Wilde Discoveries: Traditions, Histories, Archives

The most significant resource for any researcher wishing to understand the finer details of Oscar Wilde’s remarkable career, the “Oscar Wilde and His Circle” archive at the University of California, Los Angeles houses the world’s largest collection of materials relating to the life and work of the gifted Irish writer. Wilde Discoveries brings together thirteen studies based on research done in this archive that span the course of Wilde’s work and shed light on previously neglected aspects of Wilde’s lively and varied professional and personal life.

This volume offers fresh approaches to well-known works such as The Picture of Dorian Gray while paying serious attention to his lesser known writings and activities, including his earliest attempts at emulating the English Romantics, his editing of Woman’s World, and his fascination with anarchism. A detailed introduction by the volume editor ties the essays together and illustrates the distinctive evolution of research on this great writer’s extraordinary career.