact. The book is in near fine condition, including the blue cover and spine both with bright black lettering. Inside the pages are clean and bright with no inscriptions, names or bookplate. Almost like new. The hinges, spine and binding are all in fine condition.
De Profundis by Oscar Wilde. Special Second Edition, with Additional Matter. G.P. Putnam & Son, New York 1909. VG.
Features additional matter specially selected for this edition, "aggregating some eighty pages," supplied by Wilde's Robert Ross. Bears a lovely, deep-embossed frontispiece sketch of Saucy Oscar, "Reproduced, by permission, from the etching by J.E. Kelly, made in 1882 during Wilde's American tour, under the instruction of his manager." Onionskin membrane.
An early edition of this work of unmatchable beauty and melancholia, crafted by Wilde as he strove to preserve mind, soul and body in the brutality of Reading Gaol. Drink in the word-painting that seems the cornerstone:
"I tremble with pleasure when I think that on the very day of my leaving prison both the laburnum and the lilac will be blooming in the gardens and that I shall see the wind stir into restless beauty the swaying gold of the one, and make the other toss the pale purple of its plumes [. . .] Linnaeus fell on his knees and wept for joy when he saw for the first time the long heath of some English upland made yellow with the tawny aromatic blossoms of the common furze; and I know that for me, to whom flowers are part of desire, there are tears waiting in the petals of some rose. It has always been so with me from my boyhood."
Minor sun-darkening to rear board. Comes bound in Archival pH-neutral, acid-resistant Mylar jacket.
This is a Wonderful 1968 Heritage Club Sandglass Edition of The Short Stories of Oscar Wilde. It comes in its own hard gold colored sleeve and measures approx 10 1/4" by 8" by 1 1/2" thick. The book looks like it may be fabric covered. The book has some great colored graphics. The pages are heavy cream colored vellum. This is in mint condition with no use, rips or missing pages. It also has its original Sandglass brochure
These descriptions are those of the booksellers, and while having no reason to doubt them, clearly THE OSCHOLARS cannot vouch for their accuracy.
XII. A WILDE FEBRUARY
Here are the birth and death dates of some of those whose lives intersected that of Wilde (and some whose lives surprisingly did not).
|
01 |
02 |
1860 |
Birth of Henry Miller. |
|
02 |
02 |
1875 |
Birth of Fritz Kreisler. |
|
05 |
02 |
1848 |
Birth of Joris-Karl Huysmans. |
|
08 |
02 |
1819 |
Birth of John Ruskin. |
|
09 |
02 |
1854 |
Birth of Edward Carson. |
|
10 |
02 |
1843 |
Birth of Adelina Patti. |
|
16 |
02 |
1850 |
Birth of Octave Mirbeau. |
|
18 |
02 |
1872 |
Birth of Paul Léautaud. |
|
20 |
02 |
1887 |
Birth of Hesketh Pearson. |
|
21 |
02 |
1815 |
Birth of Meissonier. |
|
22 |
02 |
1860 |
Birth of Mortimer Menpes. |
|
23 |
02 |
1850 |
Birth of César Ritz. |
|
23 |
02 |
1867 |
Birth of Marcel Schwob. |
|
24 |
02 |
1852 |
Birth of George Moore. |
|
25 |
02 |
1841 |
Birth of Auguste Renoir. |
|
25 |
02 |
1846 |
Birth of Giuseppe de Nittis. |
|
25 |
02 |
1873 |
Birth of Enrico Caruso. |
|
26 |
02 |
1802 |
Birth of Victor Hugo. |
|
26 |
02 |
1838 |
Birth of Siegfried Bing. |
|
28 |
02 |
1854 |
Birth of Bourke Cockran. |
Garb of woe will be appropriate on the following days, notably on the third and twenty-third.
|
01 |
02 |
1894 |
Death of Léonide Leblanc. |
|
02 |
02 |
1925 |
Death of John Lane. |
|
03 |
02 |
1892 |
Death of J.K. Stephen. |
|
03 |
02 |
1896 |
Death of
Lady Wilde. |
|
04 |
02 |
1881 |
Death of Carlyle. |
|
04 |
02 |
1926 |
Death of Adolphe Willette. |
|
06 |
02 |
1905 |
Death of Alphonse Allais. |
|
08 |
02 |
1909 |
Death of Catulle Mendès. |
|
10 |
02 |
1910 |
Death of Vera Fydorovna Komissarzhevskaya. |
|
11 |
02 |
1916 |
Death of John Payne. |
|
11 |
02 |
1924 |
Death of J.-F. Raffaëlli. |
|
11 |
02 |
1925 |
Death of Aristide Bruant. |
|
12 |
02 |
1883 |
Death of Richard Wagner. |
|
12 |
02 |
1896 |
Death of Ambroise Thomas. |
|
12 |
02 |
1905 |
Death of Marcel Schwob. |
|
12 |
02 |
1929 |
Death of Lillie Langtry. |
|
12 |
02 |
1944 |
Death of Olive (Opal) Custance, Lady Alfred Douglas. |
|
14 |
02 |
1934 |
Death of André Raffalovich. |
|
14 |
02 |
1945 |
Death of Sir William Rothenstein. |
|
16 |
02 |
1917 |
Death of Octave Mirbeau. |
|
19 |
02 |
1935 |
Death of Georges Escoffier. |
|
21 |
02 |
1894 |
Death of Gustave Caillebotte. |
|
22 |
02 |
1956 |
Death of Paul Léautaud. |
|
23 |
02 |
1867 |
Death of Isola Wilde. |
|
23 |
02 |
1900 |
Death of Ernest Dowson. |
|
23 |
02 |
1931 |
Death of Dame Nellie Melba. |
|
24 |
02 |
1929 |
Death of André Messager. |
|
25 |
02 |
1892 |
Death of Henry Doyle. |
|
25 |
02 |
1914 |
Death of Sir John Tenniel. |
|
28 |
02 |
1895 |
Death of Berthe Morisot. |
|
28 |
02 |
1916 |
Death of Henry James. |
|
29 |
02 |
1944 |
Death of Félix Fénéon. |
Wilde's own calendar for the month (America excepted, being accessible elsewhere) is as follows. Additions and corrections as always welcome. The information about Wilde's lectures in England has been kindly supplied by Geoff Dibb.
|
|
02 |
1861 |
The Wildes entertain Boucicault. |
|
|
02 |
1864 |
Wilde goes to Portora Royal School, Enniskillen [to 1871]. |
|
|
02 |
1883 |
Sickert meets Wilde. |
|
|
02 |
1889 |
Publication of Wilde's 'Some Literary Notes' in 'Woman's World'. |
|
|
02 |
1891 |
Wilde at a meeting of the Rhymers' Club at 20 Fitzroy Street. |
|
|
02 |
1892 |
Wilde chairs a public meeting. |
|
|
02 |
1893 |
Wilde at a dinner party chez George Louis. |
|
|
02 |
1893 |
Wilde meets Debussy. |
|
|
02 |
1899 |
Publication of 'The Importance of Being Earnest'. Wilde sends inscribed copy to William Archer. |
|
|
02 |
1899 |
Wilde visits Constance's grave. |
|
|
02 |
1899 |
Wilde leaves La Napoule for Nice. |
|
01 |
02 |
1884 |
Wilde lectures on 'Personal Impressions of America', Londesborough Theatre, Scarborough (stayed at Pavilion Hotel, Westborough). |
|
03 |
02 |
1889 |
Dowson has suggested to Jean Thorel that he send Wilde a copy of 'La Complainte Humain'. |
|
04 |
02 |
1880 |
First cartoon of Wilde by George du Maurier appears in 'Punch'. |
|
04 |
02 |
1880 |
Wilde one of 350 guests (all men) at Irving's party at the Lyceum. |
|
04 |
02 |
1884 |
Wilde lectures on '"The House Beautiful" with special reference to Women's Work in House Decoration', Mechanics' Hall, Darlington. |
|
05 |
02 |
1889 |
Wilde present at Shaw's lecture to the Church & Stage Guild on 'Acting, by one who does not believe in it'. |
|
08 |
02 |
1890 |
Publication of Wilde's review of 'Chuang Tzu: Mystic, Moralist and Social Reformer' in 'The Speaker'. |
|
11 |
02 |
1884 |
Wilde lectures on 'Personal Impressions of America' (afternoon) and 'The House Beautiful'(evening), Albert Hall, Mechanics' Institute, Leeds. |
|
12 |
02 |
1896 |
Constance visits Wilde in prison. |
|
13 |
02 |
1884 |
Wilde lectures on 'Personal Impressions of America', Public Hall, Cockermouth. |
|
13? |
02 |
1898 |
Wilde moves to Hôtel de Nice, rue des Beaux Arts, Paris. |
|
13 |
02 |
1898 |
Publication of 'The Ballad of Reading Gaol'; Wilde sends inscribed copies to William Archer, R.B. Haldane, Ada Leverson. |
|
14 |
02 |
1884 |
Wilde lectures on 'Personal Impressions of America', Mechanics' Institute, Bradford. |
|
14 |
02 |
1895 |
First night of 'The Importance of being Earnest'. |
|
14 |
02 |
1995 |
Panel in stained glass window in Westminster Abbey dedicated to Wilde. |
|
15 |
02 |
1888 |
Publication of Wilde's 'From the Poets' Corner' in 'The Pall Mall Gazette'. |
|
17 |
02 |
1875 |
'Found Wilde and Barton boxing in my rooms' [D.P. Barton?] (J.E.C. Bodley's diary) |
|
18 |
02 |
1884 |
Wilde lectures on 'The House Beautiful', County Hall, Carlisle. |
|
19 |
02 |
1892 |
Wilde meets Graham Robertson. |
|
20 |
02 |
1885 |
Wilde attends Whistler's Ten o'clock Lecture at Prince's Hall. |
|
20 |
02 |
1892 |
Wilde offends with Edward Shelley. |
|
21 |
02 |
1885 |
Publication of Wilde's 'Mr Whistler's Ten o'clock' in The Pall Mall Gazette. |
|
21 |
02 |
1892 |
Wilde calls on Coulson Kernahan, a.m. (possibly the 22nd). |
|
22 |
02 |
1875 |
J.E.C. Bodley meets Wilde. |
|
22 |
02 |
1884 |
Wilde lectures on 'The House Beautiful', Temperance Hall, Ulverston. |
|
23 |
02 |
1875 |
Wilde received into the Oxford University Freemasons, Apollo Lodge. |
|
23 |
02 |
1893 |
Wilde sends Shaw a copy of 'Salome' (which Shaw appears not to have received). |
|
24 |
02 |
1891 |
Wilde's first meeting with Mallarmé. |
|
24 |
02 |
1891 |
First visit by Wilde to a Mallarmé 'Mardi'. |
|
24 |
02 |
1892 |
Wilde goes to dinner party at Philip Currie's. |
|
25 |
02 |
1899 |
Wilde leaves Nice for Gland, outside Geneva, to stay with Harold Mellor. |
|
28 |
02 |
1885 |
Publication of Wilde's 'The Relation of Dress to Art' in The Pall Mall Gazette. |
|
28 |
02 |
1895 |
Wilde calls on Charles Ricketts and goes on to the Albemarle Club where he is handed Queensberry's card. |
|
C28 |
02 |
1881 |
Edmund Gosse meets Wilde at a masked party at Alma-Tadema's, Wilde not masked. |
Mr Dibb notes that two other speaking engagements have yet to be elucidated, one at Falkirk and the other (possibly on the 27th) at Chesterfield
XIII. THE OSCAR WILDE SOCIETY AND THE WILDEAN
THE OSCHOLARS happily continues its association with the Oscar Wilde Society and its journal The Wildean. Contacts for the Society are given below.
Contributions to future issues of The Wildean are invited. Guidelines for submissions are available from the Editor, and articles, reviews, notes or letters should be sent to him at the address given below:
Donald Mead writes
The Oscar Wilde Society is a literary society devoted to the congenial appreciation of Oscar Wilde. It is a non-profit making organisation which aims to promote knowledge, appreciation and study of Wilde's life, personality and works. It organises lectures, readings and discussions, and visits to places in Great Britain and overseas associated with Wilde. The most recent visits were to Dublin (September 2001) and to Paris (November 2000). There is an annual lunch in Oxford, and an annual Birthday Dinner at the Cadogan Hotel, London.
New members are very welcome. The current annual individual subscription(UK) is £18 and household membership £23. The rates for overseas membership are £20 (European postal area) and £25 (Rest of the World).
A newsletter - Intentions - is published about six times a year and gives reports on the Society's activities and information about forthcoming events, performances and publications.
The Society's journal - The Wildean - is published twice a year and contains features on a variety of subjects relating to Wilde, including articles, reviews and accounts of some major Society events. It is a publication of permanent interest (MLA listed and indexed) and copies of all recent back issues are available at cover price, which includes postage in the UK.
THE OSCHOLARS publishes the Table of Contents for each new issue of The Wildean. Issue No.20 was published in January 2002.
It opens with an illustrated article on Salomé by Christopher S. Nassaar which argues that Wilde's play reflects the entire Victorian religious landscape exoticized. Salomé functions at two levels, one ancient and the other Victorian, and all the characters in the play, major and minor, have Victorian counterparts. Bernard Richards in 'Wilde and Anti-æstheticism' sounds some adverse notes both about Wilde and about æstheticism. He acknowledges that Wilde has interesting things to say on the subject, but doubts whether he did more than vulgarize and popularize what his predecessors had said.
Thomas Wright considers how Ernest Dowson's tragic and notoriously bohemian life inspired fictional works in which he had a strange posthumous existence. He argues convincingly that one of these was The Poet in Hell, one of Wilde's spoken stories recorded by Laurence Housman in his memoir Écho de Paris.
Peter Rowland believes it not too fanciful to suggest that Wilde may have found a 'cumbrous source of inspiration' in the writings of George Eliot.
Eva Thienpont sets out to prove that in his poetics, principally The Critic as Artist, Wilde, the artist who lamented the decay of lying, embraced Plato, the philosopher who banned poets from his ideal state because they were liars.
Trevor Fisher considers the complexity of the Wilde-Douglas relationship, particularly the history of the De Profundis manuscript, and the legends created by Wilde's supporters and Bosie's defenders, which have developed a life of their own.
D.C. Rose, wielding a true and acute rapier-point, finds that bringing together the engaging mind of Terry Eagleton and the dislike of human documents of Oscar Wilde produces a mixture both amusing and explosive. A correspondent writes of this article: 'The contrast of the styles and ideas [of Eagleton and Rose] produces some wonderful vibrations. They would make a fine stage double act.'
Other articles and correspondence include a consideration of some of the films made of Wilde's Salomé. There are appreciations of Sheila Colman, the much loved and respected literary executor of Lord Alfred Douglas.
Thomas Wright reviews Nicholas Frankel's Oscar Wilde's Decorated Books: 'He handles Wilde's books with a care that recalls the way Wilde treated the contents of his Tite Street library. Instead of rushing into what Italo Calvino once called the act of consummation (the reading of the text) he chooses to linger over the smell of their pages, to rub their bindings, stroke their end-papers, and to gaze lovingly at their covers and decorations. One can only hope that he hasn't also picked up Wilde's habit of eating books . . .'
Anya Clayworth reviews three books which demonstrate the diversity of Wilde studies at the present time. She finds Neil Sammells' approach in Wilde Style interesting and contemporary, but the tone of Melissa Knox's book Oscar Wilde in the 1990s ruined by patchy objectivity. Matthew Sweet's jovial and engaging style in Inventing the Victorians she found natural, amusing and restorative.
In the correspondence section, Jonathan Fryer is astounded by a Terry Eagleton reference to Oscar's 'furtive gay encounters'.
|
Articles |
|
|
Wilde's Salome and the Victorian religious Landscape. |
Christopher S. Nassaar |
|
Wilde and anti-Æstheticism. |
Bernard Richards |
|
The Poet in Hell. |
Thomas Wright |
|
A Cumbrous Source of Inspiration? |
Peter Rowland |
|
'To Play Gracefully with Ideas'. |
Eva Thienpont |
|
Wilde and Douglas: Assessing the Myths and Legends. |
Trevor Fisher |
|
Peering from the Conning Tower. |
D.C. Rose |
|
Obituary: Sheila Colman. |
John Stafford |
|
Salome on Film: Nazimova and Berkoff. |
Donald Mead |
|
Reviews |
|
|
Nicholas Frankel: Oscar Wilde's Decorated Books. |
Thomas Wright |
|
Wilde Style: Victorian or Contemporary? Neil Sammells: Wilde Style: The Plays and Prose of Oscar Wilde. Melissa Knox: Oscar Wilde in the 1990s: the Critic as Creator. Matthew Sweet: Inventing the Victorians. |
Anya Clayworth |
|
Correspondence |
|
|
Gay Encounters |
Jonathan Fryer |
|
Sheila Colman |
Julia Wood |
|
The Oscar Wilde Society may be contacted by writing to the Hon. Secretary, Vanessa Harris 100 Peacock Street Gravesend Kent DA12 1EQ e-mail: vanessa@salome.co.uk The Wildean may be contacted by writing to its Editor, Donald Mead at 63 Lambton Road London SW20 0LW England e-mail donmead@wildean.demon.co.uk |
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PLEASE NOTE OUR E-MAIL ADDRESS: Melmoth@alice.adsl.fr