An Electronic Journal for the Exchange of
Information
on Current Research, Publications and
Productions
concerning
Oscar Wilde and His Circles
Vol. I No.
7
December 2001
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Notice of the sixth (November) issue of THE OSCHOLARS was transmitted to 364 readers. Since then, the number of those wishing to receive the journal has risen to 403 in thirty-two countries, the great majority in one or other of nearly 180 universities or university colleges from Bologna to Boston. It is also accessible in 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.
This issue is being posted on 30th November, so may perhaps be taken as a tribute by its contributors to the hundred and first anniversary of Wilde's death.
The website being designed by Betsy Norris of the University of Indiana, in which THE OSCHOLARS will be housed, will be ready in the New Year. Ms Norris, who designed our masthead, will be responsible for design content as Art Director of THE OSCHOLARS thenceforth.
v NOTE ADDED FEBRUARY 2006.
As is apparent, this development unfortunately did not proved possible
and THE
OSCHOLARS became housed at Goldsmiths College, University of London,
until its transfer early in 2006 to the Irish Diaspora Net.
As always, suggestions for improvements, additions and above all corrections, are very welcome. Our addition of a review section- 'The Critic as Critic' - has been well received. This issue contains a new section - 'Mad, Scarlet Music'. Wilde's representation in music is of all subjects the most neglected outside of Strauss and possibly Zemlinsky, and yet few other writers (and certainly no other Irish writer) have been of such interest to composers. Those of you who have colleagues who are music historians or musicologists might like to draw their attention to this section.
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.
Names emboldened in the text below are those of subscribers to THE OSCHOLARS, who may be contacted through us at Melmoth@aliceadsl.fr. Underlined text in blue can be clicked for navigation through the document or to other addresses.
The technical assistance of Dr John Phelps of Goldsmiths College has been invaluable; but the errors remain the Editor's.
Editor: D.C. Rose
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TABLE OF CONTENTSClicking on the
subject will take you directly to the section |
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6. 19th and 20th century cultural, political, and social
history |
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7. Victoriana: Social, Cultural, and Scientific
Developments at Home and Abroad |
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8. Re-presenting: Looking at the Text Through Different
Lenses |
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11. Encyclopædia of British-American Relations, ABC-Clio
Publishers |
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18. Courtauld History of Dress Association Annual
Conference |
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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.
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II. NEWS FROM SUBSCRIBERS
1. Publications and Papers
The current issue of Nineteenth Century Literature (vol.56 no.3, December 2001 pp.276-9, University of California Press) carries a review by Regenia Gagnier (University of Exeter) of Ian Small: Oscar Wilde: Recent Research: A Supplement to 'Oscar Wilde Revalued'. Greensboro, NC: ELT Press,2000. Professor Gagnier carefully conceals her reluctance to discuss the shortcomings of this work.
Jill Casid and María DeGuzmán, as the photo-text partnership SPIR: Conceptual Photography, have done numerous photo-tableaux involving historical figures, several of them from the 1890s and in as much as consideration of these figures connects the 1890s with modernism and postmodernism.
One such series is entitled Oscaria/Oscar and represents Oscar Wilde and his niece Dolly Wilde(1899-1941)who dressed like her uncle and proclaimed herself more Oscar-like than Oscar was like himself. Camille Norton, professor and creative writer at the University of the Pacific, played Oscar. Jane Picard, filmmaker and videographer, played Dolly or Oscaria. But, of course, since historically speaking Dolly played Oscar as well as herself, SPIR in collaboration with Camille and Jane maintain that playing Oscar as women is to conjure the ghost of Dolly Wilde.
SPIR writes 'Here's to Dolly and, in our version of her, to both modernist and postmodernist relations of women to a transgendered æstheticism where the original is a copy in ways that defy the hierarchical binary of "man" first and "wo-man" second.'
The Oscaria/Oscar series has been exhibited at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, Massachusetts; Dudley House, Lehman Hall, Harvard University; Watershed Media Centre, Bristol England;Pulse Art Gallery, New York City; and at CEPA Gallery in Buffalo, New York as well as in slide-show talks given at numerous academic institutions, Carnegie Mellon among them.
Forthcoming talks on SPIR: Conceptual Photography's work will take place at the Modern Languages Association conference in New Orleans (December 2001 ), the Center for Gender Studies at the University of Chicago, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The work of SPIR: Conceptual Photography can be seen at http://www.home.earthlink.net/~mdeguzman
THE OSCHOLARS is interested in learning of other artists who use 1890s material to inform their work.
Salome & The Birth of 20th-Century Music Drama was the title of a discussion held by John Mauceri and Petra Dierkes-Thrun (University of Pittsburgh) on 4th November in association with the production of Salome by Pittsburgh Opera, conducted by Maestro Mauceri. This production is reviewed below.
2. Work in Progress
Joan Navarre is writing a biography of Edward Heron-Allen (1861-1943). This writer, scientist, and polymathwas a friend to Oscar and Constance Wilde. Any information concerning Heron-Allen (e.g. letters, manuscripts, photographs) will be greatly appreciated. E-mail: jnavarre@hotmail.com
Inspired by The Nightingale and the Rose the photographer and film maker Barbara Peacock has written and will direct a short film that aims to illustrate the prevailing of the human spirit under the most adverse conditions, and to raise social conscience about homeless people. According to the producer, Olga Matlin, 'It is our goal to change the way we look upon the homeless. The "Nightingale and the Rose" may be a story of one sacrifice, but the message inherent is universal. We feel it is important to make this film. Homeless organizations nation wide will be able to use this film as a tool for fundraisers. Its beauty, tenderness and 30 minute length are sure to awaken kindness and generosity in the hearts of all.' The full story of this may be found at http://www.thenightingale.com/html/synopsis.htm
Although 'Wilde would surely have approved' is phrase that falls too glibly on too many objects, we feel that in this case it is more than justified.
3. Wilde on the Curriculum
Gerard Reidy writes 'In recent times the LITES2000 Drama Summer School have used scenes from The Importance of being Earnest and several other plays. For a number of the students this is their first encounter with Wilde in an acting context. Their previous experience having been restricted to school classrooms and university lecture halls, which I should imagine was not quite what Wilde had in mind during his labours.' http://www.lites2000.com/induc1.html
4. Gross Indecency
Rey Buono writes 'The play was a hit in Kuala Lumpur, with full houses for most of the run. Unlike most productions of the play which, I understand, have been rather static, this production took advantage of its venue (a disco) to involve the audience directly. The entire space was the environment, with the trial taking place in the centre, and actors moving in and out of the audience. Like Oscar, it was very theatrical, and broke barriers.'
Moises Kaufman's Gross Indecency: the Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, directed by Rey Buono for Instant Café Theatre, was staged at the Orange Club, Kuala Lumpur, 27th September to 7th October, as noted in THE OSCHOLARS I/6.
We reproduce, by kind permission, the Director's Notes:
Three things brought me to direct this production of Gross Indecency. First, a life-long love of Oscar Wilde and his work, beginning with grandmother's readings of The Happy Prince. Second, a fascination with trials from the Rosenbergs to Anwar, and for trial dramas from Perry Mason to The Practice. Third, an astonishment with the quality of Moises Kaufmann's play and a conviction that it will resonate in contemporary KL.
"I stand in symbolic relationship to the art and culture of my age," Wilde said in De Profundis. And his age, the age of Queen Victoria, was one of vast materialism, stifling orthodoxy, overwhelming sameness and ugliness in art and architecture.
Against all that, Oscar Wilde placed, not his writing, not his deeds, but his persona. "An idea is of no value until it becomes incarnate and is made an image," he said. Wilde engaged materialism with sunflowers and lilies, tickled orthodoxies with paradoxes and epigrams, denied the Victorian aesthetic with extravagant costume and gesture. He refuted High Seriousness and Respectability with frivolity and camp affectation.
Wilde was not a man of the theatre, he was theatre. His greatest play was not Earnest, it was Oscar. Everything he did was a production. Everything he said was a performance.
The curtain came down hard. That is the subject of this play.
Every word in Gross Indecency comes from a documentary source- either the transcripts of the trials, contemporary press accounts, or memoirs written by witnesses and participants. The multiple points of view present the audience with far more than a re-enactment of events. The play is a deconstruction, a cubist painting of the most remarkable event in the history of British justice. Kaufmann constantly offers altered perspectives, different and differing voices, clashing viewpoints. If the play draws any conclusion, it is that the trial, like the man, was a theatrical event.
Placing Gross Indecency in a Disco reinforces its meaning for a contemporary audience. Clubs are places where members of the KL middleclass, heirs to Victorian values, come to flout those values, experiment with costume, illusion, sexuality, and indulge a counter- aesthetic. Outside, the twin towers; inside, a dark, pulsing, ambiguous retreat from upwardly thrusting society.
So, thanks, Orange, for the venue. But especially thanks to Suzie, Lorna, Adeline, and Vergil for your splendid work coordinating this production, to the designers who have been able to realize it all in this very challenging space, and to a brilliant cast for their efficiency and generosity in coping with a very brief rehearsal period.
5. Broadcasts
Neil Sammells (Bath Spa University) is doing a live 45-minute discussion programme on Wilde and Aestheticism on BBC Radio 4, 9.00 a.m. GMT on Thursday 6th December in the Melvyn Bragg 'In Our Time' programme. This is repeated at 21.30 GMT. BBC Radio 4 can be found at 93.5 FM and 198 LW, and on line.
v Neil Sammells' Wilde Style: The Plays and Prose of Oscar Wilde was published last year by Longmans in the series Studies in Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Literature. A review by Valerie A. Murrenus, published in New Hibernia Review Volume 5/1 may be found at http://muse.jhu.edu/demo/nhr/5.1murrenus.html.
6. Picked from the Platter
On 30th September Patrick O'Sullivan (University of Bradford) kindly posted a notice regarding THE OSCHOLARS to the subscribers to the Irish Diaspora List.
We are very grateful for this, and recommend the site at Irish Diaspora Studies http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/diaspora. Our thanks too to Regenia Gagnier for mentioning THE OSCHOLARS in her review of Ian Small's book, noted above.
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III. THE CRITIC AS CRITIC
We hope to carry at least one review in each issue henceforth.
1. Salome in London
Salome, adapted by Cloud Downey for the Aldebaran Theatre Company as Femme Fatale, The Fable of Salome, was staged at the Cockpit Theatre, London, 15th, 16th & 17th November. This production ranged from monotone acting in the manner of Lugné-Poë viâ high camp to the Theatre of the Absurd and plain absurd: one could not always be sure whether Wilde was being deconstructed or demolished. Its exaggerations pointed to the weaknesses of characterisation in the play, but removed any beauty from the words. Salome was played by whose impeccable cut glass accent suggested that then as now nice Jewish girls after finishing school in Switzerland preferred Harrods to Herods, while Herod (Cloud Downey) was a model of senescent and decaying lechery. Herodias was played by Andy Macdonald as a dowager before whom even Lady Bracknell might have quailed; Jokanaan (Wallace McDougall) had exchanged his usual tangled locks for a shaven head. The Young Syrian (Jo Dalton), here named Syrius, had almost enough blood to make Herod's slipping in it credible; the production as a whole, rather too much.
This dysfunctional family continued its home life intact, as the absence of soldiers meant that there were no shields beneath which Salome could be crushed, had Herod been able to sum up enough energy to order this in the first place.
2. An Ideal Husband in Cork
Eibhear Walshe
Cork was home to a recent production of An Ideal Husband when Everyman Palace Productions presented Michael Twomey's version of the play, running from 31st October until November 10th. The venue for this production was the Everyman Palace Theatre and it has been my experience that the Victorian music hall setting of the this city centre theatre can sometimes jar, particularly with productions of contemporary drama. However, with An Ideal Husband, the setting gave a kind of distanced elegance to this enjoyable production, complimenting the snappish pace set by the director and the sense of spacious elegance created by designer, Patrick Murray. Michael Twomey decided to take on the playful tilt and set his actors an energetic pace, with only one or two casualties along the way. The part of Lord Goring - a sort of Lord Henry Wotton but with the addition of a heart and a conscience - was played by the excellent David Lumsden and like most of the cast, he responded well to the challenge of a fast and lively style of direction. Despite some initial reservations about his suitability for the role, (Lord Goring is supposed to be thirty-four), I found his Lord Goring to be the sure centre of the whole drama, as Wilde intended. He was consistently alert and controlled in his performance, capable of the lightest of irony with his father and his butler, yet grave enough to carry the moral advantage in his battle with the grasping Mrs Cheveley.
As Mrs Cheveley, Catherine Prendergast was more than his equal as Wilde's unrepentant adventuress and a certain resemblance to the young Bette Davis added to her undoubted verve as villain. I wasn't completely happy with the way in which this skilful and physically graceful actress was dressed and be-wigged. The designer followed to the letter Wilde's description of Mrs Cheveley as 'rather like an orchid...' In all her movements, she is extremely graceful...A work of art on the whole but showing the influence of too many schools'. One of those schools seems to have been borstal, to judge by the colour of her hair and I felt that the confidence and assurance of Catherine Prendergast's performance overcame the slightly brazen quality of her wig. In most worthwhile texts, the evil one is always much more appealing than the hero, as in Paradise Lost, and so the duelling of the opportunistic Mrs Cheveley with her wronged suitor, Lord Goring provided some of the liveliest moments in this production. A striking quality within her performance was Catherine Prendergast's ability to be at her most supple and graceful physically at moments when her character's amorality became most overt and crudely obvious. Mrs Cheveley's final exit when, as Wilde tells us, 'Her face is illuminated with evil. Youth seems to have come back to her' was mesmerising in the triumph that this talented actress brought to the part.
As I've said, the pace of the directing most suited these two central characters and also many of the older actors within the cast, particularly Kevin Sheehan as the Earl of Caversham and Olive O'Callaghan as the Countess of Basildon rose to the challenge effortlessly. Aideen Crowley Dynan was wonderfully demented as Mrs Marchmont and handled her wandering, disconnected monologues with perfect comic assurance but the geographical unreliability of the Vicomte de Nanjac's accent was unfortunate.
However, I've always thought that Wilde's portrayal of the 'hero' and 'heroine' Robert and Gertrude Chiltern, falls dangerously close to melodrama. I can see that Wilde was interested in undermining rigid Victorian goodness by introducing a drama about moral complexity but these two characters often fail to emerge. This danger of melodramatic simplification was never really averted in this version of An Ideal Husband. Throughout, the two actors were forced to slow down the pace of the production to play out their scenes of painful revelation and outrage. There is, potentially, some interest in the character of Sir Robert Chiltern, a public figure, much admired by his impossible good wife, and threatened by a shady revelation from his youth. Wilde draws on his own imaginative preoccupation with domesticity and duplicity to enliven some of his writing here and, as Robert Chiltern, Conor Dwane did convey something of his panic and allowed the audience some sense of movement towards a more complex moral insight. However I've always feared that nothing much can be done with the good, moral, upright Gertrude, a fact borne out by Valerie O'Leary's performance in this production. The scenes of discovery and repentance between husband and wife made me long for the return of the duplicitous Mrs Cheveley. Shirley McCarthy, in the role of Miss Mabel Chiltern gave us winsome charm, pouting, intense archness and many of the standard characteristics of the young ingénue, all of which left me cold. Overall, I found it to be lively, well paced and stylish.
v Eibhear Walshe teaches in the English Department at University College, Cork. Sex, Nation, and Dissent in Irish writing, edited by Eibhear Walshe, was published by Cork University Press and (in New York) St. Martin's Press, 1997.
3. Salome in Pittsburgh
Philip E. Smith
The performances of Maria Ewing as Salome and Tom Fox as Jokanaan distinguished the Pittsburgh Opera's presentation of Richard Strauss' Salome, which was performed on November 10, 13, 16, and 18, 2001 at the Benedum Center, Pittsburgh. Dame Gwyneth Jones in the role of Herodias and Gary Lakes as Herod provided strong support for the two leading singers. The orchestra, conducted by John Mauceri, played lyrically; the stage and lighting effects were particularly affective elements of the production because they created nuanced atmospheric changes to accompany the singing, the dance, and the orchestral setting at several crucial moments of the production. My opinion is based on attendance at the second night, when the musical, dramatic, and scenic elements of production worked well together, in contrast to a published report of the first performance.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's music critic gave the opening night a caustic review which cited several flaws in the production: he objected that the orchestra played lethargically and too softly, that most of the singers were unable to achieve professional standards, and that the staging of the opera pandered to the audience by reducing the opera to sensationalism(nudity in the dance of the seven veils). The reviewer also complained that Ewing seemed to have trouble singing her part and, worse, was clumsy and unsexy in her striptease.
But his experience of the opera was not mine. Maria Ewing has been performing the part of Salome since 1986; she is petite and moves languorously in the early scenes but builds her performance to an appropriate pitch of intensity suiting the concluding aria addressing the head of John the Baptist. Her voice is also less strong and distinct in the early scenes except for accentual flourishes—swooping cries at the ends of phrases--which suggest the petulance of a spoiled teenager. Later, during her duet with Jokannan, her performance takes on authority and clarity which only intensifies as she tries to seduce the prophet and, when she is unsuccessful, petitions Herod for the head, dances, and then collects her gruesome reward. Her dance of the seven veils is stylised and symbolic—the opposite of the "striptease" which the local music critic expected. The veils themselves are arranged in a progression of colors leading dramatically to the last two, suggestive of the blood she will cause to be shed: carmine and deep red (colors echoed in the lighting effects in the backdrop). As the last veil is shed and she faces the audience, the spotlight isolates her against a now black background. Her naked and unholy desire is symbolized--and its consequences are reminded—by the blood-red robe she dons and wears for the rest of the performance.
In the role of Jokannan, Tom Fox looks like a giant or god from William Blake's engravings. The elemental nature of his power and faith is symbolized by his appearance against the deep colors of the set and backdrop. His muscular white body is covered only with a white loincloth and is contrastingly accented by his waist-length black mane. His bass/baritone voice is the most commanding in the production.
Herod is sung with precision and spirit by Grammy-winning tenor Gary Lakes, who studied the difficult part with great care in order to master the lines as composed—and to avoid falling into voicing them as speech. His performance is more than matched by Dame Gwyneth Jones' impersonation of Herodias. Jones, herself an accomplished veteran of many productions singing the lead role of Salome, brought fire and power to her debut in this new role as Salome’s mother. When Herod and Herodias come on stage after Jokannan has been returned to the cistern, the energy generated by Salome and Jokannan (and by the commentary and suicide of Narraboth) is intensified.
The set, jointly owned by the Los Angeles Opera and by Covent Garden, was designed by Sir Peter Hall to echo the motifs of Gustav Klimt's Vienna Secession paintings and it provides a major share of the aesthetic pleasure of attending this production. The raked stage is dominated by an immense circular cistern stage right, with a stairway leading from the front of the stage to the top of the cistern. The floor beneath and centered surrounding the cistern participates in the design because it is painted to resemble a large bloodstain. The backdrop includes two large cypress trees and an immense moon, which travels across the sky during the course of the opera. Stage and backdrop are tied together by lighting effects which project several typical decorative motifs of Klimt's designs—for example, a sea of stars made of outlined squares and spirals appears around the moon during its progress which are echoes of the checkerboard squares on the raked stage floor. Many of these designs are found in Klimt's 1909 painting, Judith II (Salome), in which a set of connected gold spirals appear against a red background. The same effect generated by red light and Klimt designs on the lighted backdrop dominates the stage at the end of Salome’s dance and in her concluding mad aria, as she caresses the bloody head of Jokannan and finally kisses its lips.
While Wagner would doubtless have disapproved of all the elements (Wilde's play, Strauss's music, and Klimt's painting) as "decadent", the Pittsburgh production of Salome achieved the aesthetic ends which Wagner proposed for the Gesamtkunstswerk: the compelling artistic synthesis of auditory, verbal, and visual effects from drama, music, and painting.
v Philip E. Smith teaches in the Department of English, University of Pittsburgh. He is the co-author /editor(with Michael Helfand) of Oscar Wilde's Oxford Notebooks - A Portrait of a Mind in the Making (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press 1989) and of 'Anarchy & Culture- The Evolutionary Turn of Cultural Criticism in the Work of Oscar Wilde', Texas Studies in Literature & Language 20/2 summer 1978.
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IV. NEWS FROM ELSEWHERE
1. Exhibitions
Oscar Wilde: A Life in Six Acts
This important exhibition, organized by the British Library in association with the Morgan Library and sponsored by The Fay Elliott Foundation, continues at the Morgan Library, New York. It is curated by Sally Brown of the British Library.
There is also an excellent website at
http://www.morganlibrary.org/exhibtions/current/html/main.html
Yinka Shonibare
In THE OSCHOLARS I/3 we carried a short piece about Yinka Shonibare and his Dorian Gray photographs. These will be shown in the Museo Hendrik C. Andersen in Rome 4th December 2001 - 3rd March 2002 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, OscarWilde - 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.
2. Publications
Wild Irish Women by Marian Broderick (O'Brien Press, ISBN 0-86278-703-3, pp.316, IR£18.90) includes a piece on Lady Wilde in a section called 'Political Animals'. . .
'The Importance of being Pious' by Jeet Heer appeared in the American journal Lingua Franca in September. This discusses recent attempts to 'Catholicise' Wilde.
We are grateful to Frederick C. Roden (University of Connecticut) for sending us a copy of this article (in which he is quoted).
Walter Pater's Gaston de Latour is now on-line, edited by Alfred Drake: http://www.ajdrake.com/etexts/Texts/Pater/Gaston/index_gaston.htm
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V. BEING TALKED ABOUT: CALLS FOR PAPERS
« Der er kun én ting i verdender er værreend at
folk taler, om enog det er at folkikke taler om en »
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 or on any of the Green Carnations.]
1. CALL FOR PAPERS: The Importance of Being Arthur: Representations of Masculinity 1954-1963
An interdisciplinary conference being held over a Saturday Night and Sunday Morning at Froebel College, Roehampton University of Surrey, 13th to 14th July 2002.
New modes of cultural production and distribution in the 1950s have meant there was no shortage of male icons to emerge in the decade. In British writing of the period masculinity itself seems to perform an iconic role in embodying and challenging the beliefs and shibboleths of an older culture perceived as increasingly redundant.
The conference takes as its focus English neo-realist fiction of the period including such novelists as Sillitoe, Braine, Storey, Barstow, Amis and Wilson. Their insistent concern with an assertive but beleaguered male identity (mentored by both Lawrence and Orwell) seems to call into question nearly all the assumptions about class and many of the assumptions about sexuality that underpinned writing earlier in the century (Woolf, Waugh, Huxley et al). Frequently acclaimed at the time as culturally and politically radical much of this writing has, in turn, come to be seen as clumsy, sexist and of dubious value. At the same time its sympathetic engagement with popular culture and life has contributed significantly to contemporary perspectives and practices in literature, film and television.
We want to take a closer look at both the writing and the contexts, including the radical transformation of the material life and the political and economic expectations of British society after World War Two, in an attempt to understand better the often ambiguous nature of its male protagonists in both the social and literary spheres.
We are inviting papers of twenty minutes on all relevant aspects of British life and culture of the period (as well as its antecedents and aftermaths). Topics and approaches might include:
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Working-class life: image and reality |
Popular culture and American models |
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The music business |
Fashion and design |
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Gender studies and Queer Theory |
Censorship, the law and the Wolfenden Report |
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End of Empire: Suez and its aftermath |
Industrial and technological change |
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Immigration and HMS Windrush |
Medical, psychological and scientific discourses |
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Film and television |
National service |
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The rise of the celebrity |
The position of sport |
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Orwell, Hoggart and the Uses of Sociology |
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Abstracts should be accompanied by a brief CV and submitted to the address below by 15th February 2002.
Lisa Hall, Conference Administrator, School of English and Modern Languages, Roehampton University of Surrey, Roehampton Lane, London SW15 5PH. Tel: 020 8392 3362 Fax: 020 8392 3146 Email: lisasam@hallco.freeserve.co.uk. Website: http://www.hallco.freeserve.co.uk/arthurhome.html
2. CALL FOR PAPERS: Reading Out: Queer Texts, Queer Practices
Submissions are invited for a proposed session at the meeting of the American Studies Association in Houston, November 2002.
Expanded definitions of reading, representation, and interpretation have been central to the political claims and the social construction of gay communities and subjects. Gay and lesbian autobiographies posit the private act of reading queer texts as central in the process of publicly coming out.
Queer subjects have been masterful at reconfiguring - or reading out - social codes in order to signal and discover sexual preferences or styles. Gay and lesbian studies has retrieved and reread glbt presence in various historical, cultural and literary traditions. The twentieth century has witnessed the rise of presses and periodicals owned by gays and lesbians; such forums print glbt fiction, poetry and political commentary as well as reprinting now-classic texts like Ann Bannon's Beebo Brinker series. The late twentieth century has also witnessed the appropriation of glbt cultural styles by more mainstream publications. This panel invites submissions exploring the topic of "reading" in queer life. Proposals might include (but are certainly not limited to):
v queer readings of texts
v considerations of the kinds of literacies that have been privileged in glbt community formation
v the role of glbt presses and magazines in the formation of queer subjects and/or communities,
v the role of queer reading practices in expanding the range of texts that speak to non-normative sexualities
v the class based assumptions that underwrite certain kinds of reading practices
v the history of an expanded notion of "literacy" in queer studies
v the relationship between sexual styles and textual representations
v the relationship between "private" practices of reading and public identifications, etc.
Please send one page abstracts and a one page cv to Stephanie Foote at s-foote@uiuc.edu by 10th January.
3. CALL FOR PAPERS: Women's Poetry and the Fin-de-Siècle (1875-1914)
14th June 2002.
Speakers will include Isobel Armstrong (Birkbeck College, University of London) and Joseph Bristow (UCLA) amongst others from the US and the UK.
Recent years have witnessed a growing and widespread interest in the field of fin-de-siècle women poets, with turn-of-the-century women poets, including Amy Levy, Alice Meynell, "Michael Field", Dollie Radford, Olive Custance, Nora Hopper, Mathilde Blind, Dora Sigerson and "Graham R. Tomson". Significantly, literary scholars and historians have recently begun a process of reconfiguration of the fin-de-siècle years by focusing on key topics such as The New Woman, Decadence, Urban life, the New Imperialism, Æstheticism and Racial Science.
Yet, despite this groundbreaking interrogation of both women's poetry and the fin de siècle, there has been very little work examining fin-de-siècle women's poetry in the light of recent debates about the New Woman, Æstheticism, Decadence and Modernity. Birkbeck College has played an important role in foregrounding women's poetry and in reconfiguring debates about the New Woman in two seminal conferences, Rethinking Women's Poetry, 1730-1930 and The New Woman: Gendering the Fin de Siècle. This conference continues an ongoing process of rethinking the poetic landscape of the long nineteenth century. Indeed, it originates in a demand to rethink the relation between fin-de-siècle women's poetry and the literary history of the fin de siècle. How did fin-de-siècle women's poetry relate to New Woman literature? And to the Symbolist Movement? How did women poets participate in Aestheticism? What were their responses to the New Imperialism? How did their poetics address the gender politics of the late-Victorian period?
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.
Abstracts of no more than 300 words should be sent by 7th January 2002 to the Organisers: AnaVadillo (School of English and the Humanities, Birkbeck College, University of London, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HX, UK. E-mail: a.parejovadillo@eng.bbk.ac.uk) and Marion Thain (Department of English, The University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK. E-mail: M.Thain.2@Bham.ac.uk)
[E-mail is preferred]
Hosted by the Institute for English Studies in conjunction with The Birkbeck Centre for Nineteenth-Century Studies and The University of Birmingham.
4. CALL FOR PAPERS: Humor in Literature
Location: 23rd SW/Texas PCA/ACA Conference, Albuquerque Hilton, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Dates: 13th to 17th February 2002
Conference Details: www.swtexaspca.org
Submission Guidelines: Send a proposal consisting of a 250-word abstract (not the entire paper); brief biographical information: name as it should appear in the program, (and, if different, on your "name tag"); school, organization, or corporate affiliation; mailing address; telephone (work and home, if possible); fax, and e-mail; AUDIO-VISUAL NEEDS (VCR & monitor, slide projector, overhead projector, boom box); brief biography for panel introductions
Send to the area chair Leslie Fife, lesliefife57@yahoo.com by 10th December 2001.
Panels of 3 or 4 presenters, discussions, and other innovations are encouraged. Submit via the website at: www2.h-net.msu.edu/~swpca/
Topics: Possible topics include-but are not limited to-the following:
v Southwestern Humor
v Frontier Humor
v Regional Differences in Humor
v Humor and "Otherness" (may consider ethnicities, cultures, religions, gender)
v Tall Tales
v Mark Twain as Humorist
v Native American Humor
v Ethnic Humor: Jewish, Italian, Irish, African-American
v Changing Perceptions of Humor
v The Impact of Sitcoms on Humor
v Dark Comedy in a Changing World
We welcome all "humor" submissions for consideration; generally we can find connecting ideas for panels, so please don't let the suggested topics deter you from submitting a paper proposal.
5. CALL FOR PAPERS: Constructions of Masculinity
Abstracts are invited for papers considering cultural constructions of masculinity in texts from any period or genre. Papers will be chosen for inclusion on a panel for:
South Central MLA Conference Austin, Texas 31st October to 2nd November 2002
Abstracts should be received by 10th January 2002. Please send submissions by e-mail to kheath@vsu.edu.
Kay Heath, Virginia State University Department of Languages and Literature P.O. Box 9072 Petersburg, VA 23806.
6. CALL FOR PAPERS: 19th and 20th century cultural, political, and social history
USJCH is an innovative, refereed electronic journal that seeks to provide a medium for publication in the postgraduate community and to disseminate creative, critical, and inter-disciplinary historical research. We are currently seeking submissions on any aspect of nineteenth and twentieth century cultural, political, and social, history.
We can be visited at: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/Units/HUMCENTR/usjch
Scott Soo, Editor of USJCH
7. CALL FOR PAPERS: Victoriana: Social, Cultural, and Scientific Developments at Home and Abroad
Conference of the Research Society for Victorian Periodicals, 16th-17th August 2002. The Michigan League Conference Center, University of Michigan, 911 North University, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
ABSTRACTS: Mail, email, or fax 1-2 page abstracts (max) & 2-page CV (max) to Professor Chris Kent, Department of History, University of Saskatchewan, 9 Campus Drive, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 5A5, Canada. chris.kent@usask.ca. Fax: 306-966-5852 DEADLINE: 2nd January 2002.
CONFERENCE ARRANGEMENTS:
For conference information contact Andrea Kaston Akaston@online.emich.edu or Cheryl Cassidy ccassidy_2000@yahoo.com.
Professor Cheryl Cassidy, English Department, 603 Q Pray-Harold, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, Michigan 48197.
8. CALL FOR PAPERS: Re-presenting: Looking at the Text Through Different Lenses
English Graduate Student Association Annual Conference 15th to 16th February 2002, Columbia, MO
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Linda Leavell, (Oklahoma State University Department of English), Author of Marianne Moore and the Visual Arts.
At this year's conference, we wish to deal with the issue of text, and moreover how we understand text. Is there an ultimate understanding of text? What can each discipline give us in our search for understanding? How does the text translate from one medium to another - from book to film, music or the visual arts? How does our understanding of text change through translation? This conference will provide a forum for graduate students to discuss and explore the position of the text within an interdisciplinary world, an interdisciplinary academic setting. The conference welcomes papers from all disciplines, particularly those concerned with English, the fine arts, foreign languages, history and philosophy.
We invite graduate students to submit 1-page abstracts for individual papers (15 minutes), panels, and round tables; creative writings (stories, poetry, and creative non-fiction) are also encouraged. Topics addressing the conference theme are especially welcome.
Submit Proposals or Questions:
|
By Mail: Felicia Beckmann or Gina Cross 107 Tate Hall University of Missouri Columbia, MO 65211 |
By E-mail: Emily Isaacson erinpb@mizzou.edu Felicia Beckmann fmb7a7@mizzou.edu |
Deadline: 17th December 2001.
9. CALL FOR PAPERS: British Studies
The North American Conference On British Studies in conjunction with The Southern Conference On British Studies
2002 Annual Meeting, Baltimore, Maryland.
The North American Conference on British Studies (NACBS) will hold its 2002 annual meeting, in conjunction with the Southern Conference on British Studies (SCBS), at the Holiday Inn in Baltimore, Maryland from 8th to 10th November, 2002.
Plenary speakers at the conference will be James Walvin, Professor of History at York University, and author most recently of Making the Black Atlantic (2000), and Margaret J.M. Ezell, John Paul Abbott Professor of Liberal Arts at Texas A&M University, whose latest book is Social Authorship and the Advent of Print (2000).
The NACBS, the main organization for British Studies in Canada and the United States, along with its southern affiliate, the SCBS, seek participation by scholars in all areas of British Studies. In particular, we solicit proposals for interdisciplinary panels that draw on the work of historians, literary critics, sociologists, art historians and scholars in other disciplines whose focus is on Britain or the British Empire. We are interested in panel proposals on broad themes, and proposals for roundtable discussions of a topical work or methodological or other issue are also welcome. We solicit, as well, panels that address any aspects of teaching British Studies.
The NACBS and SCBS welcome panel proposals on medieval Britain. North American scholars, scholars from overseas, and graduate students are all encouraged to submit proposals to the Program Chair of the NACBS. Proposals for entire panels on a common theme will be given priority, although individual paper proposals will also be considered if several of them can be assembled to create a viable panel. The typical panel will include three papers, each lasting twenty minutes, a chair, and a separate commentator. No participant will be permitted to take part in more than one session, and no more than one proposal will be considered from each applicant. Committed to the principle of ensuring the broadest possible participation of scholars of all facets of British Studies, the program committee will give priority to proposals submitted by individuals who did not read papers at the last two consecutive meetings. North American participants in the meeting must be members of the NACBS.
Proposals should include a 200-300 word abstract for each paper to be read and a one-two page curriculum vitae for ALL participants. The address, phone number, and e-mail address of EACH participant (including the chair and separate commentator) MUST be included in the proposal. For panel proposals the name of the main contact person should be noted clearly.
In order to be considered, all proposals MUST be received by the NACBS program committee by Friday 25th January 2002. We do not accept proposals via e-mail. Please MAIL hard copy of your proposals to:
Angela Woollacott, NACBS Program Chair, History Department, Case Western Reserve University, 11201 Euclid Ave., Cleveland, OH 44106-7107, USA. Phone: +1 (216)368-4165 Fax: +1 (216) 368-4681 E-mail: AXW11@po.cwru.edu.
10. CALL FOR PAPERS: Xchanges (on-line journal) Issue #2: 'American Originals/American Adaptations'
From: Julianne Newmark, Editor (j.newmark@wayne.edu) Deadline: 30th November.
[WE REGRET THAT THIS WAS RECEIVED TOO LATE FOR THE NOVEMBER ISSUE OF THE OSCHOLARS AND INCLUDE IT IN CASE THE DEADLINE HAS BEEN EXTENDED]
The second issue of Xchanges, a new electronic journal focusing on interdisciplinary exchange between all areas of the humanities, will appear in February 2002. Xchanges is a component of the Y/X Project of the American Studies Program at Wayne State University and is made possible by the Rushton Endowment. Xchanges solicits scholarship from young scholars on the graduate level and is also eager to include exceptional papers by upper-level undergraduate students. The editor of the journal is Julianne Newmark and the technical editor and webmaster is Joy Burnett. The journal will be available on the World Wide Web.
The editors invite submissions of scholarly articles (up to 4000 words) on any theme relating to 'American Originals/American Adaptations.' We encourage scholars from all humanities-related fields to submit work. Scholars from certain branches of the social sciences may also find the journal well-suited to their interests.
Xchanges is a blind, peer-review journal. Each submission is reviewed by three reviewers, each a specialist in the field in which the paper was submitted. Xchanges either accepts or denies submissions; there is no opportunity for revision and resubmission. Scholars who hope to publish will find Xchanges an innovative forum for scholarly work and will be pleased with the quick reply-time for submissions. We either accept or deny submissions within two months of the submission deadline; the journal is published within three months of the submission deadline. Each calendar year, two issues of Xchanges are produced.
The deadline for submissions for the February 2002 issue is Friday, 30 November, 2001. Material submitted for possible publication should be sent to Xchanges on disk (in MS Word or WordPerfect for PC or Mac, or as an ASCII file), or as an email attachment.
Direct electronic correspondence, including submissions, to Joy Burnett: burnett@wayne.edu
Direct postal service correspondence, including submissions on disk, to: Julianne Newmark, English Department, Wayne State University, 51 W. Warren Detroit, MI 48202 E-mail: j.newmark@wayne.edu tel: (313) 577-5627
Currently available on-line is Xchanges Issue #1, the conference proceedings from the March 2001 Y/X Conference. Details regarding the Winter and Fall issues of Y/X and their contents are included on the Xchanges website. For further information on the Xchanges journal, and for complete submission and journal guidelines, please visit the Xchanges website at: www.americanstudies.wayne.edu/xchanges/xchanges.html.
For information regarding the American Studies Program at Wayne State University and the Y/X Project, including the annual conference, please visit: www.americanstudies.wayne.edu. D.K. Peterson Department of English, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48202.
11. CALL FOR PAPERS: Encyclopædia of British-American Relations, ABC-Clio Publishers
We are seeking contributors for a forthcoming 2-volume project, The Encyclopædia of British-American Relations (Oxford: ABC-Clio). The project is designed to provide readily-accessible information about the most important historical, cultural and political relations between Britain and the Americas from the first encounter up to the present day; the subject matter is multidisciplinary. The unifying factor for such a wide-ranging, ambitious project is the crucial focus on the British-American connection at the heart of each entry. Scholars working in any area of British contact with North America, South America, or the Caribbean who are interested in contributing to this project are encouraged to contact one of the editors, with an indication of your research interests and academic background. We welcome enquiries from postgraduate students. Please do not send attachments.
Dr. Will Kaufman, Reader in English and American Studies, University of Central Lancashire, UK. E-mail: wkaufman@uclan.ac.uk.
Dr. Heidi Macpherson, Senior Lecturer in English, University of Central Lancashire, UK. E-mail: hrsmacpherson@uclan.ac.uk.
12. CALL FOR PAPERS: Discourses in Dance
A new journal from Laban Centre, London in 2002 redefining dance research
Volume 1 2002
Editors: Susan Leigh Foster PhD, University of California, USA; Ramsay Burt PhD, De Montfort University, Leicester, England and supported by an international Editorial Board and Advisory Panel
Aims and scope:
DISCOURSES IN DANCE is an international, peer-reviewed, bi-annual journal covering research in the field of dance and related areas. The Journal aims to promote the development of dance research in the international academic field. Articles address the rapidly expanding discipline of dance studies as it is developing through scholarly and artistic forms of dance research.
DISCOURSES IN DANCE presents a platform for research which interrogates dance as a cultural practice. The journal encourages the testing of new methodologies against existing paradigms and the examining of dance in relation to critical theories, cultural studies, and cognate disciplines. Priority will be given to essays that explore dance's engagement with more general social and political values and concerns, including but not limited to issues of dance and ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class, and the impact of new technologies.
DISCOURSES IN DANCE is particularly committed to the building of broad based and diverse coalitions of scholars and artists, and to exploring areas currently under-represented in published dance scholarship.
Readership
Discourses in Dance will be of interest to dance scholars, lecturers, researchers, artists, students and other dance professionals, as well as academics and scholars from other fields.
Contributions
Manuscripts to be considered for publication should be submitted to The Managing Editor, Discourses in Dance, Laban Centre London, Laurie Grove, London SE14 6NH, England.
Tel: +44 (0)20 8692 4070 Fax: + 44 (0)20 8694 8749. Email: discourses@laban.co.uk
Submitted manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer review.
Guidelines for contributors can be obtained from the Managing Editor at the address above.
v There is much here, we believe, for Salome scholars.
13. CALL FOR
PAPERS: Fakes and Forgeries, Conmen and Counterfeits
Contributions are invited to an interdisciplinary conference on "Fakes and Forgeries, Conmen and Counterfeits", to be held at Durham Castle (England) on 8th and 9th July 2002.
Recent cultural theory has called into question traditional notions of authenticity and originality. Despite critical pronouncements of the death of the author and the substitution of the simulacrum for the original, however, making a distinction between the genuine and the fake continues to play a major role in our everyday understanding and evaluation of culture, law and politics. Consider, for example, the fiasco surrounding the "forged" Hitler diaries, law suits against auction houses for failing to detect forgeries in the art market, or the problem of plagiarism at universities. It still seems to matter that we can spot the difference. But what are we to make of conspiracy theories that the moon landings were faked in a Hollywood studio; the Sokal hoax article in Social Text; or Fragments, Binjamin Wilkomirski's "fake" Holocaust memoir? Has the distinction between the counterfeit and the real been undermined by the technological ability to make copies that are indistinguishable -- and sometimes better -- than the original? Has the notion of authenticity changed in recent times? Do different cultures set the boundaries in alternative ways?
This conference seeks to bring together scholars from a variety of disciplines -- cultural theory, literary studies, film studies, history, art history, cultural anthropology, economics --in order to explore the historical, social and cultural significance of fakes, forgeries, hoaxes and counterfeits.
Possible topics could include:-
* fake memoirs * film "mockumentaries" * counterfeit currency * frauds, scams, swindles and cons * confidence tricksters * disguise and deception * blackface and passing * masquerades and ventriloquism * forgery in the art world * conspiracy theories about forged evidence and misinformation * detection and authentication * plagiarism and copyright.
Further details of the conference will be available later at: www.art.man.ac.uk/english/fakes.html.
Publication of selected papers is planned for 2003/4.
Please email a 250-word abstract by 1st January 2002 to both organisers:
|
Dr Jonathan Long Department of German University of Durham Durham, DH1 4EW |
Dr Peter Knight Department of English University of Manchester Manchester, M13 9PL |
Perhaps something here for Mr W.H. scholars? It may also be recalled that Dorian Gray 'consorted with coiners'. The Wilde apocrypha and pseudepigrapha might also be considered.
14. CALL FOR PAPERS: Children's Literature and Popular Culture
The Southwest/Texas Popular Culture Associations and American Culture Associations are holding a series of panels at the next meeting of these regional groups 13th to 17th February in Albuquerque, New Mexico, at the Albuquerque Hilton Hotel and other conference information can be found at the Conference web site: www.swtexaspca.org.
The Associations award several prizes for papers presented by graduate students at the conference, so graduate students are especially encouraged to submit abstracts. Details on prizes will be available on the Conference website.
Also, we are pleased to announce that our keynote speaker at our Friday luncheon will be the celebrated author Tony Hillerman. Please join us!
The scope for Children's and Young Adult literature is broad, so here are a few possible topics to consider (but not limited to):
Genre and/or cross-genre in Children's literature? For example, I'd love to see a panel on Philip Pullman's Dark Materials Series, which combines theology, fantasy, adventure, and even some physics. The Chronicles of Narnia fit into this category, as well, as an example. I'm sure there are others out there.
Also:
v Gender representation in Children's and Young Adult literature (especially in light of so many recent films/television shows featuring "strong" women that appeal to younger audiences; is this trend bleeding into Children's Lit?).
v Ethnicity, Cultural, and "Difference" representation Trends/issues that NEED to be addressed and aren't Trends/issues that have "outlived" their time.
v Film adaptations of Children's Literature- problems and successes.
v Enduring classics - why do some stories cross boundaries and generations?
v The use of Children's and Young Adult literature for educational purposes. What is the future of Children's Literature programs?
(Note: No Harry Potter submissions to this area; we have a separate Harry Potter area. See the organization website for details.)
However, any other topic relating to Children's or Young Adult literature will be considered - so send it on in!
PLEASE NOTE: Papers are welcomed for our meeting in ANY language - not simply English. Any non-English paper must be accompanied by a 500-word abstract on a single sheet of paper (bring at least 50 copies; front/back printing is recommended). Papers should be delivered in the language of the speaker's choice and should be accompanied by overhead projections or other complementing AV materials. Please note that submissions to the Area Chair should be in English.
Abstracts/Proposals of about 250 words for either single presentations or panel presentations are due by 10th December 2001, at the address(es) below. Proposals submitted after this date will be considered as time/space allows. Along with your proposals, please send any AV requests you may have (we can provide a screen, slide projector, overhead, tv/vcr combo -- any special AV equipment needed beyond that should be provided by presenter [or presenter should modify presentation to accommodate what equipment we can provide]). Please keep in mind that we will make every effort possible to provide equipment you request, barring any unforeseen circumstances.
Preferred submission of Abstracts/Proposals is via electronic mail at the address below. Regular postal mail is, of course, also accepted. (Please send attachment in: Word (.doc),Text (.txt), or Rich Text Format (.rtf) ONLY, for compatibility reasons-- otherwise, please send proposal in the body of your e-mail – preferred to avoid problems).
Address: Diana Dominguez, Area Chair, Children's Literature
SW/TX PCA/ACA Texas Tech University English Department P.O. Box 43091 Lubbock,
TX 79409 806.742.2501 and fax 0989 e-mail: gypsyscholar@hotmail.com or: gypsy-scholar@worldnet.att.net.
You can also check out the SW/Texas PCA/ACA website for more information as it becomes available at: www.swtexaspca.org.
15. CALL FOR PAPERS: The Costume Society Symposium: Do It! Leap And Stretch! Clothes For Physical Activity and Sport.
Manchester 5th to 7th July 2002
Manchester is hosting the Commonwealth Games in the Summer of 2002. To complement this international festival of sporting excellence, the theme for the Symposium 2002 will be the interaction between dress and physical activity: exploring how clothes have helped (or hindered)movement and sport, how clothes have evolved for particular sports, and how conflicts between practicality and propriety have been fought, lost or won.
At the first Olympic Games in ancient Greece, the participants (exclusively male) probably wore little or no clothing; at most a loincloth. In more recent centuries, however, this minimalist clothing for sport was disapproved of by both Christianity and Islam, and sportsmen (and the occasional sportswoman) had to contend with restricting and inhibiting dress. The twentieth century saw dramatic changes in attitudes to sport and sport clothing, and in the second half of the century, developments in fabric technology, together with increased competition fuelled by large cash prizes on offer, turned sportswear into a mega industry.
Our society today has been described as sports-mad. Nearly everyone wears sports clothes for leisure, whether or not they have any intention of running, jumping, or playing football. Multi-millions world-wide watch, and get engrossed in, international sporting events. Manchester in July 2002 is an ideal time and place to study dress for sport in all its complexity.
The venue for the Symposium will be the Geoffrey Manton Building, Manchester Metropolitan University, where the very successful 1997 Conference Dress in History was held. In addition to the academic programme of key lectures and papers, there will be a film session, looking back at 100 years of the Olympic Games, a Sunday Marketplace in the magnificent glass-roofed Atrium, and demonstrations of judo and fencing. Outside the University, there will be a visit to the National Museum of Football in Preston, a reception in the NEW City Art Gallery, which has been greatly extended and completely refurbished and will re-open in May 2002, and a Conference Dinner sampling Manchester's renowned Chinese cuisine.
KEY SPEAKERS Dr Patricia Campbell, Warner Associate Professor, Department of Consumer Studies, University of Massachusetts, USA; Dr Susan Mossman, Curator of Materials Science, Science Museum, London; Dr John Harvey Department of English, Emmanuel College, Cambridge.
Proposals for papers are invited from anyone researching or participating in any of the subject areas listed below, and with an interest in contemporary and/or historical dress. This includes lecturers and students in relevant academic fields, museum curators, conservators, designers, costumiers in the performing arts especially dance, sports people, sports wear manufacturers and scientists researching innovatory textiles.
Subject Areas include The Development of Specialized Dress for Individual Sports, and for Dance The Influence of Sportswear on Mainstream Fashion. From the eighteenth century man's shooting frock to the tracksuit, garments that have originally been developed for sport have constantly been adopted and adapted for fashionable dress. Sport and the New Woman Sport played a large part in the "emancipation" of women in the second half of the nineteenth century. Cycling allowed them new freedom and independence, gymnastics, drill and team games at school and college improved their health and strength; tennis and golf gave them new interests and wider social opportunities, mountaineering enlarged their horizons both literally and metaphorically. Were sports clothes also the precursor of more practical, functional everyday dress?
Those wishing to present papers should submit an abstract (approx 200 words) together with a brief career resumé to the organisers by 10 November 2001. We regret that it is not possible to pay fees to, or the expenses of contributors of papers to the Symposium. The Committee will consider all proposals, and those whose papers have been accepted for presentation will be notified by 1 February 2002. Please forward proposals to the following address:
Anthea M Jarvis, 66 Knowsley Road, Cressington Park, Liverpool, L19 OPG.
http://www.costumesociety.otg.uk/costsymp.htm
[WE REGRET THAT THIS INFORMATION CAME TOO LATE FOR EARLIER ISSUES OF THE OSCHOLARS AND INCLUDE IT OUT OF INTEREST]
16. CALL FOR PAPERS: The Uses and Ramifications of Secrecy
Location: Virginia, United States Deadline: 20th December.
This interdisciplinary conference will focus on uses and ramifications of secrecy and its place in the fashioning of private and public histories.
Topics will include but not be limited to magic and mysticism, secret societies, mystery cults, concealment and colonialism, and the anxiety surrounding the potential secrets of others. This conference is a joint endeavor among the disciplines of Classical Studies, History, and Religion. Invited speakers include Christopher Faraone, Margaret Jacob, and Moshe Idel. One-page abstracts are welcome on these and related topics. Please send three copies of the abstract and a one page CV by 20th December to Professor Kate Chavigny, History Department, Sweet Briar College, Sweet Briar, Virginia, 24595. E-mail submissions are welcome. Send to kchavigny@sbc.edu. Notification of acceptance by 5th January.
17. CALL FOR PAPERS: Literature and Music in the Study of Culture
The Musics and Cultures Research Group of the Open University is hosting a Day Conference on the above theme to be held at Worcester College, Oxford, England on Saturday 11th May 2002.
Proposals are invited for papers or round-table discussions on any aspect of this theme. The day follows similar Study Days in Reading in May 2000 and London in May 2001, and aims to have a broad spectrum of topics. Whilst we welcome studies relating to literature and music of any era, we intend to bias the day towards late nineteenth-century and twentieth-century topics. Issues within the study of popular culture, ethnography, or social sciences as they relate to literature and music are particularly welcome, but our intention is to unite scholars in these disciplines with those with backgrounds in history and criticism in the humanities.
The organisers of the conference are Robert Samuels and Delia da Sousa Correa, and proposals (200 words) should be sent to either of them by 11th January 2002.
Further information is obtainable from the organisers or from the Research Group web site http://www.open.ac.uk/arts/music/muscult.htm.
Addresses for contact: Arts Faculty, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK r.samuels@open.ac.uk and d.dasousa@open.ac.uk.
18. CALL FOR PAPERS: Courtauld History of Dress Association Annual Conference
Fashion and the Applied Arts: Courtauld Institute of Art, Friday 26th July to Saturday 27th July 2002.
The conference will explore the relationship between Fashion and the Applied Arts, past and present. Papers should draw on the whole history of dress and a broad interpretation of the applied arts, which could include architecture, interior design, furniture & furnishings, ceramics & glass, jewellery and metalwork. We welcome papers which explore this theme in the context of both Western and non-Western cultures. Topics of interest include:
v The rôle of architecture in fashion retailing and promotion
v The 'lifestyling' of fashion and the fashionable lifestyle
v The role of fashion within applied art movements (e.g. Arts & Crafts, Bauhaus, Omega)
v Interpreting, curating and displaying fashion and the applied arts
v The rôle and use of ornament in fashion and the applied arts
v The influence of clothes, fashions and rituals of dressing onfurnitureand interior design
v The applied arts as sources for the history of fashionable dress
v Papers are invited from research students, academics, curators, practitioners, and members of industry and commerce. Papers should be of 30 minutes duration.
CHODA regrets that it is unable to pay for any expenses involved in the preparation and presentation of a paper, or for travel to this conference.
Please send abstracts by 14th December 2001 on one side of A4 together with a CV to the conference co-ordinator: Rebecca Milner 45 Parnell Road London E3 2RS e-mail: r.milner@vam.ac.uk
______________________________
« Der er kun én ting i verdender er værreend at
folk taler, om enog det er at folkikke taler om en »
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VI. NOTES AND QUERIES
1. Obituaries
The late Sheila Colman 1919-2001
We note with regret the death on 15th November of Sheila Colman, who was Lord Alfred Douglas's good angel for the last years of his life.
Donald Mead of The Oscar Wilde Society writes
Sheila Colman died at home, aged 82, on Wednesday 14th November 2001 after a short illness. The funeral took place at St Mary's Church, Sompting, close to the farm where she lived, on 27th November.
She was a close friend and supporter of Lord Alfred Douglas, providing him with his final home when he was penniless, and was with him when he died in 1945. As the literary executor of the Douglas estate she was an enthusiastic member of the Oscar Wilde Society, whose members she entertained on a number of visits to her farm.
She was a generous supporter of the Sussex farming community, Southdown Sheep breeders, and Oxford University.
She was loved and admired by all who knew her and will be greatly missed.
Tributes to her will appear in the next issue of The Wildean, the Journal of the Oscar Wilde Society.
Any queries in respect of the literary estate of Lord Alfred Douglas, which is still under copyright, should be referred to John Stratford, 9 Rosehip Way, Bishop's Cleeve, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, GL52 8WP, England.
Sheila Colman, literary executor of Lord Alfred Douglas,
born Ealing, London, 30th May 1919; died Sussex, 15th November 2001.
Full obituaries from the London newspapers may be found in The Times (23rd November), The Daily Telegraph (23rd November) and The Independent (27th November).
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,60-2001542662,00.html;
http://www.dailytelegraph.co.uk/01/11/23/db03.html;
http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=106933.
(Details of these URLs may change as the articles are archived.)
- The Independent obituary is written by Jonathan Fryer, whose most recent book is Robbie Ross, Oscar Wilde's True Love (London: Constable 2000)
- We understand from The Daily Telegraph obituary that Mrs Colman's Douglas papers have been left to Magdalen College, Oxford.
The late Dr John Russell Stephens 1946-2001.
We regret to record the death on 28th October of John Russell Stephens, author of The Censorship of English Drama 1824-1901 (Cambridge University Press 1980) and The Profession of Playwright: British Theatre1800-1900 (Cambridge University Press 1992) and numerous articles.
Andrew Varney, a colleague at the University of Wales, Swansea, has kindly allowed us to reprint this notice from the University Newsletter.
Russell Stephens, senior lecturer in English, died at the end of October at the tragically early age of 54. A modest man with a wide range of interests and an internationally recognised scholarly reputation, Russell was very much a product of Swansea. He read English at the University of Wales Swansea, graduating in 1968 and going on to complete his Ph.D. in 1972. During part of his time as a research student Russell acted as a tutor in a campus hall of residence. Following this he spent several years as a very successful lecturer in the English campus of the University of Ohio. He took up his appointment as a lecturer in Swansea in 1977.
Russell's chief academic specialism lay, like that of his distinguished mentor Professor Cecil Price, in the history of the theatre. He was a leading authority on theatre censorship in Britain and throughout the world, all his many publications being grounded in meticulous comprehensive research. At the time of his death he had just completed a biography of Emlyn Williams and was still adding to his many contributions to the New Dictionary of National Biography. Beside his academic interest in the theatre, Russell was a keen and accomplished amateur actor and is warmly remembered by his former colleagues in the Swansea Youth Theatre and the Little Theatre.
Dr John Russell Stephens, academic and theatre
historian, born 1946; died Swansea, 28th October 2001.
2. Sourcing a Wilde Quotation
Eva Thienpont (University of Ghent) writes 'I wondered if you could help me with the following question. I believe that I have read that Bosie and a co-editor once went to visit Oscar (before Oscar and Bosie became lovers) in order to ask his opinion on the choice of the colour for the cover of their magazine. In my memory Oscar suggested lizard green and declared that he really HATED orange -but he defended his point in such an irritating way that Bosie, on leaving the house, decided they would definitely have an orange cover, just to taunt Oscar. The trouble is that I can't remember where I read it and so cannot check up on dates or details. I have searched my biographies but strangely enough I can't find the text anymore. Was it really Bosie who was involved?'
3. Arthur
The Call for Papers for the Conference 'The Importance of being Arthur' prompts the question as to whether anybody has tried to follow the post April 1895 story of Arthur, the Wildes' manservant? Indeed, was Arthur his first or second name? Is there significance in this name having been transferred to Lord Goring, while Goring's manservant bears the aristocratic name Phipps? When was he engaged? Did he really commit suicide? Here is another tiny corner of Wilde studies that deserves some illumination.
4. German translations
Andrea Linnenbröker writes from Minden that there is no complete bibliography of the German translations 'so I would like to ask you, if there could be the possibility to get knowledge about the earliest editions of his writings in our country, Austria and Switzerland, with the help of THE OSCHOLARS.'
Ms Linnenbröker points out there are two sites devoted to these early German Wildëans, J.C.C.Bruns at http://www.uni-saarland.de/fak4/fr43/bruns1.htm and Felix Paul Greve at http://www.uni-saarland.de/fak4/fr43/greve1.htm.
Andrea Linnenbröker englischer-laden@t-online.de
[We have looked at this site, and Greve turns out to be almost as fascinating as Wilde himself]
Felix Paul Greve
5. Cardinal Newman
Roger Moss(Centre for Theatre Studies, University of Essex) would like to hear from anyone 'who has pursued Wilde's interests in/and planned meeting with Cardinal Newman'.
v Roger Moss is the author of 'The rhetoric that dare not speak its name' in Donat Gallagher (ed.): Pre/Text: A Journal of Rhetorical Theory vol. 13, nos. 3-4 Fall-Winter 1992. rogermoss@supanet.com.
6. Frank Pettingell (1891-1966)
Roy Waters writes 'I spotted the query [in THE OSCHOLARS I/6] about the play Oscar Wilde produced at The Boltons in 1948. It was by Leslie and Sewell Stokes. The Playbill section in the eleventh edition of Who's Who in the Theatre gives the first night as 27th August, 1948. In the biography section it has two and a half columns on Frank Pettingell, whom I remember from the first production of Arsenic and Old Lace, but mostly as a stalwart of the old BBC Drama Repertory Company. Bosie was played by Peter Reynolds, who appears neither in this nor in any subsequent editions, so I assume that he was hired for his pretty face. Leslie Stokes directed.'
7. Oscar Wylde
John Cooper writes 'The November newsletter suggests Oscar was not quite as well-known in 1881 as one is sometimes led to believe. Here is further evidence:
'The New York Times from 14th August, 1881 (page 10 column 1) carries a review of Poems. It is along article recognising the work as pretty and with Swinburne in it, and quoting Ave Imperatrix - however, it too employs the form Wylde. The New York Times had correspondence reports from London and the early mis-spelling may be passed on from the same source. Or is it a prescient hint of the Vyvyan to come?'
v We would like to learn of other occasions when Wilde was misnamed Wylde.
8. Wilde on Film
With the film of The Importance of being Earnest due for release next year, those interested in the many films that derive from Wilde might think about submitting to Scope, a fully refereed on-line journal of film studies (at http://nottingham.ac.uk/film) edited by staff and postgraduate students within the Institute of Film Studies at the University of Nottingham. Please keep THE OSCHOLARS informed !
9. Notes towards an Iconography of Wilde
Dublin Airport has a number of outlets of the chain booksellers Hughes & Hughes and many of these feature a large portrait of Wilde. In the main bookshop this portrait is used to disguise a door: functioning as a hall ward, perhaps?
10. Oscar in Popular Culture
The following appears on the website http://mkh.homepage.dk/vin.html of Hansen & Nissen's wine pages:
|
Our taste is the simplest of all. We are simpley satesfied with the best. !!!! Oscar Wilde 1856 - ? |
We are delighted with the implication that Oscar Wilde (no doubt in his Melmoth incarnation) may still be alive. We have also seen this quotation in a restaurant in Lisieux, attributed to Winston Churchill.
11. Wilde as Unpopular Culture
'And now I must deal briefly with a dead author whose artistic resurrection is being attempted of late. Whatever the result, the attempt will be not without its uses. It proves, in my opinion, that if Oscar Wilde had not disappeared ignominiously from the face of the earth, he might have given to the English theatre new elegances of thought and form, fresh refinements of psychological observation, more epigrams, more witticisms - but not the drama or the comedy which would have recreated the English stage. Not because Wilde lacked the dramatic instinct, but because this instinct, instead of developing freely and rising to further and loftier creative heights, had been gradually distorted by the hypercritical attitude and the æsthetic vanity of this artist.'
- 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 pp.84-5.
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VII. 'MAD, SCARLET MUSIC'
This section will log settings of Wilde (we know of an astonishing number) and encourage research into the phenomenon. This should lead to a discography as well. We will be happy toprint readers' comments on Wilde and music in this section.
As we have come to this through correspondence with Bill Hammel, it is fair to begin there. Mr Hammel has discovered settings of Wilde by the contemporary composer Raoul Pleskow: Theocritus – A Villanelle, Holy Week at Genoa and Rome Unvisited – the first apparently set in toto, but only a selection of contiguous lines from the other two. Readers are referred to http://graham.main.nc.us/~bhammel/MUSIC/pleskow.html and further links from there.
As The Selfish Giant is now bidding to become a seasonal production, we add this month from our own database Sergei Nikiforovich Vassilenko (1872-1956): The Selfish Giant [as 'The Garden of Death' (Sad Smerti), op.13], composed in Russia in 1907/8 and performed in Moscow on 4th May 1908; and the version by Eric Coates, published in London by Boosey & Hawkes in 1925, who also published in 1934 a setting arranged for Military Bands by W.J. Duthoit. This was recorded by the Bratislava Symphony Orchestra, conductor Adrian Leaper, in 1994 (Marco Polo 8223445). More of this next month.
Requiescat - Wilde's touching poem in memory of his dead sister - was set to music in 1911 by George Butterworth (1885-1916). There is an excellent Butterworth site at http://www.calculator.net/Butterworth/Butterworth.html but we are not told of recordings of Requiescat.
For the Aldebaran production of Salome, reviewed above, Cloud Downey, Andrew Macdonald and Russel Penn set Wilde's La Bella Donna Della Mia Mente shorn of its first two stanza as and renamed Serenadefor Salome.
- See also CALL FOR PAPERS: LITERATURE AND MUSIC
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VIII. PRODUCTIONS DURING DECEMBER 2001
Australia
An Ideal Husband, directed by Paula Bate, is being staged by the Genesian Theatre Company in Sydney. It opened on 3rd November and runs to 15th December.
Austria
Salome is being staged at the Staatsoper, Vienna on the 4th and 7th December.
England
The Importance of being Earnest will be staged at the Greenwich Playhouse, London 11th December- 13th January 2002 (no performance: 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th, 31st December; 1st & 2nd January). The production is directed by Bruce Jamieson and produced by Alice de Sousa for the Galleon Theatre Company www.galleontheatre.co.uk.
The Greenwich Playhouse is on the station forecourt at Greenwich (trains from Charing Cross viâ London Bridge).
'Galleon's staging of The Importance of Being Earnest is set in the early 1930s, at Christmas, and to the lively sounds of the period. It provides for a devastatingly humorous production which exudes charm, elegance and wit, and results in a highly entertaining and blazingly theatrical festive treat.' (From the Press Release)
|
Lady Bracknell |
Janet Hargreaves |
|
Canon Chasuble |
Oliver Bradshaw |
|
Miss Prism |
Rosemary Macvie |
|
Algernon Moncrieff |
Aden Cardy-Brown |
|
Jack Worthing |
Jonathan Hansler |
|
Gwendolen Fairfax |
Victoria Lawrence |
|
Cecily Cardew |
Alex Roberts |
The Selfish Giant, directed by Annie Wood, is being staged at the Haymarket Theatre, Leicester 5th December- 12th January 2002. Designed by Imogen Cloët , this production was created by the Northern Stage Ensemble at the Gulbenkian Studio Theatre in December 2000.
Wilde about Christmas is the title of the Christmas show at South Hill Park Arts Centre, Wilde Theatre, Bracknell, Berkshire 'An evening of good cheer featuring old favourites and new friends from The Canterville Ghost to The Night Before Christmas'.
France
The Importance of being Earnest directed by Andrew Wilson will be at the Théâtre de Ménilmontant in Paris, 17th to 21st December (in English).
Germany
Salome will be performed in Leipzig on the 9th, 14th, and 26th December.
|
Herod |
Seppo Ruohonen |
|
Herodias |
Nadine Denize |
|
Salome |
Janice Baird |
|
Jochanaan |
David Pittman-Jennings |
|
Narraboth |
Hendrik Vonk |
|
Conductor |
Asher Fisch |
|
Producer |
Nikolaus Lehnhoff |
|
Sets |
Hans-Martin Scholder |
|
Costumes |
Jorge Jara |
|
Lighting |
Jean Kalman |
Janice Baird
Ireland
Storytellers Theatre Company, Dublin, and Cork Opera House continues the tour of The Star Child and Other Stories, three of Oscar Wilde's tales, adapted for the stage by Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy. The Star Child, The Happy Prince and The Selfish Giant are woven together in this production, which was first previewed at the Trinity College, Dublin, Oscar Wilde Symposium in 2000.
The Director is Bairbre Ní Chaoimh with settings from Chisato Yoshimi , music by Trevor Knight , costumes by Kei Ito and lighting by Paul O'Neill . The seven-strong cast are Sarah Jane Drummey, Fergal McElherron, Brendan McDonald, Arthur Riordan, Nicole Rourke, Jasmine Russell and GerardWalsh. The production is augmented by some spirited and delightful puppets.
The tour schedule for this month is:
v Tuesday 4th and Wednesday 5th December, Belltable Arts Centre, Limerick.
v Wednesday 12th December to Saturday 5th January 2002 Draíocht Theatre, Blanchardstown, Co Dublin.
We are grateful to Joan Mallon of Storytellers Theatre Company for this information.
From The Starchild and Other Stories
Latvia
Salome will be performed on 2nd December by the Latvian National Opera in Riga.
|
Salome |
Ieva Kepe |
|
Jokanaan |
Jevgenij Nikitin (Mariinski Theatre) |
|
Herod |
Karlis Zarins |
|
Herodias |
Karmena Radovska |
|
Narraboth |
Nauris Puntulis |
|
Page |
Ilona Rasa |
|
Conductor |
Gintaras Rinkevicius |
|
Producer |
Gintaras Varnas |
|
Sets |
Andris Freibergs |
|
Costumes |
Jozus Statkevicius |
Information kindly supplied by Dace Bula of the Latvian National Opera
USA
An Ideal Husband, directed by Sanford Robbins, is being staged at the University of Delaware on the 6th, 7th, 9th and 15th December, running in repertory with Shaw's Doctor's Dilemma.
From An Ideal Husband
The Importance of Being Earnest is being staged by CATCO, the Contemporary American Theatre Company, at Studio One Theatre, Columbus, Ohio 27th November to 23rd December. This production is memorable for cross gendered casting of two characters. It is directed by Geoffrey Nelson.
|
Algernon Moncrieff |
Michael Stewart Allen |
|
Cecily Cardew |
Amy Hutchins |
|
John Worthing |
Jonathan Putnam |
|
Rev. Canon Chasuble |
Linda Dorff |
|
Gwendolen Fairfax |
Marianne Timmons |
|
Lady Bracknell |
Jon Farris |
|
Miss Prism |
Christina Kirk |
A Wilde Holiday: Fairy Tales by Oscar Wilde, adapted and directed by Sabin Epstein, is being staged at A Noise Within, 234 South Brand Boulevard, Glendale, California, 14th to 16th December. This is a collaboration between Sabin R. Epstein , who adapted the texts, and Laura Karpman, a four time Emmy award winning composer.
Mr Epstein writes 'We are working with The Star Child, The Happy Prince and The Selfish Giant as the anchors of the piece and have added poems by Christina Rossetti and Lewis Carroll, primarily, which we've set to music to frame the entire piece. It will be staged with four actor/singers on a primarily empty stage, and will be done as a concert reading, i.e., with scripts in hand although portions of the text will be enacted while other sections, including narration, will be read. I think the piece will be a wonderful alternative for sophisticated theater audiences saturated with Charles Dickens and the millionth adaptation of A Christmas Carol-- at least that is our hope. The Wilde project promises to be a very very special experience in the theater - I don't say that lightly, having spent over 30 years working in the theater. I think this piece has the capacity to delight, enchant and deeply move audiences, and we wonder just what will happen when we perform commencing 14th December.'
The Selfish Giant is also being produced as a professional staged reading 7th and 8th December in Columbus, Missouri by TRYPS (Theatre Reaching Young People & Schools) directed by Jill Womack. This production, using children, is bravely encouraging them to master Irish accents.
- and for the record:
The Importance of being Earnest was played at Blundell's School in Devonshire, directed by Fiona Baddeley, during the third week of November.
Lady Bracknell's Confinement or, The Bunburyist by Paul Doust was staged by Splinters Productions, directed by Rose McBain, at the Byre Theatre in St Andrews, Scotland and at the Quay Theatre, Sudbury, England in October 2000. This play was premièred at the Andrew's Lane Theatre in Dublin 12th - 24th June 1995 and was also seen at the International Theatre, Porzellangasse 8, A-1090 Vienna 7th to 15th May 2000, where it was a collaborative event - a performance & photo-exhibition by Brian Hatfield and Armin Bardel. An edition of this play is published by Samuel French.
· 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.
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IX. WEB FOOT NOTES
A monthly look at websites (contributions welcome).
http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/totn/19990112.tot5n.02.ram is an audio site (originally broadcast in the United States on 1st December 1999) where Merlin Holland, Moises Kaufman and others discuss Wilde against the background of Mr Kaufman's play Gross Indecency.
http://www.988.com/Artists/Solomon_Simeon.htm gives further information about Simeon Solomon, to whom we referred in THE OSCHOLARS I/5 (http://www.fau.edu/solomon/ - the new Simeon Solomon Research Archive maintained by Roberto Ferrari of Florida Atlantic University's Wimberly Library).
http://www.sarah-bernhardt.com is a useful starting point for looking at Sarah Bernhardt, containing much factual material, not all to be found in any one biography. Unfortunately it is not kept up to date, so information relating to twelve months ago is still being given as current.
http://jollyroger.com/zz/ychildrend/OscarWildehall/shakespeare1.html will take you to the 'Oscar Wilde Forum Frigate', where you will be enjoined to 'Post yer opinion, a link to some of yer work, or yer thoughts regarding the best books and criticisms concerning Oscar Wilde. We'd also like to invite ye to sail on by the Oscar Wilde Live Chat, and feel free to use the message board below to schedule a chat session. And the brave of heart shall certainly wish to sign their souls aboard The Jolly Roger.'
This rather uneasy identification of Oscar Wilde with Long John Silver seems to be aimed at middle school level. It is one of a whole series of Children's Book discussion fora, and has been almost entirely devoted to correspondence about The Happy Prince.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vivian-work-of-wilde is another forum for desultory conversation. 'Welcome to the "Talk to Steve Vivian" discussion board for the Wilde-ness: The Life and Work of Oscar Wilde guide. In this forum, you can direct course-related questions or comments to Steve Vivian or share ideas with your classmates. Steve will drop in from time to time to respond to student questions.' Mr Vivian's qualifications are not listed.
Founded: Nov 10, 1999. Members: 11. Twenty-five messages (thirteen posted by Mr Vivian himself); fifteen of these were posted in November 1999, only six have appeared since.
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X. SOME SELL AND OTHERS BUY
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
· 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 playbillsto limited editions. We have set up this link which should take you straight to ebay's Wilde pages:
Books on offer in November included
A Long Time Ago, 'Favorite Stories retold by Mrs. Oscar Wilde & others'. Illustrated by Eddie J. Andrews and R.A. Bell. Published by E.P. Dutton in New York. Printed by E. Nister at Nuremberg. Hard cover. Slight foxing on the pages....pages are all there but the string that holds them is not that tight any more. The illustrations are just wonderful and the printing on them is superb. No tears...and other than the small foxing spots no stains. Only writing...Raye...His Birthday 1892. Measures 7 1/2" x 9".
The Young King & Other Stories edited by Allan Wingate in 1946, with 15 drawings by George Ehrlich. 60 pages, 20 x 29 cm. Very good binding with golden boy's head on the cover's 1st page. A pretty rare book, rarely offered because of the 'special' type of drawings, half naive, half erotic, most of them full page (André Gide loved these drawings in this edition, according to his grand-daughter). This example is in poor condition, with a torn paper jacket and spots of water at each page corner ! BUT it is a rare book, and a rare text by Oscar Wilde.’
Oscar Wilde by Andre Gide. In Memoriam 1949 First Edition. Philosophical Library, New York. "In Memoriam (Reminiscences) De Profundis" Translated from the French by Bernard Frechtman. 50 pages. 8vo. Near fine condition with Good jacket. Red cloth with gold lettering. Trifle of corner wear. DJ has some chipping on both top and bottom edges. Two small stains on back.
A Woman of No Importance. Biblioteca teatrale Straniera [Library of Theatre from Abroad] Translated into Italian as Una Donna Qualunque by C.Castelli and F.Bernardini- 95 pages.
Charmides This is the first edition and first printing of Oscar Wilde's Charmides And Other Poems. London: Methuen &Co., 1913.
"This Volume was first published in 1913" stated on copyright page. Wilde's Poems were first published in volume form in 1881; this is the first edition of this selection of poems under this title, and very collectible thus. Very Good condition/no dust jacket. Gray-blue cloth stamped in gilt on the spine. Gilt still bright and fresh. Previous owner's name and date(1913) in tiny letters on first free end page. Else a clean, bright, tight copy with no other previous owner's markings. Tips and ends straight and pointed, not scuffed. Light bit of foxing to outside edge, some dust soil to top edge. Pages clean, text immaculate.
These descriptions are those of the booksellers, and, while having no reason to doubt them, clearly THE OSCHOLARS cannot vouch for their accuracy.
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XI. A WILDE DECEMBER
Here are the birth and death dates of some of those whose
lives intersected that of Wilde (and some whose lives surprisingly did
not). One particularly notes the
anniversary of Lady Wilde 's birth on the 27th, and we also wish many
happy returns to Merlin Holland.
|
01 |
12 |
1836 |
Birth of Margaret de Windt, later Ranee of Sarawak |
|
02 |
12 |
1859 |
Birth of George Seurat |
|
02 |
12 |
1872 |
Birth of Henri Evenepoel |
|
03 |
12 |
1857 |
Birth of Joseph Conrad |
|
05 |
12 |
1830 |
Birth of Christina Rossetti |
|
06 |
12 |
1823 |
Birth of Friedrich Max Müller |
|
10 |
12 |
1822 |
Birth of César Franck |
|
10 |
12 |
1867 |
Birth of Ker-Xavier Roussel |
|
10 |
12 |
1870 |
Birth of Pierre Louÿs |
|
12 |
12 |
1821 |
Birth of Flaubert |
|
13 |
12 |
1860 |
Birth of Lucien Guitry |
|
14 |
12 |
1866 |
Birth of Roger Fry |
|
16 |
12 |
1847 |
Birth of Augusta Holmes |
|
17 |
12 |
1853 |
Birth of Herbert Beerbohm Tree |
|
18 |
12 |
1870 |
Birth of Hector Hugh Munro, ‘Saki’ |
|
21 |
12 |
1866 |
Birth of Maud Gonne |
|
24 |
12 |
1822 |
Birth of William Morris |
|
27 |
12 |
1821 |
Birth of Jane Elgee (Speranza, Lady Wilde) |
|
27 |
12 |
1847 |
Birth of Léon Vanier |
|
28 |
12 |
1864 |
Birth of Henri de Régnier |
|
28 |
12 |
1865 |
Birth of Félix Vallotton |
|
28 |
12 |
1866 |
Birth of Philip Wilson Steer |
|
30 |
12 |
1848 |
Birth of Raoul Ponchon |
|
30 |
12 |
1853 |
Birth of André Messager |
|
30 |
12 |
1865 |
Birth of Rudyard Kipling |
|
31 |
12 |
1838 |
Birth of Jules Dalou |
|
31 |
12 |
1842 |
Birth of Giovanni Boldini |
Garb of woe should be worn on the following days:
|
02 |
12 |
1931 |
Death of Vincent d’Indy |
|
03 |
12 |
1894 |
Death of Robert Louis Stevenson |
|
03 |
12 |
1919 |
Death of Auguste Renoir |
|
03 |
12 |
1937 |
Death of Raoul Ponchon |
|
05 |
12 |
1887 |
Death of Lord Lyons |
|
05 |
12 |
1921 |
Death of Alexander Texeira de Mattos |
|
06 |
12 |
1891 |
Death of Wolcott Balestier |
|
07 |
12 |
1894 |
Death of Ferdinand de Lesseps |
|
07 |
12 |
1911 |
Death of Sir George Lewis |
|
07 |
12 |
1938 |
Death of Reggie Turner |
|
07 |
12 |
1947 |
Death of Tristan Bernard |
|
09 |
12 |
1906 |
Death of Ferdinand Brunetière |
|
10 |
12 |
1884 |
Death of Jules Bastien-Lepage |
|
10 |
12 |
1891 |
Death of Arthur Rimbaud |
|
11 |
12 |
1921 |
Death of Robert de Montesquiou |
|
12 |
12 |
1889 |
Death of Robert Browning |
|
25 |
12 |
1889 |
Death of Maurice McNab |
|
13 |
12 |
1891 |
Death of William Gorman Wills |
|
14 |
12 |
1923 |
Death of Theodore Steinlen |
|
16 |
12 |
1897 |
Death of William Terriss |
|
16 |
12 |
1921 |
Death of Camille Saint-Saëns |
|
16 |
12 |
1945 |
Death of Maurice Baring |
|
18 |
12 |
1907 |
Death of Leonard Smithers |
|
20 |
12 |
1905 |
Death of Henry Harland |
|
21 |
12 |
1894 |
Death of Christina Rossetti |
|
29 |
12 |
1925 |
Death of Félix Vallotton |
|
31 |
12 |
1919 |
Death of Marie van Zandt |
Wilde's own calendar for the month (America excepted, being accessible elsewhere) is as follows. Additions and corrections as always welcome.
|
|
12 |
1881 |
Wilde dines at 'one of the taverns of Bohemia' with Whistler and Rennell Rodd 'just before' leaving for America. |
|
|
12 |
1887 |
Gissing attends a lecture on art by Wilde. |
|
|
12 |
1889 |
Wilde attends the thought reading session of Dr Onofroff. |
|
|
12 |
1889 |
Conversation between Yeats and Wilde. |
|
|
12 |
1893 |
Wilde and Queensberry meet at the Café Royal. |
|
|
12 |
1894 |
Publication of Wilde's 'Phrases & Philosophies for the Use of the Young' in 'The Chameleon'. |
|
|
12 |
1897 |
Wilde visits Sicily with Lord Alfred Douglas. |
|
|
12 |
1897 |
Wilde meets J. Joseph Renaud at lunch. |
|
|
12 |
1898 |
Laurence Housman sends Wilde 'All-Fellows'. |
|
|
12 |
1898 |
A.E. Housman sends Wilde 'A Shropshire Lad'. |
|
02 |
|
1891 |
Fifth meeting of Wilde and Gide. Dinner at Stuart Merrill's. |
|
03 |
|
1900 |
Wilde's funeral at Bagneux. |
|
03 |
12 |
1875 |
Bodley calls on Wilde. |
|
03 |
12 |
1891 |
Sixth meeting of Wilde and Gide. Dinner at Aristide Bruant's with Marcel Schwob. |
|
04 |
12 |
1882 |
First mention of Wilde in Sweden, in 'The Göteborg Newspaper'. |
|
06 |
12 |
1891 |
Seventh meeting of Wilde and Gide, chez Princess Ouroussof. |
|
07 |
12 |
1891 |
Eighth meeting of Wilde and Gide. Dinner at Marcel Schwob's. |
|
08 |
12 |
1888 |
Publication of Wilde's 'English Poetesses' in 'Queen'. |
|
08 |
12 |
1891 |
Ninth meeting of Wilde and Gide. Dinner at Aristide Bruant's. |
|
08 |
12 |
1900 |
Short piece on Wilde by Max Beerbohm in 'The Saturday Review'. |
|
10 |
12 |
1883 |
Wildelectures at the Claughton Music Hall, Birkenhead; Robert Le Gallienne in the audience. |
|
11 |
12 |
1888 |
Publication of Wilde's 'Sir Edwin Arnold's Last Volume' in 'The Pall Mall Gazette'. |
|
11 |
12 |
1891 |
Tenth meeting of Wilde and Gide. |
|
12 |
12 |
1864 |
Travers v. Wilde opens [to 17th December]. |
|
12 |
12 |
1891 |
Eleventh meeting of Wilde and Gide. |
|
13 |
12 |
1891 |
Twelfth meeting of Wilde and Gide chez Princess Ouroussof, with Henri de Régnier. |
|
13 |
12 |
1893 |
Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas dine with George Ives at the Albemarle Club. |
|
14 |
12 |
1876 |
Wilde at the Albert Hall for a performance of Haydn's 'Creation'. |
|
15 |
12 |
1876 |
Wilde& David Hunter Blair see Ellen Terry in 'New Men and Old Acres' at the Court Theatre. |
|
15 |
12 |
1891 |
Thirteenth meeting of Wilde and Gide plus Marcel Schwob. |
|
15 |
12 |
1898 |
Wilde leaves for La Napoule, near Cannes. |
|
16 |
12 |
1876 |
Wilde goes to see Henry Irving in 'Macbeth' with Arthur Dampier May. |
|
16 |
12 |
1885 |
Publication of Wilde's 'Aristotle at Afternoon Tea' in The Pall Mall Gazette. |
|
17 |
12 |
1876 |
Wilde leaves for Ireland. |
|
17 |
12 |
1881 |
Wilde's 'Vera' due, but fails, to open at the Adelphi Theatre with Mrs Bernard Beere in the title rôle. |
|
17 |
12 |
1889 |
Wilde attends inaugural dinner for 'The Speaker', a new weekly. |
|
17 |
12 |
1891 |
Wilde writes to Margot Asquith saying he had dedicated 'The Star Child' to her. |
|
17 |
12 |
1891 |
Article on Wilde by Sherard (with contributions by Wilde!) appears in 'Le Gaulois'. |
|
19 |
12 |
1889 |
First night of Benson's 'Midsummer Night's Dream', Wilde 'a frequent visitor'. |
|
23 |
12 |
1883 |
Whistler gives a breakfast party for Wilde and Constance. [Joyce Bentley: The Importance of being Constance. London: Robert Hale 1983 p.47] |
|
23 |
12 |
1893 |
Wilde dines with George Ives at the New Travellers Club. |
|
24 |
12 |
1881 |
Wilde embarks for America on the Guion Line's Arizona. |
|
25 |
12 |
1888 |
Yeats keeps Christmas with the Wildes. |
|
25 |
12 |
1894 |
Wilde attends rehearsal of 'An Ideal Husband'. |
|
29 |
12 |
1877 |
Publication of Wilde's article on Henry O'Neill anonymously in Saunders' Newsletter, Dublin (but 29.12.1878 is also given). |
|
29 |
12 |
1878 |
Publication of Wilde's article on Henry O'Neill in Saunder's Newsletter, Dublin (but see 29.12.1877 as alternative). |
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XII. 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.
The Oscar Wilde Society is a literary society devoted to the congenial appreciation of Oscar Wilde. It is a non-profitmaking organisation which aims to promote knowledge, appreciation and study of Wilde's life, personality and works. It organises lectures, readings and discussions, visits to places in Great Britain and overseas associated with Wilde, an annual lunch in Oxford, and an annual Birthday Dinner at the Cadogan Hotel, London. The most recent visits were to Dublin (September 2001) and to Paris (November 2000).
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 information on forthcoming events, performances and publications, and reports on Society activities. 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 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.
Details of membership of the Society may be obtained from Vanessa Harris, the Hon. Secretary (see below).
Previous issues of The Wildean are still available at cover price - details from Donald Mead (see below).
THE OSCHOLARS publishes the Table of Contents for each new issue of The Wildëan. The current issue is No.19 (July 2001) of which details were given in THE OSCHOLARS I/4. When there is no new issue, we will reprint the Tables of Contents from earlier issues, with a note from the editor about the principal articles, and will continue to do this until the whole set has been detailed. Here is the information from the Editor of The Wildean about issue No.13.
The Wildean No. 13 was published in July 1998 and includes accounts of the visit to Italy arranged by the Oscar Wilde Society to commemorate the centenary of Constance Wilde's death on 7th April 1898. Members of the Society, who were based at the Hotel Nervi where Constance had stayed, visited Genoa, Sori and the Villa Elvira at Bogliasco, in which the Ranee of Sarawak had found Constance rooms. On 7th April they laid roses on her grave at Staglieno Cemetery, and in the evening her biographer, Anne Clark Amor, gave a talk at the Hotel Nervi on Constance and Genoa, evoking her indomitable spirit at a time when she was clearly in terrible pain. This narrative is written by Michael Seeney, who also describes the family visit by Merlin Holland and his family, and Merlin's moving speech, in Italian, in the Cemetery Chapel. A parallel account of the visit from an Italian perspective is given by Cristina Cinquini who describes local difficulties with the communal authorities, and the preoccupation of the Italian press with Wildean scandal. Rather to her surprise, the press reports of the centenary gave sympathetic and accurate accounts of the lives of Oscar and Constance, and she concludes that Italian journalists are, after all, redeemable.
Matthew Sturgis's article 'Aubrey Beardsley and Oscar Wilde' is published in the same issue. Having briefly referred to 'both' the Oscar Wildes that Beardsley knew (the other was the Revd Oscar Wade Wilde), he gives an account, deeply sympathetic to both men, of the relationship between 'this diverse yet twinned pair': their friendship, the artistic and temperamental differences over the 'Salomé' project, and the lasting hurt of Beardsley's side street snub of Oscar in exile in Dieppe.
Peter Vernier, who has written detailed studies of Wilde's time in Oxford, gives a closely researched exegesis of his replies to the 'Mental Photograph' questionnaire. Oscar's answers are clearly sincere, and carefully considered, and his responses to such 'confessional' questions as those about character traits illustrate both his egotism and his self-awareness. It is revealing that in answering 'What trait of character do you most admire in man?' he should give not a 'moral' but a social virtue: 'the power of attracting friends.'
The Wildean has published a series of articles on the neglected subject of Oscar Wilde's lecture tours in Britain. In this issue Geoff Dibb gives a lively account of Oscar's lectures in York in January and October 1884, illustrated with quotations from the reports in local newspapers.
ARTICLES |
|
|
The Centenary of the death of Constance Wilde: the Oscar Wilde Society visit to Italy. |
Michael Seeney, Cristina Cinquini |
|
The Oscar Wilde Awards at Reading Prison: A Question of Identity. |
Donald Mead |
|
Aubrey Beardsley and Oscar Wilde. |
Matthew Sturgis |
|
A 'Mental Photograph' of Oscar Wilde. |
Peter Vernier |
|
Oscar Wilde in York. |
Geoff Dibb |
REVIEWS |
|
|
The Great Celtic School: The Eclectic Mix of 'Wilde the Irishman'. |
Anya Clayworth |
CORRESPONDENCE |
|
|
The Sculpture of Wilde in Merrion Square |
Cornelia Streibel |
|
The Oscar Wilde Society may be contacted by writing to the Hon. Secretary, Vanessa Harris 100 Peacock Street. Gravesend, Kent DA12 1EQ, England. e-mail: vanessa@salome.co.uk The Wildean may be contacted by writing to its Editor, Donald Mead 63 Lambton Road, London SW20 0LW, England. e-mail donmead@wildean.demon.co.uk |
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