Oscar Wilde, Volume 1

Oscar Wilde, Volume 1

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Oscar Wilde, Volume 1 (of 2), by Frank Harris This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: Oscar Wilde, Volume 1 (of 2) His Life and Confessions
Author: Frank Harris
Release Date: October 17, 2005 [EBook #16894]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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OSCAR WILDE
HIS LIFE AND CONFESSIONS
BY
FRANK HARRIS
VOLUME I
[Illustration: Oscar Wilde at About Thirty]
PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR
29 WAVERLEY PLACE NEW YORK CITY
MCMXVIII
Imprime en Allemagne Printed in Germany
Copyright, 1916, BY FRANK HARRIS

CONTENTS
VOLUME I

CHAPTER PAGE
INTRODUCTION iii
I. Oscar's Father and Mother on Trial 1
II. Oscar Wilde as a Schoolboy 23
III. Trinity, Dublin: Magdalen, Oxford 37
IV. Formative Influences: Oscar's Poems 50
V. Oscar's Quarrel with Whistler and Marriage 73
VI. Oscar Wilde's Faith and Practice 91
VII. Oscar's Reputation and Supporters 102
VIII. Oscar's Growth to Originality About 1890 112
IX. The Summer of Success: Oscar's First Play 133
X. The First Meeting with Lord Alfred Douglas 144
XI. The Threatening Cloud Draws Nearer 156
XII. Danger Signals: the Challenge 175
XIII. Oscar Attacks Queensberry and is Worsted 202
XIV. How Genius is Persecuted in England 229
XV. The Queen _vs._ Wilde: The First Trial 261
XVI. Escape Rejected: The Second Trial and Sentence 292
VOLUME II
[Transcriber's Note: Volume II is also available on Project Gutenberg.]
XVII. Prison and the Effects of Punishment 321
XVIII. Mitigation of Punishment; but not Release 345
XIX. His St. Martin's Summer: His Best Work 363
XX. The Results of His Second Fall: His Genius 406
XXI. His Sense of Rivalry; His Love of Life and Laziness 433
XXII. "A Great Romantic Passion!" 450
XXIII. His Judgments of Writers and of Women 469
XXIV. We Argue About His "Pet Vice" and Punishment 488
XXV. The Last Hope Lost 509
XXVI. The End 532
XXVII. A Last Word 542
Shaw's "Memories" 1-32
THE APPENDIX, 549

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
VOLUME I
Oscar Wilde at About Thirty Frontispiece
FACING PAGE Dr. Sir William Wilde 22
Oscar Wilde at Twenty-Seven, as He First Appeared in America 75
Oscar Wilde 90 [Transcriber's Note: This illustration is not in the original list.]
VOLUME II
Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas About 1893 321
"Speranza": Lady Wilde as a Young Woman 358
Note to Warder Martin 576

THE CRUCIFIXION OF THE GUILTY IS STILL MORE AWE-INSPIRING THAN THE CRUCIFIXION OF THE INNOCENT; WHAT DO WE MEN KNOW OF INNOCENCE?

INTRODUCTION
I was advised on all hands not to write this book, and some English friends who have read it urge me not to publish it.
"You will be accused of selecting the subject," they say, "because sexual viciousness appeals to you, and your method of treatment lays you open to attack.
"You criticise and condemn the English conception of justice, and English legal methods: you even question the impartiality of English judges, and throw an unpleasant light on English juries and the English public--all of which is not only unpopular but will convince the unthinking that you are a presumptuous, or at least an outlandish, person with too good a conceit of himself and altogether too free a tongue."
I should be more than human or less if these arguments did not give me pause. I would do nothing willingly to alienate the few who are still friendly to me. But the motives driving me are too strong for such personal considerations. I might say with the Latin:
"Non me tua fervida terrent, Dicta, ferox: Di me terrent, et Jupiter hostis."
Even this would be only a part of the truth. Youth it seems to me should always be prudent, for youth has much to lose: but I am come to that time of life when a man can afford to be bold, may even dare to be himself and write the best in him, heedless of knaves and fools or of anything this world may do. The voyage for me is almost over: I am in sight of port: like a good shipman, I have already sent down the lofty spars and housed the captious canvas in preparation for the long anchorage: I have little now to fear.
And the immortals are with me in my design. Greek tragedy treated of far more horrible and revolting themes, such as the banquet of Thyestes: and Dante did not shrink from describing the unnatural meal of Ugolino. The best modern critics approve my choice. "All depends on the subject," says Matthew Arnold, talking of great literature: "choose a fitting action--a great and significant action--penetrate yourself with the feeling of the situation: this done, everything else will follow; for expression is subordinate and secondary."
Socrates was found guilty of corrupting the young and was put to death for the offence. His accusation and punishment constitute surely