An Electronic Journal for the Exchange of Information
on Current Research, Publications and Productions
concerning
Oscar Wilde and His Circles
Vol. I No. 6
November 2001
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The fifth issue of THE OSCHOLARS saw its consolidation as a web-based journal, although anyone who so wishes can still receive it as an e-attachment. Notification of this, the sixth, issue will be transmitted to 364 readers in twenty-nine countries, the majority in one or other of over a hundred and sixty universities or university colleges from Maine to Mainz; many others in professional theatre companies from Dublin to Hawai'i. It is also subscribed to by the City Library, Ystad, Sweden; the National Library of Ireland; the Library of Trinity College, Dublin; and the Library of the Instituto de Artes del Espectáculo, University of Buenos Aires.
As always, suggestions for improvements, additions and above all corrections, are very welcome. We believe we have now reached the stage when we can begin a review section: critical mass, indeed.
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 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 again been invaluable; but the errors remain the Editor's. Betsy Norris designed our masthead.
Editor: D.C. Rose
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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
An article by John-Charles Duffy (Treasurer, Association for Mormon Letters) called 'Gay-Related Themes in the Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde' is published in the current issue of Victorian Literature and Culture (volume 29, number 2) .
Jeff Fendall writes that he is giving an illustrated talk on 'Oscar Wilde's Favourite Painters', 6th November, Broadstairs, Kent. This covers more than fifty painters whose life and work touches on or was touched by Wilde, ranging from Mantegna to Monet; and was originally delivered in October 2000 as part of the celebration of Oscar Wilde at Broadstairs, Kent, England, where Wilde stayed with three companions in September 1888- a fact not referred to in any known biography.
v Jeff Fendall's MA (Dist.) dissertation 'Oscar Wilde and Symbolist Representations of The Sphinx' is held at the Templeman Library, University of Kent at Canterbury. He has given a number of talks on 'Wilde's The Sphinx', and on 'Wilde, Whistler & Mallarmé', and by invitation has taken classes on Wilde in local secondary schools. He has also published occasional articles on the same subjects in The Wildean.
Jonathan Fryer writes 'Carroll & Graf in New York is scheduled to bring out a paperback edition of Robbie Ross in January'
Jonathan Fryer's Andre & Oscar: Gide, Wilde and Gay Art of Living was published by Constable in 1997; Robbie Ross, Oscar Wilde's True Love was published by Constable in 2000.
An article by Anna Grusková (Slovak Theatre Institute, Bratislava) brings together Dorian Gray and Arthur Schnitzler's Anatol in a look at the CentralEuropean dandy. Titled 'Lehkomyslny melancholik. Príspevek k typologiilitární postavy stredoevropksého dandyho', it appeared in Eva Maliti (ed.): Symbolizmus v kontextocha súvislostiach . Bratislava: Ústav svetovej literatúrySlovenskj akadémie vied, 1999 pp.282-92. We apologise for the absence of diacriticals in the above transcription. Dr Grusková has kindly supplied us with a German version of the text.
Mary King (Goldsmiths College, University of London) is giving a paper 'Disturbing Events: Re-assessingJ.M. Synge', at the Irish Club, 32 Eaton Square, London SW1 on Monday 19thNovember. Further information from J.C.M.Nolan of the British Association for Irish Studies jcmnolan@aol.com
A note on Wilde and Synge is below in Notes & Queries
The Blackwell Companion to Modern Irish Culture , edited by W.J. Mc Cormack (Oxford:Blackwell 1999) has been republished (October 2001) in an expanded softbackedition with additional material by Patrick Gillan. The article on the Wilde Family is by Siobhan Kilfeather (University of Sussex), covering Jane, Sir William and Oscar (but not Constance, Willie, Dorothy or Vyvyan). ISBNs: 0-633-16525-8 (hardback); 0-631-22817-9.
The latest work on Wilde by Walter W. Nelson is called The Creative 1890s: Essays on W.E. Henley, Arthur Symons, Oscar Wilde, and William Butler Yeats and will be reviewed in a future issue of THE OSCHOLARS.
Eva Thienpont (Rijksuniversiteit Gent) gave a lecture to a meeting of the Zuid-Nederlandse Maatschappij at the Ghent Academy on 27th October which she describes as 'a kind of abbreviated version of my licentiate dissertation'. The title of the lecture was 'Cherchez l'homme. Het beeld van de man in de toneelstukken van Oscar Wilde'.
2. Work in Progress
Dominic Kelliher (GoldsmithsCollege, University of London) writes 'My M.Phil/Ph.D will examine Catholicism as both an æsthetic and as article of faith within the life and works of the Decadent poet Lionel Johnson, who like his contemporaries Wilde and Dowson, arrived at the vestry of the Catholic Church viâ the English public school system and Oxford. What interests me most at this juncture is the manner in which Johnson was so completely able to assuage his dogmatic faith with such a debauched and chaotic existence.'
3. Oscar Wilde's Birthday
This was announced in the Ephéméride Anarchiste , an interesting political home for Wilde, and one that may surprise those who salute the day in rather more bourgeois style! This is published at http://perso.club-internet.fr/ytak/index.html#accueil
Claudia Letat (Oscar Wilde - Ode an Ein Genie) created her own birthday card, showing an older, more thoughtful Wilde, and with Ms Letat's kind permission, we reproduce it here.
4. Wilde on the Curriculum
Marie Mulvey-Roberts (University of the West of England) writes 'I am teaching Wilde for the first time - Ballad of Reading Gaol and the fairy tales.'
5. Picked from the Platter.
Michael Patrick Gillespie (Marquette University) is the incoming President of the American Conference for Irish Studies (Fall 2001). He is the author of
v The Picture of Dorian Gray: A Reader’s Companion. New York: Twayne Masterwork Studies no. 145
v Oscar Wilde: Life, Work & Criticism. Frederictown, NY: York 1990
v 'Picturing Dorian Gray: Resistant Readings in Wilde's Novel.' Greensboro, N. Carolina: English Literature in Transition 1880-1920 35/1 1992
v 'From Beau Brummell to Lady Bracknell: Reviewing the Dandy in The Importance of Being Earnest.' Greenville, N. Carolina: Victorians Institute Journal 21 1993
v 'Ethics & Æsthetics in The Picture of Dorian Gray' in George Sandulescu (ed): Rediscovering Oscar Wilde. Princess Grace Irish Library vol 8. Gerrards Cross: Colin Smythe 1994
v '"What’s In a Name?" Representing The Picture of Dorian Gray.' Cranbury, NJ: Bucknell Review 38/1 1994
v Oscar Wilde & the Poetics of Ambiguity. Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida 1996
News of THE OSCHOLARS is being carried by the Newsletter of ACIS, which may be found at http://www.acisweb.com/newsf01.html
Mitsuharu Matsuoka (Nagoya University) writes 'Thank you very much for your precious info. have just added a link to your e-journal at: http://www.lang.nagoya-u.ac.jp/~matsuoka/19th-authors.html. Do keep up the goodwork.'
News of THE OSCHOLARS has been carried by BookView Ireland, an on-line monthly review of books edited by Pauline Ferrie in the September 2001 edition. This is available on the web at http://www.bookviewireland.ie and by e-mail from ferrie@EMIGRANT.IE
News of THE OSCHOLARS has been carried by the British Association for Victorian Studies Newsletter Volume I Number 4 October 2001, edited by Emma Mason (Corpus Christi College, Oxford)at www.qub.ac.uk/en/socs/bavs/bavs/htm
We are very grateful for these endorsements, and recommend the sites to our readers.
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III. THE CRITIC AS CRITIC
We hope to carry at least one review in each issue henceforth.
The Importance of Being Earnest, directed by Susan Ferley. Globe Theatre, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. 26th September to 10th October 2001.
The tiny perfect spaces of Regina, Canada's Globe Theatre opened to Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest on October 27th, and director Susan Ferley, formerly artistic director of the Globe, has made superb use of this little theatre-in-the-round, opening two of three acts with tableaux which underscore the fashionable artificiality of the characters. Sculptor Peter Field's stark sets - the rapturous marriage, it seems, of art deco and 1990s patio furniture - are the grace note here. Similarly apt are designer Russ Danielson's Edwardian costumes, which fix the Bunburying bachelors and their love interests as rather more innocent Bright Young Things, even as Christine MacInnis's Lady Bracknell is neatly pinned to the pre-Wildean nineteenth century.
Despite MacInnis's able reading of Lady Bracknell- think Barbara Leigh-Hunt's Lady Catherine de Bourgh in the BBC Pride and Prejudice - the Globe production is pre-eminently a man's play. If Lucas Myers sparkles as Algernon Moncrieff; Philip Warren Sarsons scintillates as Jack, his mastery of body comedy piquant. Their opposite numbers, by contrast, fall well short of the mark these two twenty-something actors set: Diana Donnelly's Gwen Fairfax is just a thought too slow for Wilde's ripostes, and Erin Moon's Cecily Cardew, interpreted by Ferley as the ingenue role, is rather heavy-handedly - and rather tediously - over ingenuous. It is a mark, though, of how much of a man's play Earnest can be that Donnelly and Moon's performances are largely irrelevant to the extraordinary success of this production, in the face of Sarsons' and Myers' brilliant performances.
The Globe is extending the run of this 'trivial comedy for serious people' for three additional performances. If we are all more serious than we were two months ago, perhaps we need such trivia all the more, and it is a measure of the enduring humour of Wilde's play that it doesn't feel like whistling in the dark.
Susan Johnston
v Susan Johnston is Assistant Professor in the Department of English, University of Regina.
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IV. NEWS FROM ELSEWHERE
1. Lecture
Terry Eagleton will be talking on 'Saint Oscar' at the University of North London Irish Studies Centre, 8th November at 7.30. The Centre is situated at 166-220 Holloway Road, London N7 8DB and it is necessary to reserve a place from Tony Murray t.murray@unl.ac.uk
Exhibition: Oscar Wilde: A Life in Six Acts
This important exhibition continues at the Morgan Library, New York. The exhibition was organized by the British Library, and the New York presentation is organized in association with the Morgan Library and sponsored by The Fay Elliott Foundation.
There is also an
excellent website at http://www.morganlibrary.org/exhibtions/current/html/main.html
Associated with the Exhibition are number of other events:
This month Merlin Holland with Brian Bedford presents 'Ever Yours, Oscar' on 9th November;
Marin Alsop (artistic director and conductor) with members of the Concordia Orchestra presents 'Portrait of Oscar Wilde' on 11th November.
Exhibition: Neo-Impressionism: The Circle of Paul Signac. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
To complement the major exhibition Signac 1863-1935: Master Neo-Impressionist, The Metropolitan Museum of Art will present paintings, drawings, and watercolors - selected entirely from the Museum's own collections - by Charles Angrand, Henri-Edmond Cross, Maximilien Luce, Hippolyte Petitjean and other artists. This provides much of the cultural context of Wilde 's times in Paris.
Exhibition: Whistler and Godwin. The Fine Art Society, 148 New Bond Street, London.
This opened on 15th October and will run until 22nd November. We reprint, by kind permission, the Press Release.
The Fine Art Society continues its 125th anniversary celebrations with an exhibition of work by two great figures of the 19th century who figured prominently in their past. The artist and architect were closely linked to one another and to The Fine Art Society; Godwin designed the façade of The Fine Art Society's building at 148 New Bond Street and The White House in Chelsea for Whistler.
Lifelong friends James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) and Edward William Godwin (1833-1886) shared a bohemian lifestyle, a close circle of friends, love of beauty, women and Japanese art. They both fell into debt and both ended up marrying the same woman, Beatrice Philip.
The exhibition will consist of Whistler portraits from the 1858-1863 period when he used his friends, relatives and mistresses for models. There will also be a group of works from the French Set and the Thames Set from the same period as well as Venice etchings and late works from Paris and Amsterdam.
After his bankruptcy, Whistler was commissioned by The Fine Art Society to go to Venice to make a series of etchings and these were exhibited at the gallery in 1880, while Godwin was designing the new façade. For the second show of his Venice prints in 1883, known as 'Arrangement in White and Yellow', the ground-breaking installation created a sensation in exhibition design, and was favourably reviewed by Godwin in The Builder.
As an architect, Godwin specialised in domestic commissions and relied heavily on designing furniture, wallpapers and textiles to keep him afloat and the bailiffs at bay. The exhibition will show an example of his celebrated and much-copied 'Anglo-Japanese' square table, and also his elegant 'Greek Chair'. Also included is an 'Eagle' chair and other designs for William Watt.
Godwin died suddenly in 1886 and it is interesting to speculate that he might have been commissioned to design the interior of The Fine Art Society behind his elegant and distinguished façade. His widow and Whistler were married in 1888.
With thanks to the Fine Arts Society and Susie Lawson of Cawdell Douglas.
- and for the record:
Exhibition: Speaking Nothing was the title of an exhibition held in the foyer of the Lyric Theatre, Belfast, 27th September to 27th October. The artists Gerry Devlin, Angela George, Rosie McGurran ,Amanda Montgomery and Sally Young were responding to the exchange
Jack: Gwendolen, it is a terrible thing for a man to find out suddenly that all his life he has been speaking nothing but the truth. Can you forgive me?
Gwendolen: I can. For I feel you are sure to change.
3. Broadcasts
BBC Radio 4 is broadcasting a new series called 'Dead Men Talking', in which two dead people are impersonated in a studio conversation with the English satirist John Bird. On Thursday 1st November it will be the turn of Oscar Wilde and Torquemada (the series is a light-hearted one!). This will be broadcast at 23.00, on 93.5 FM and 198 Longwave, and doubtless will also be on the BBC web. We shall try to discover if this series is being carried by BBC World Service.
4. Conference: Irish Theatre History
'Archives, Historiography, Politics' 23rd-25th November, National University of Ireland, Galway [this is the current designation of what many still call University College, Galway]
Special Guest Speaker: Professor Tracy C. Davis , Northwestern University, Illinois
This conference explores the impact of critical theory and of politics on the writing of Irish theatre history, to offer a forum for new critical approaches to the topic, and to reflect on the growing scholarly importance of archive holdings and of library theatre collections.
Further details from Dr Lionel Pilkington, Department of English, NUI, Galway, Ireland.
Telephone: 353-91-512124 / Fax: 353-91-524102. e-mail: lionel.pilkington@nuigalway.ie
- and for the record:
The American Printing History Association's Twenty-Sixth Annual Conference was held 19th-21st October 2001 at Washington University, St. Louis on the theme 'Transatlantic Type: Anglo-American Printing in the Nineteenth Century'.
The conference, hosted by Washington University, focused on the relationship between printing in Britain and the United States in the period 1800 to 1914. This topic was broadly interpreted, resulting in a program to appeal to lovers of printing and the book arts as well as those interested in literature, cultural studies, and design.
The keynote address was by Marianne Tidcombe, noted bookbinding historian and author of a new history of the Doves Press. This was followed by talks by distinguished speakers Eric Holzenberg, Karen Nipps, William S. Peterson, Terry Belanger, Ron Tyler, and Philip Weimerskirch. In addition, the conference marked the opening of an exhibition, "The Triple Crown Abroad: The Kelmscott, Doves, and Ashendene Presses Beyond the British Isles," and other activities included a tour of Washington University's Studio for the Illustrated Book, a Sunday visit (including multiple special exhibitions) to the St. Louis Mercantile Library.
Details are on line at www.printinghistory.org
Information kindly supplied by Mark Samuels Lasner, Vice-President for Programs, APHA.
5. Conference Panel: Oscar and Willie and Jane - Last Call for Papers
It is proposed to have a panel on the three Wildes and their journalistic work at the Conference 'Places of Exchange: Magazines, Journals and Newspapers in British and Irish Culture 1688-1945', University of Glasgow 25th to 27th July, 2002. http://www2.arts.gla.ac.uk/SESLL/EngLit/news_files/call01.html
Papers should be twenty minutes in duration. Contact Alison Chapman A.Chapman@englit.arts.gla.ac.uk
6. The Oscar Wilde Autumn School, Co Wicklow
Our internet search did not come up with any information later than last year's programme; this year's programme is, however, printed in the current issue of the Oscar Wilde Society's Newsletter, Intentions (New Series no.16, October 2001). To obtain a copy of this, see below.
7. Publications
Carol A. Dingle (ed): Irish Writers of the Past. Writers Club Press (www.iuniverse.com) ISBN 0-595-18375-1, $12.95)
This is a book of quotations from Irish writers listed in alphabetical order from William Allingham to W.B. Yeats. More than a third of the entire work is given to Oscar Wilde.
Jeff Nunokawa: Oscar Wilde (New York: Chelsea House 1994) is now available as an e-book, 137kb. ISBN: 0791023117. It can be found at http://www.mobipocket.com/en/eBooks/BookDetails.asp?BookID=919 (and perhaps elsewhere)
We are grateful to John Cooper for kindly drawing our attention to this.
The current edition of the Magdalen College Record carries an article by Peter Vernier, 'Oscar toasts the Boat Club' (pp.117-24). This article concerns Wilde's attendance at the College Boat Club Dinner, 16th March 1878, and suggests a greater popularity among the College 'hearties' than is usually acknowledged. 'Oscar toasting the Boat Club was Paradox in action', Mr Vernier suggests.
As the Magdalen College Record is generally available only to old members of the College (the Editor of THE OSCHOLARS happens to be one of these), we shall look out for this article being reprinted elsewhere.
v Peter Vernier is the author of Oscar Wilde at Magdalen (available by post from the Home Bursary, Magdalen College, Oxford OX1 4AU) for £4.00 (United Kingdom), £5.00 elsewhere, cheques made out to Magdalen College).
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V. BEING TALKED ABOUT: CALLS FOR PAPERS
(We hope these may attract Wildëans. Any specific papers on Wilde will be noted in future issues of THE OSCHOLARS.)
1. CALL FOR PAPERS: Nineteenth-Century Women Writers 1830-1880 (journal)
The editors of this special issue of the journal, 'Women's Writing', invite original articles on women's popular writing of the Nineteenth Century, between c1830 and 1880. We hope to attract essays (3,000-10,000 words) on lesser-known works by writers such as Mary Braddon, Margaret Oliphant and Ellen Wood, as well as critical readings of texts by more neglected figures. Possible authors might also include (but are not by any means limited to) Rhoda Broughton, Charlotte Yonge, Eliza Cook, Charlotte Riddell, Caroline Clive and Adelaide Proctor.
Possible topics for papers include: writings in a range of popular genres and forms (domestic realism, sensation fiction, religious fiction, romances, the short story, the ghost story, detective fiction), as well as poetry and non-fictional writings. Papers might also focus on some of the following: readership, magazines, professionalism, the literary marketplace, cultural commentaries on literature and femininity.
Inquiries and completed manuscripts (3 copies)should be submitted to the guest editors at one of the addresses below by 31st August 2002: Detailed 'notes for contributors' can be found on the inside back cover of each issue.
Dr Emma Liggins, Department of English, Edge Hill, St Helen's Road, Ormskirk, Lancashire L39 4QP. ligginse@edgehill.ac.uk
Dr Andrew Maunder, Faculty of Humanities, University of Hertfordshire, Wall Hall, Aldenham
Watford WD2 8AT, Hertfordshire. a.c.maunder@herts.ac.uk
v Dr Maunder writes that articles on Lady Wilde will be considered
2. CALL FOR PAPERS: Gender in Culture
The Southwest/Texas Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association invites submissions of papers and presentations examining aspects of Gender for its annual conference to be held 13th-17th February at the Albuquerque Hilton in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Images of Gender in:
Literature - Film - Art - Photography - History- Politics - Music or Radio - Television - Internet -Theater - Advertising - Power struggle between the genders - Stereotyping male or female roles
Breaking the stereotypes
Please send proposals for papers, slide shows, video presentations, dramatic presentations, etc (250 words or less) by 10th December to:
Ian Desrosiers, Department of English Texas Tech University, Box 43091, Lubbock, TX 79409-3091. iandesrosiers@hotmail.com
Electronic submissions are encouraged. Please include a statement regarding any scheduling and equipment concerns.
For information about the conference, see www.swtexaspca.org
3. CALL FOR PAPERS: Inaugural issue, The Undying Fire: The Journal of the H.G. Wells Society of the Americas
'The Undying Fire' is devoted to the study of H.G. Wells, and essays on any topic relating to Wells's life and work will be considered for publication. Interdisciplinary essays welcomed.
To be published annually, each issue will include from five to seven essays ranging from 10-30 pages in length. Longer essays will be considered in the case of extreme merit only. Follow current MLA guidelines. Submit three copies and the file on disk.
Essays will be weighed by juried selection of our editorial board, which we are proud to announce includes Robert Philmus , David C. Smith, and W. Warren Wagar - three of the most widely-regarded and recognized Wellsian scholars in the field.
Submission deadline for the first edition of the journal is 1st February .
Anticipated publication is late spring/early summer 2002.
Submissions should be sent to:
Eric Cash, editor, The Undying Fire, ABAC 32, 2802 Moore Highway, Abraham Baldwin College, Tifton, GA 31794-2601. For additional information, contact Eric Cash at ecash@abac.peachnet.edu
4. CALL FOR PAPERS: postscript: a journal of graduate criticism and theory.
A multi-disciplinary journal published annually by graduate students in the Department of English at Memorial University of Newfoundland. Students either currently enrolled in a post-graduate program or having recently graduated from one are invited to submit articles for consideration. Interdisciplinary papers and essays responding to issues of current debate within academia are especially encouraged.
Papers should be 3000-5000 words, unpublished, and in MLA format. Submitted essays are subjected to blind review by either graduate students or faculty members, depending on the area of specialization. For purposes of anonymity, your name should not appear anywhere on the paper. Please enclose a cover page with the title of your paper, your name, address, telephone number, email address, institutional affiliation, and a brief biographical note. Submissions must include three hard copies and a disk copy of the paper in Wordperfect format only. Papers will only be returned if a document-sized SASE is included (international submissions must include a postal coupon).
postscript also welcomes original cover art submissions designed for a 7" x 10" space. Please include a cover letter with the title of the work, your contact information, and a brief biographical note. We strongly encourage that cover art submissions include either a disk or CD with the image or images submitted for consideration. All submissions must include a signed letter or release form, giving the artist's permission for the piece to be used by postscript. Again, submissions will only be returned to those who include the appropriate SASE.
Send submissions and/or queries to: Co-ordinating Editor, postscript , Department of English P.O. Box 58, Arts Building Memorial University of Newfoundland St. John's, NF A1C 5S7 Canada.
You can also contact the Co-ordinating Editor through e-mail: Carol Goodman cgoodman@plato.ucs.mun.ca
5. CALL FOR PAPERS: Henry Street: A Graduate Review of Literary Study.
Henry Street, now entering its tenth year of publication, is an international forum for graduate students of English and related disciplines. We invite submission of original and scholarly contributions to current research on literatures in English from all historical periods, material culture, pedagogy, and critical theory. In addition to welcoming papers from a broad range of critical perspectives, the journal is particularly receptive to unconventional or personal approaches that open new avenues of investigation in literary and cultural criticism.
Graduate students and recent graduates are encouraged to submit critical and occasional essays, short fiction, and poetry. Chapters of theses and conference papers are acceptable, provided they are sufficiently edited and rigorous enough to stand alone as critical articles. Henry Street is indexed by the MLA and the Canadian Periodicals Index.
SUBMISSIONS
To be considered for publication, submissions must be double-spaced throughout (including endnotes and works cited) and follow MLA guidelines for citation and presentation. Submissions should not exceed 7000 words in length. To facilitate our process of anonymous review, the author's name should not appear on the manuscript.
Send two copies of submissions, and include a self-addressed return envelope accompanied either by Canadian stamps or international reply coupons (these are not mandatory, but manuscripts submitted without SASE cannot be returned). The cover letter must indicate the author's degree status and university affiliation.
Send your submission to:
Henry Street c/o Department of English, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada B3H 3J5. You can send e-mail inquiries to henry.street@dal.ca and find out more about us at our web page http://is2.dal.ca/~henryst. Note that we do not accept submissions by e-mail.
6. CALL FOR PAPERS: Citizen of the World - Cosmopolitanism and Its Ancient Antecedents.
Department of Comparative Literature & Classics, California State University, Long Beach
37th Annual Comparative Literature Conference 1st-2nd March 2002
Keynote Speaker: Edward Said
Proposed topics include but are not limited to:
· Redefining cosmopolitanism identity
· The politics of cosmopolitanism
· Citizen of the world and the end of frontiers
· Cosmopolitanism and intellectual freedom
· Urban odysseys
· The dandy as a cosmopolitan trope
· The fool in the city
· Aesthetics of the city and the cosmos
· Cityscapes and escapes in art and literature
Papers, which should include a literary dimension, are not to exceed 20 minutes in length. Please send a one page abstract postmarked by 10th December, 2001 to Charles Jernigan, Chair, Comparative Literature, CSULB, 1250 Bellflower Blvd., Long Beach, CA 90840-2404.
Suggestions for additional session topics are invited.
· There seems to be some scope here for looking at Sebastien Melmoth.
7. CALL FOR PAPERS: New Voices in Irish Criticism.
Trinity College, Dublin, Samuel Beckett Theatre 1st-3rd February 2002
Since its inception in 1999 the New Voices Conference has established itself as an important international forum for emerging Irish Studies critics. The conference is aimed at scholars at an advanced stage of their doctoral research.
The New Voices Conference is intended to be inter-disciplinary. Papers are invited in the areas of literature, history, film, theatre, visual arts, anthropology, music, cultural studies, and new media.
Comparative papers from those working in areas outside of Irish Studies are particularly encouraged. Subjects for debate will include the following:
· Ireland and Europe
· Biography and Historiography
· Emblems and Iconographies
· Publishers, Reviewers, and the 'Little Magazine'
· Suggestions for other panels are most welcome.
Papers should be 15 - 20 minutes. Proposals are due by 19th November. Maximum 300 words. Please send your proposals and any queries to:
Ronan Kelly and Fionnuala Dillane, New Voices Conference 2002, School of English, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland. newvoices2002@tcd.ie. For further details: www.newvoices2002.tcd.ie
8. CALL FOR PAPERS: British 18th and 19th Century Literature
Submission Deadline: 10th November
The 7th Annual GES Conference will be held February 22-23, 2002 at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. The theme of this year's conference, "Past and Future Perspectives: Negotiating our Changing Field," addresses our changing field from the graduate scholar's perspective.
While I am especially interested in abstracts/proposals which address the following suggested topics, abstracts dealing with any aspect of 18th/19th century British literature are welcome and will be considered:
1) Gender, Sexuality, and the Novel – analysing gender and sexuality in 18th- and 19th-century novels. (Abstracts will be reviewed for poetry, drama, and other forms of literature as well.)
2) Cultural Contexts: Law, Medicine/Science, and Religion - evaluating the discourses of public/social knowledge and who controls the language of classification as it applies to the individual and appears in literary texts.
3) Exploring and Expanding the Canon - re-evaluating 18th- and 19th-century texts and a look at the changing landscape of criticism and critical approaches for the 21st century.
E-mail submissions are strongly encouraged; please put "GES Conference Proposal" in the subject line for all electronic submissions.
Participants may present no more than two papers or be on no more than two panels.
Abstracts/Proposals (250 words) and inquiries should be addressed to:
Kara Marler, Texas Tech University, Department of English, P. O. Box 43091, Lubbock, TX 79409-3091 806.742-2501 ext. 281. kmarler@ttacs.ttu.edu
Accepted papers will be published in the conference proceedings. Please visit the GES Conference web site at: http://english.ttu.edu/GESConference.
9. CALL FOR PAPERS: Constructions of Irishness: The Irish in Ireland, Britain and Beyond.
Centre for Contemporary History and Politics, University of Salford, 22nd-24th March 2002.
The conference seeks to explore a range of issues arising from economic, political, religious and social changes in Irish society. Papers from all disciplines will be welcomed and will be organised under three themes. These are:
v Emigration: […]
v The Anglo-Irish Relationship: The nature of the Anglo-Irish relationship, both in terms of the political nexus and cultural exchanges.
v Varieties of Irishness: Papers exploring perceptions and representations of the different kinds of Irishness, which exist side by side within Ireland and without will be particularly welcome. Possible themes include […] views of the Irish found in literature and the theatre […] questions of identity based on gender […]
Postgraduate students are particularly encouraged to submit papers and are asked to indicate their student status on their abstracts.
Conference Co-Convenors: Frank Neal (Salford), Mervyn Busteed (Manchester), Roger Swift (Chester)
Please send abstracts of papers (maximum 300 words) in Word format by Friday 30th November 2001 to: Wendy Dodgson w.a.dodgson@salford.ac.uk
For further information and a registration form, please contact: Wendy Dodgson, European Studies Research Institute, University of Salford, Salford M5 4WT, Greater Manchester, England.
10. CALL FOR PAPERS: Victorian Borders.
Newberry Library, Chicago, USA, 19th-20th April 2002
The MidWest Victorian Studies Association 2002 Conference.
We invite proposals for papers on the conference theme of "Victorian Borders": racial, social, sexual, national and international; colonial, professional, literary, or religious; borders between centuries, periods, or professions; teaching across borders. Interdisciplinary topics are encouraged, as are submissions from historians, art historians, musicologists. Please direct inquiries and 500-word abstracts to:
Anne M. Windholz, MVSA Executive Secretary, Department of English, Augustana College, 2001 South Summit Avenue, Sioux Falls, SD 57197. Phone: 605-274-5416; fax: 605-274-5288 windholz@inst.augie.edu
Deadline for proposals: 2nd November 2001
11. CALL FOR PAPERS: Stephen Crane
The Stephen Crane Society will sponsor two sessions at the American Literature Association Conference in Long Beach, California, on 30th May -2nd June.
v Crane Abroad. This topic may include Crane's writing and reputation as well as translations of Crane's works. The term "abroad" loosely refers to Mexico, Germany, Greece, or other countries relevant to Crane's work.
v An open session on topics in Crane studies.
v Presentations will be limited to 20 minutes.
Please send five-hundred word abstracts or papers of no more than ten double-spaced pages by 1st December to the program chair:
Donna Campbell, Department of English, AD Box 31, Gonzaga University, 502 East Boone Avenue, Spokane, WA 99258. campbell@gonzaga.edu
With your proposal, please include any request for a slide projector or other equipment that will be necessary for your presentation. E-mail proposals are welcome, but please do not send attachment.
We include this because Crane called Wilde a 'mildewed chump' in Paris in 1899, and we are curious to learn more about Crane both at this time and during his visit to West Cork
12. CALL FOR PAPERS: Robert Louis Stevenson.
An international academic conference and foundation conference for a biennial series devoted to Robert Louis Stevenson, 26th-30th August 2002, Palazzo Feltrinelli, Gargnano, Italy (Lake Garda).
The interest that was generated by the three Stevenson conferences in 2000 leads us to propose a Stevenson conference on Lake Garda in Italy. The committee, Stephen Arata, University of Virginia, Jeni Calder, National Museum of Scotland, Barry Menikoff, University of Hawaii, Jean-Pierre Naugrette, Université de Paris III, Rory Watson, University of Stirling, encourages new scholarship addressing Stevenson's pivotal position in literary and cultural history.
Suggested themes include:
· Stevenson: the art of literature and the pleasure of reading, realism and romance, essays;
· Stevenson and the boundary, high/low culture, America/Britain, male/female, civilised/primitive;
· Stevenson and the South Seas, anthropology, colonialism, symbolic realism;
· Twentieth-century Stevenson, writers and critics, European and Anglo-Saxon perspectives, derivative works;
· Stevenson and Scotland, Scott, highlands/lowlands, divided loyalties.
Convenors: Richard Ambrosini (Università Statale di Milano, Richard.Ambrosini@unimi.it), Richard Dury (Università Statale di Brescia richard@interac.it).
During the conference there will also be a business meeting to decide when and where to meet again; those interested in hosting a subsequent conference should inform the convenors or members of the committee of this in good time.
The convenors encourage attendance by non-speakers, including students. If you wish to attend please send the message 'I wish to attend RLS 2002' to richard@interac.itby1st December 2001.
Accommodation is available. For travel and Garda/Gargnano information, see the conference website at http://www.unibg.it/rls/garda.htm
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VI. NOTES AND QUERIES
1. Sourcing a Wilde quotation (second call)
Erika Wolf (University of Rochester) asks for a precise source (as early and as authentic as possible)for Wilde's attributed comment 'Rugby is all very well. A good game for rough girls, but not for delicate boys'. ewlf@mail.rochester.edu
· We will be pleased to print variora from primary sources
2. Babbacombe Cliff
John H. Bartlett writes 'Jacqui and Ian Theaker, the new owners of Babbacombe, came to my show [ThatTiger Life] last November and I was able to talk to them briefly about the property and their plans for it. The main part of the building is being converted into several flats, but they intend to live themselves in the part that was known as Wonderland, which Oscar Wilde occupied when he was staying there. They are trying to conserve and restore the Æsthetic style of the interiors that was there at the time.
'Curiously, thinking it might provide a suitable venue for my production of That Tiger Life I had been making some inquiries into the property. My Torquay contacts had assured me that the building was derelict after its various transformations as a hotel or old folks home.'
v John H. Bartlett's one-man show on Oscar Wilde, That Tiger Life, was premièred at The Central Library, Exeter, Devonshire on 7th July 2000, and was repeated at Castle Drogo on Dartmoor last 18th May. We shall trail future productions.
3. Maud Allan
Petra Dierkes-Thrun (University of Pittsburg) writes 'I hope someone may point me toward possible comments by any known writers of the early 1900s-1920s on the famous Canadian-American dancer Maud Allan, who was performing her "Vision of Salome" at London's Palace Theatre from 1908-1911. I have researched all major sources (Cherniavsky, Hoare, Kettle, Allan's biography) but am still looking specifically for commentaries by writers who perhaps saw Allan perform in London; also on Allan's specific contributions to music halls' efforts to shift their program toward middle-class theatrical culture, by including more "respectable" performers such as Allan. I know Ronald Firbank was a fan and mentions her.'
Petra Dierkes-Thrun petradt@YAHOO.COM
4. Aubrey Beardsley
We regret that the address of Linda Zatlin in THE OSCHOLARS I/5 was incorrectly given. It should have read
Professor Linda G. Zatlin, 1735 Peachtree Street NE, Atlanta, GA 30309, USA. Fax: (404) 815-5528.
(Request for location of works by Beardsley). This has been silently corrected on the page of I/5.
Linda Zatlin's article 'Wilde, Beardsley, and the Making of Salome' was published in the Journal of Victorian Culture volume 5 number 2 (November 2000) pp.341-47.
5. Frank Pettingell (1891-1966)
According to http://library.ukc.ac.uk/library/special/html/specoll/pettchron.htm this actor played Wilde in Oscar Wilde at Boltons Theatre in August 1948. Does anybody have any information about this play?
6. Robbie Ross
Samantha Lewis writes from South Carolina asking if Robbie Ross really did remove Oscar's remains from the coffin in Bagneux himself. 'I keep finding conflicting reports, and then some biographies completely pass over that little tidbit that I think is one of the most interesting aspects of the relationship between Oscar and Robbie. Can you shed some light on this for me?'
Samantha Lewis sylvervanderlow@yahoo.com
7. J.M. Synge
Wilde and Synge have rarely been discussed together, but they did coincide in Paris. Paris for Synge was attendance at concerts, at lectures and at the theatre (plays by Molière, Ibsen, Dumas fils and d'Annunzio - the Ibsen at the Théâtre Antoine). It was also an opportunity to indulge in a somewhat morbid engagement with decadence, although this did not extend to wishing any closer acquaintance with Wilde beyond staring at him in the avenue de l'Opéra when Richard Best pointed him out. There is an article by John Jordan, 'Shaw, Wilde, Synge and Yeats: Ideas, Epigrams, Blackberries and Chassis' in Richard Kearney (ed.): The Irish Mind, Exploring Intellectual Traditions. Dublin: Wolfhound 1985; and one by Desmond Traynor, 'Modes of Subversion in Wilde's The Importance of being Earnest and Synge's The Playboy of the Western World' in Alumnus: Academic Journal of the Graduate Students’ Union, Trinity College Dublin 1999/2000. We should be glad to learn of others.
8. Notes towards an Iconography of Wilde
The Finchley Road (London) branch of the chain bookseller Books etc has a number of authors pictured over their shelves. Wilde presides over three bookcases, containing poetry (appropriately enough), crafts (possibly appropriate) and New Age (eccentrically appropriate?).
Has anyone ever seen a sketch of Wilde by Herbert Beerbohm Tree? Max Beerbohm remembered his brother drawing both Wildeand Whistler. [Max Beerbohm (ed.): Herbert Beerbohm Tree, Some Memories of Him and His Art . London: Hutchinson n.d p.189]
9. Oscar in Popular Culture
It is not really surprising, especially given Wilde's own consultations with Mrs Robinson and Cheiro (and despite mocking Mr Podgers), that he should find his way to where astrologers gather, notably at http://astrology-world.com/articles/wildeside.html where may be found a 'Natal Chart' and an article by Wanda Sellar, President of the Astrological Lodge of Great Britain and editor of the Astrology & Medicine Newsletter. This article first appeared in the summer 1995 issue of The Traditional Astrologer Magazine, a source which could even have escaped the eagle eye of Ian Small.
In THE OSCHOLARS I/5 we listed a number of pubs named after Wilde. Toronto has gone one better with the restaurant Wilde Oscars at 518 Church Street. Would Wilde have enjoyed Double Shot Thursday with DJ Phunk? Would any Canadian reader care to describe this (the restaurant that is, rather than DJ Phunk)?
Those inclined to a double shot of Scotch may look at http://www.johnniewalker.de/fl2.html, where Wilde makes another unexpected appearance. This promotion is being supplemented with a new Wilde first: a whisky 'scratchcard'.
Our thanks (once again!) to Claudia Letat of Oscar Wilde - Ode an Ein Genie http://www.besuche-Oscar-Wilde.de for this information and image.
Are there versions of this in any other language?
The award to Sir William Wilde of the Order of the Polar Star by King Carl XV of Sweden was not perhaps upper mostin the minds of the audience at the Göteborg (Gothenburg) 1997 music festival, when an Irish band called The Wilde Oscars played. Two of them are pictured here.
10. Wilde as Unpopular Culture
The following is worth reproducing, not only for indicating Wilde's theatrical occasions and the description of his clothes, but for the spelling of his name, which may suggest that he was not quite as well-known in 1881 as one is sometimes led to believe. We are grateful to John Culme of Footlight Notes for e-mailing this to THE OSCHOLARS. http://members.tripod.com/FootlightNotes
Revival of Sheridan Knowles's Virginius, Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, Monday, 25 April 1881, from The Entr'acte, London, Saturday, 30 April 1881, p.4a.
'I looked in at Drury Lane on Monday. There were the critics chatting to those ladies they don't care their wives to know; and there were the wives wondering to what extent their husbands' flirtations were carried when the corrective eye of the spouse was not making observations to be recorded at the happy fireside…
'Mr. Oscar Wylde posed in the front row of the stalls. He wore a coat that was fearfully and wonderfully made, and whose collar and cuffs were manufactured from the skins of nameless beasts of the field. True to his traditions, he permitted a flower of the lily species to adorn his button-hole, and his various attitudes betokened that poetic languor which seems to play so important a part among aesthetes and men of sentiment.
'It is quite possible that Mr. Oscar Wylde possesses all those yearning after the beautiful in nature which people deem to be necessary after they find they cannot make themselves useful in a practical arena; but when I see these persons who affect to be utter strangers to the vulgar and commonplace, take great pains to curry favour with opinions which they pretend to disdain, I think very little of their genuineness. The man who can get his soul's nourishment from gazing at a lily of the field, and who garbs himself as would a third-rate comic singer, is as much a contradiction as is the person who, though not being able to read English, makes a point of being seen turning over the leaves of Horace...'
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VII. PRODUCTIONS DURING NOVEMBER 2001
Australia
An Ideal Husband, directed by Paula Bate, is being staged by the Genesian Theatre Company in Sydney. It opens on 3rd November and runs to 15th December.
England
The Importance of being Earnest, directed by Lawrence Till for the Lip Service Theatre Company, plays the following venues:
Keswick Theatre by the Lake 30th October to 3rd November; Poole Arts Centre, Dorset 6th to 10th November; Camberley Artslink 13th to 14th November; Grand Theatre, Blackpool 15th to 17th November; New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich 20th to 24th November; Theatre Royal, York 27th November to 1st December.
|
The |
Maggie Fox |
|
Cast |
Sue Ryding |
|
Exchange |
Darren Southworth |
|
Roles |
Vanessa Rosenthal |
|
|
Matthew Vaughan |
|
|
John Griffin |
|
|
Jamie Newall |
|
|
Sophie Jerrold |
|
|
David Kellet |
|
Understudies |
David Kellet Sophie Jerrold |
|
Assistant Director |
Deborah Sathe |
|
Designer |
Richard Foxton |
|
Lighting Designer |
Ian Saunders |
|
Composer |
Mark Vibrans |
|
CSM |
Sharon Stoneham |
|
DSM |
Jenny Grand |
|
Technical manager |
Annie Emery |
|
Wardrobe/dresser |
Shireen Rastegar |
We are grateful to Sara McCarthy, Press Officer, Palace Theatre, Watford, and Sue Ryding of Lip Service Theatre Company for this information.
Salome will be staged at the Old Fire Station, Oxford 13th to 17th November.
France
Zemlinsky's Le Nain (Der Zwerg, from The Birthday of the Infanta) will be given five performances this month at the Paris Opéra, Palais Garnier. These will be on the 3rd, 6th, 9th, 12th, and 15th November. Conductor James Conlon; Choreographer Amir Hosseinpour The programme for this contains an essay 'Oscar Wilde à l'Opéra' by Alexis Massery (pp.25-9).
We are grateful to M. Christian Schirm, Assistant to the Director of the Palais Garnier, for kindly supplying copies of the programme.
Germany
A new production of Salome opens at the Badisches Staatstheater in Karlsruhe on 24th November.
|
Herod |
Mario Muraro/JohnPickering |
|
Herodias |
Wilja Ernst-Mosuraitis / Cornelia Wulkopf |
|
Salome |
Ursula Prem |
|
Jokananaan |
Peteris Eglitis /ClaudioOtelli |
|
Narraboth |
Stuart Skelton |
|
Page |
Rosemara Ribeiro / EwaWolak |
|
Conductor |
Kazushi Ono |
|
Director |
Thomas Schulte-Michels |
|
Designer |
Wolf Münzner |
Ireland
The Everyman Palace Theatre, Cork is staging An Ideal Husband, directed by Michael Twomey 31stOctober - 10th November
The cast is David Lumsden, Catherine Prendergast, Kevin Sheehan, Ronnie O'Shaughnessy, Olive O'Callaghan, Conor Dwane, Valerie O'Leary, Shirley McCarthy, Aideen Dynan, Barry O'Reilly, Frank Duggan and Liam O'Reilly. Sets and Costumes by Patrick Murray.
Storytellers Theatre Company, Dublin, and Cork Opera House present The Starchild 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 Gerard Walsh. The production is augmented by some spirited and delightful puppets.
The tour schedule is:
|
2nd & 3rd November |
Excel Theatre, Tipperary |
|
6th to 8th November |
An Grianán Theatre, Letterkenny |
|
12th & 13th November |
Hawkswell Theatre, Sligo |
|
16th & 17th November |
Watergate Theatre, Kilkenny |
|
20th to 24th November |
Cork Opera House |
|
26th to 27th November |
Theatre Royal, Wexford |
|
30th November to 1st December |
Ardhowen Theatre, Enniskillen |
We are grateful to Joan Mallon of Storytellers Theatre Company for this information
A Night in the Woods
USA
Salome is being staged by the Pittsburgh Opera (Benedum Center) on the 10th, 13th, 16th and 18th November. This is the production first staged by Sir Peter Hall for Los Angeles Opera and Covent Garden.
|
Herod |
Gary Lakes |
|
Herodias |
Gwyneth Jones |
|
Salome |
Maria Ewing |
|
Jokananaan |
Tom Fox |
|
Narraboth |
William Burden |
|
Director |
Christopher Harlan |
|
Conductor |
John Mauceri |
|
Sets |
John Bury |
|
Costumes |
Elizabeth Bury |
- and for the record:
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.
Jit Murad as OscarWilde
Patience was staged at The Dukeries Leisure Centre, New Ollerton, Nottinghamshire, 18th to 20th October.
The Importance of Being Earnest was staged at the College of St. Scholastica's Daisy Hill Theater, Duluth, Minnesota, in October, directed by Merry Renn Vaughan.
The Importance of Being Earnest, directed by Lawrence Till for the Lip Service Theatre Company was staged at the Warwick Arts Centre, University of Warwick, England 16th to 20th October.
The Importance of Being Earnest at The Lyric Theatre, Belfast (21st September to 13th October), was staged by the following
|
Lane |
Vincent Higgins |
|
Algernon Moncrieff |
Miche Doherty |
|
John Worthing |
Sean Kearns |
|
Lady Bracknell |
Julia Dearden |
|
Gwendolen Fairfax |
Sheelagh O'Kane |
|
Cecily Cardew |
Niki Doherty |
|
Miss Prism |
Susie Kelly |
|
Merriman |
Vincent Higgins |
|
Canon Chasuble |
Philip Judge |
|
Gribsby |
Vincent Higgins |
|
Director |
Dan Gordon |
|
Decor |
Stuart Marshall |
|
Gowns |
Elish Hogg |
|
Illumination |
John Riddell |
|
Deputy Stage Manager |
Tracey Haddock |
|
Literary Advisor |
Norman Stevenson |
|
Voice Tutor |
Patricia Logue |
|
Wardrobe Assistant |
Anne Whistler |
Programme kindly supplied by Matt Curry, Marketing & PR, Lyric Theatre, Belfast.
This production was also seen at the Ardhowen Theatre, Enniskillen 17th October and 18th October, and at the Riverside Theatre, Coleraine 23rd October and 24th October.
· Contributions to this section of THE OSCHOLARS from anywhere in the world will be very welcome indeed.
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VIII. WEB FOOT NOTES
A monthly look at websites (contributions welcome).
http://www.lib.utulsa.edu/Speccoll/ellmar00.htm is the site of the Richard Ellmann Papers at the McFarlin Library, Special Collections Department, University of Tulsa.
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~spires/Concord/earnest.html is a concordance to The Importance of Being Earnest created by Rosanne G. Potter and Joe Struss of Iowa State University. Founded on the 5th July 1999 and updated on 10th July 2000, it has registered 56,953 'hits' at time of going to press. This is a very valuable research tool.
http://www.nauvoo.byu.edu/TheArts/Theater/studypackets/main.cfm from the Theatre Arts & Media Department of Brigham Young University contains twenty-eight sections, each with essays on different plays, including The Importance of Being Earnest. A useful pack for undergraduate teaching of this text.
http://footlightnotes.tripod.com is a well-illustrated and growing theatre site (called Footlight Notes) maintained by John Culme, covering theatre from the 1850s to the 1920s. It is chiefly but far from exclusively concerned with the lighter side of theatre, musical comedy etc. This could be a good way of discovering more about such plays as The Poet and the Puppets or The Colonel as well as the lesser-known actors who played in the original Wilde casts.
http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/thegreencarnation is another message exchange, calling itself 'An Oscar Wilde Club'. Founded in February 1999 by 'Sebastian Melmott' [sic], it has to date ninety-seven members, who have posted 375 messages. This is the second largest such group of those reviewed so far , and although there have been no messages since August, the second most active. The level is, however, largely ephemeral, often only giving the writer's opinion of a favourite quotation, Stephen Fry, Brideshead Revisited or something of that sort. It does have a rather good colophon.
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IX. 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 playbills to limited editions. We have set up this link which should take you straight to ebay's Wilde pages:
In October, one of the most interesting items to appear has been an edition of The Harlot's House. It is described as follows:
'The Harlot's House by Oscar Wilde was published in 1904 for subscribers only by the Mathurin Press as a portfolio. We have the five full page illustrations (never bound) from that very rare work along with the front cover of the original portfolio bearing the bookplate of the renowned early 20th Century Collector, John Quinn (No. 11126 in his auction sale at Anderson Galleries, March 17-20, 1924. These five full page plates by Althea Gyles are among the most highly charged/erotic of all the illustrations to Wilde's Works. Page size is about 10"x16", the cover is worn, the plates are very nice.'
This is offered by Thomas G. Boss Fine Books, 44 Amory Street, Brookline, MA 02446 info@bossbooks.com
The same dealer is also offering 'Four exiting pochoir (hand-colored through stencil) images of costumes and decor for Oscar Wilde's Salome by Alexandra Exter, produced in the Theatre Kamerny in Moscow in 1917. The stage design was by A. Tairoff. These four plates come from Leon Moussinac's "Nouvelles Tendances du Theatre" published by Levy in Paris in 1931. These brilliant pochoir images measure about 21/2"x4" each. Near fine.'
We may add that Salome was played by Tairoff's wife Alisa Koonen. Koonen lived to 1974 and perhaps somewhere there are recorded her experiences of this production. Exter was a leading Constructivist designer,
Also for sale is a copy of The Portrait of Mr W.H. published by Mitchell Kennerley, New York 1921. First American Limited Edition, 1000 copies printed, this being number 810.
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X. A WILDE NOVEMBER
Here are the birth and death dates of some of those whose lives intersected that of Wilde. One particularly notes the anniversaries of Vyvyan Holland's birth on the 3rd, and of the deaths of Wilde's half sisters on the 10th, as well of course as Oscar's own death on the 30th.
It will also be the hundred and fiftieth wedding anniversary of William and Jane Wilde on the 12th.
|
01 |
11 |
1848 |
Birth of Jules Bastien-Lepage |
|
03 |
11 |
1886 |
Birth of Vyvyan Oscar Beresford Wilde |
|
08 |
11 |
1847 |
Birth of Bram Stoker |
|
09 |
11 |
1841 |
Birth of Edward VII |
|
10 |
11 |
1856 |
Birth of Otho Holland Lloyd |
|
13 |
11 |
1850 |
Birth of Robert Louis Stevenson |
|
22 |
11 |
1857 |
Birth of George Gissing |
|
26 |
11 |
1864 |
Birth of Henri Toulouse-Lautrec |
|
28 |
11 |
1829 |
Birth of Anton Rubinstein |
|
28 |
11 |
1863 |
Birth of Edgar Jepson |
|
28 |
11 |
1868 |
Birth of Vincent O’Sullivan |
Garb of woe for the month should be worn on the following days:
|
01 |
11 |
1907 |
Death of Alfred Jarry |
|
02 |
11 |
1950 |
Death of George Bernard Shaw |
|
05 |
11 |
1896 |
Death of Hubert Crackanthorpe |
|
06 |
11 |
1937 |
Death of Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson |
|
08 |
11 |
1896 |
Death of Victorien Sardou |
|
10 |
11 |
1871 |
Deaths of Emily and Mary Wilde |
|
10 |
11 |
1921 |
Death of Elkin Mathews |
|
12 |
11 |
1903 |
Death of Camille Pissarro |
|
20 |
11 |
1894 |
Death of Anton Rubinstein |
|
22 |
11 |
1900 |
Death of Sir Arthur Sullivan |
|
23 |
11 |
1934 |
Death of Sir Arthur Wing Pinero |
|
24 |
11 |
1891 |
Death of Lord Lytton |
|
30 |
11 |
1900 |
Death of Oscar Wilde |
Wilde's own calendar for the month (America excepted) is as follows. Additions and corrections as always welcome.
|
|
11? |
1883 |
Wilde begins 'The Duchess of Padua'. |
|
|
11 |
1884 |
Wilde's last visit to Ireland. Stays in Dublin at the Shelbourne Hotel. |
|
|
11 |
1884? |
Wilde and Constance visit Oscar Browning in Cambridge. |
|
|
11 |
1888 |
Ill-mannered exchange between Whistler and Wilde in 'The World'. |
|
|
11 |
1891 |
Wilde in Paris (19 bvd des Capucines), writing 'Salome'. |
|
|
11 |
1891 |
Wilde visits Lord Lytton several times at the British Embassy. |
|
|
11 |
1892 |
The Wildes rent Babbacombe Cliff, near Torquay. |
|
|
11 |
1898 |
Frank Harris is in Paris and gives Wilde dinner at Durand's. |
|
01 |
11 |
1888 |
Mr Gladstone writes to Wilde. |
|
02 |
11 |
1891 |
Wilde lunches at the British Embassy. |
|
03 |
11 |
1891 |
Visit by Wilde to a Mallarmé 'Mardi'. |
|
03 |
11 |
1907 |
Vyvyan Wilde comes of age. |
|
06 |
11 |
1897 |
The Academy prints a list of 40 possible members of a British Academy of Letters. Shaw and H.G. Wells suggest Wilde (13, 20.11.1897) |
|
06 |
11 |
1882 |
Wilde at first night of Tom Taylor's 'An Unequal Match'. Wallack's Theatre, New York. |
|
06 |
11 |
1888 |
Wilde lectures at the Somerville Club for the Rational Dress Society. |
|
07 |
11 |
1882 |
Publication of Wilde's 'Mrs Langtry as Hester Grazebrook' in the 'New York World'. |
|
10 |
11 |
1880 |
Publication of Wilde's 'Libertatis Sacra Fames' in the 'New York World'. |
|
12 |
11 |
1851 |
Wedding of Jane Elgee and William Wilde. |
|
12 |
11 |
1895 |
Wilde's second examination in bankruptcy. |
|
12 |
11 |
1900 |
Robert Ross visits Wilde at the Hotel d’Alsace. |
|
14 |
11 |
1887 |
Wilde attends magistrate's court hearing of Cunninghame Graham and John Burns, arrested on Bloody Sunday. Haldane, Asquith and Mrs Pankhurst also present. |
|
16 |
11 |
1889 |
Yeats visits Lady Wilde. |
|
18 |
11 |
1885 |
Publication of Wilde's 'A Handbook to Marriage' in 'The Pall Mall Gazette'. |
|
18 |
11 |
1886 |
Publication of Wilde's 'A "Jolly" Art Critic' in 'The Pall Mall Gazette'. |
|
18 |
11 |
1892 |
Wilde first offends with Frederick Atkins in Paris. |
|
19 |
11 |
1873 |
Wilde elected to the 'Hist' at Trinity. |
|
20 |
11 |
1883 |
Wilde gives a lecture on poetry in Dublin. |
|
20 |
11 |
1895 |
Wilde transferred to Reading Gaol. The Clapham Junction incident. |
|
21 |
11 |
1896 |
Alleged visit by Frank Harris to Wilde in Reading Gaol. |
|
22 |
11 |
1883 |
Wilde lectures on 'The House Beautiful' and 'Personal Impressions of America' in Dublin. |
|
23 |
11 |
1875 |
Wilde at the dedication by Cardinal Manning of S. Aloysius, Oxford |
|
24 |
11 |
1886 |
Wilde lectures on Chatterton at Birkbeck College, London |
|
26 |
11 |
1883 |
Wilde and Constance become engaged. |
|
26 |
11 |
1871 |
Wilde becomes a Queen's Scholar |
|
26 |
11 |
1891 |
First meeting of Wilde and Gide? |
|
27 |
11 |
1882 |
Wilde leaves America on the S.S. Bothnia from New York. |
|
28 |
11 |
1878 |
Wilde takes his B.A. at Oxford. |
|
28 |
11 |
1891 |
Second meeting of Wilde and Gide, chez Heredia. |
|
28 |
11 |
1900 |
Carlos Blacker goes to Paris from Freiburg, but delays going to see Wilde. |
|
29 |
11 |
1891 |
First meeting between Wilde and Pierre Loüys. Third meeting of Wilde and Gide. |
|
30 |
11 |
1881 |
Wilde withdraws 'Vera' from production. |
|
30 |
11 |
1891 |
Fourth meeting of Wilde and Gide. |
|
30 |
11 |
1950 |
Ceremony at Père Lachaise to mark 50th anniversary of Wilde 's death. Robbie Ross's ashes are buried beside Wilde. Those present include Francis Marquess of Queensberry and H. Montgomery Hyde. |
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XI. THE OSCAR WILDE SOCIETY AND THE WILDEAN
THE OSCHOLARS happily continues its association with the Oscar Wilde Society and its journal The Wildean.
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 Wildean. 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.14.
The Wildean No. 14 was published in January 1999 shortly after the Maggi Hambling statue- A Conversation with Oscar Wilde - had been unveiled. An interview with Maggi Hambling about the commission to create the statue had appeared in an earlier Wildean. In this issue Jonathan Fryer (whose next book, due to be published in late 2002, is provisionally entitled Orchidacious: the Fantastic World of Ronald Firbank) gives a droll account of the unveiling ceremony, and Oscar's great-grandson, Lucian Holland, who was one of the speakers, is pictured with the statue, crowded by cameras and reporters.
Jonathan Fryer's talk, 'The Autumn of Oscar's Discontent', is published in the same issue. He introduces Oscar, suffering from a severe bout of depression caused by that most debilitating of all his post-prison ailments: a lack of cash. 'Welcome to Oscar in one of his most successful, but tragic poses: the terminal derelict. And yet . . . perhaps things weren't quite as straightforward as that.'
Anne Clark Amor, the biographer of Constance Wilde, writes a Centenary appreciation of her - Constantly Undervalued. The damning assessments of her by Arthur Ransome and Frank Harris were unjustified. She was talented and beautiful: her loyalty to Oscar, and her courage and determination in the face of scandal, exile, and painful illness never faltered.
Julia Wood wonders whether Oscar would really have wanted the abusive passages about Bosie in De Profundis to remain in print. And Michael Seeney convincingly demonstrates that John Singer Sargent may well have painted a portrait of Virginia E. Otis . . .
There are also book reviews, accounts of mainstream and out-of-the-way theatrical productions, and a suggestion by Dr. Horst Schroeder that research into the life of Walter Harris might yield new information about Oscar Wilde - 'It would be delightful if some scholar or other were prepared to embark upon the project.'
|
Articles |
|
|
A Conversation with Oscar Wilde |
Jonathan Fryer |
|
Speech at the Unveiling of the Maggi Hambling Statue |
Lucian Holland |
|
Constantly Undervalued: A Centenary Appreciation of Constance Wilde |
Anne Clark Amor |
|
The Autumn of Oscar's Discontent |
Jonathan Fryer |
|
Virginia E. Otis: A Suggestion |
Michael Seeney |
|
Reviews |
|
|
The Oscar Wilde Encyclopedia by Karl Beckson |
Donald Mead |
|
Salomé adapted and directed by Mick Gordon at the Riverside Studios, Hammersmith |
Michael Seeney |
|
Wilde in the West. A Woman of No Importance at the Shakespeare Theatre, Washington, and Lady Windermere's Fan at the Shaw Festival Theatre, Niagara-on-the-Lake. |
T.F. Evans |
|
Handbag, or the Importance of Being Someone by Mark Ravenhill. Directed by Nick Philippou at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith. |
Michael Seeney |
|
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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