Oscar Wilde: Interviews and Recollections Volume I

277 Pages·1979·28.822 MB·English

by  E. H. Mikhail (eds.)

Oscar Wilde
Interviews and Recollections
Volume 1
Also by E. H. Mikhail
The Social and Cultural Setting of the I 8gos
John Galsworthy the Dramatist
Comedy and Tragedy
Sean O'Casey: A Bibliography of Criticism
A Bibliography of Modern Irish Drama I8gg-I970
Dissertations on Anglo-Irish Drama
The Sting and the Twinkle: Conversations with Sean O'Casey
(co-editor with John 0' Riordan)
J. M. Synge: A Bibliography of Criticism
Contemporary British Drama I950-I976
J. M. Synge: Interviews and Recollections (editor)
W. B. Yeats: Interviews and Recollections (two volumes) (editor)
English Drama I goo-I 950
Lady Gregory: Interviews and Recollections (editor)
Oscar Wilde: An Annotated Bibliography of Criticism
A Research Guide to Modern Irish Dramatists
OSCAR WILDE
Interviews and Recollections
Volume
I
Edited by
E. H. Mikhail
Selection and editorial matter© E. H. Mikhail 1979
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1979 978-o-333-2.4040-3
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means
without permission
First published 1979 by
THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
London and Basingstoke
Associated companies in Delhi
Dublin Hong Kong Johannesburg Lagos
Melbourne New rork Singapore Tokyo
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Oscar Wilde, interviews and recollections
Vol. 1
1. Wilde, Oscar
I. Mikhail, Edward Halim
828'.8'og PR5823
ISBN 978-1-349-03925-8 ISBN 978-1-349-03923-4 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-03923-4
This book is sold subject
to the standard conditions
of the Net Book Agreement
To Isabelle
Contents
Acknowledgements XI
Biographical Table XV
Introduction XIX
INTERVIEWS AND RECOLLECTIONS
Oscar Wilde at Trinity College Dublin Sir Edward Sullivan
Memories of Trinity Days Horace Wilkins 2
Oscar Wilde at Magdalen College Oxford Sir David Hunter-
Blair 3
Oscar Wilde: an Oxford Reminiscence W. W. Ward 12
Oscar Wilde at Oxford G. T. Atkinson
Oscar Wilde at the Divinity Exam Douglas Sladen 21
A Gay Spirit Edgar Jepson 22
Oscar Wilde the Aesthete Francis Gribble 23
The Aesthetic Craze Sir Frank Benson 26
Oscar Wilde's Courage Robert Harborough Sherard 28
Oscar Wilde and Frank Miles Frank Harris 30
Oscar Wilde and the Pre-Raphaelite Movement Mrs]. Comyns
Carr 33
Oscar Wilde before America Violet Hunt 35
Oscar Wilde's Arrival 36
The Theories of a Poet 39
On the Philadelphia Express 42
Oscar Wilde and Whitman 46
Oscar Wilde in Boston Mrs Thomas Bailey Aldrich 48
A Man of Culture Rare 50
Speranza's Gifted Son 53
Vlll CONTENTS
Oscar Wilde in Omaha 58
The Sunflower Poet 59
Oscar Wilde Mary Watson 64
The Apostle of Estheticism Talks Plainly 67
Oscar Wilde in Denver 76
Oscar Wilde in Colorado Mrs J. Comyns Carr 78
Beauty's Great Exponent 79
Oscar Wilde in Montreal 8 I
Oscar Wilde: The Arch-Aesthete on Aestheticism 84
Aestheticism's Apostle 86
Oscar Wilde in the West 87
The Apostle of Modern Art 8g
The Aesthetic Apostle go
Oscar Wilde Talks of Texas gi
The Great Esthete 93
Oscar Dear, Oscar Dear! g6
Oscar Wilde in New York Anna, Comtesse de Bremont IOO
The Apostle of Beauty in Nova Scotia 105
My Quarrel with Oscar Wilde Sir James Rennell Rodd I I I
Oscar Wilde Returns I I 4
My First Meeting with Oscar Wilde Robert Harborough Sherard I I 7
A Dinner with Oscar Wilde Edmond de Goncourt I 2 I
Breakfast with Oscar Beverley Nichols I 22
Oscar Wilde in Chelsea Ernest Rhys I 24
Oscar Wilde and Art Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson I 25
Oscar Wilde and his Mother Gertrude Atherton I 26
Memories of Oscar Wilde L. B. Walford I28
At Lady Wilde's Reception Anna, Comtesse de Bremont I33
Oscar Wilde and His Mother Walter T. Spencer I35
Oscar Wilde under the Limelight Katharine Tynan I37
A Kind Man H. M. Swanwick I 39
My Introduction to Oscar Wilde A. H. Cooper-Prichard I42
My First Meeting with Oscar Wilde W. B. Yeats I44
Reminiscences of Oscar Wilde Walter Crane I 50
Memories of Oscar Wilde Arthur Fish I 52
The Reminiscences of a Short Life Herbert Vivian I 54
Oscar Wilde William Rothenstein I 58
A Golden Evening Sir Arthur Conan Doyle I6I
CONTENTS IX
And So Wilde Came to Lunch Lady Emiry Luryens
Recollections of Oscar Wilde Henri de Regnier
My First Meeting with Oscar Wilde Jean Joseph-Renaud
An English Poet in Paris Jacques Daurelle
The Diner-Out A. J. A. Symons
Oscar Wilde at the Lyric Club Luther Munday
The Unwritten Introduction Frederic Whyte
The Dramatist Hesketh Pearson
'That Man Will Be Eaten by Worms' Ernest Rhys
Lady Windermere's Fan Anna, Comtesse de Bremont
The Censure and Salome
'I Adore Paris' Oscar Wilde
Salome Adolphe Rette
How Oscar Wilde Dreamed of Salome Gomez Carrillo
Oscar Wilde Michael Field
Oscar Wilde at The Vale C. J. Holmes
My Memories of Oscar Wilde Louise Jopling 203
A Great Poseur Constance, Lady Benson 206
Of Oscar Wilde W. Graham Robertson 208
The Beginnings of A Woman of .No Importance Sir Herbert
Beerbohm Tree 214
Oscar Wilde Blackmailed Hesketh Pearson 216
A Woman of .No Importance Julia .Neilson 219
The Raconteur A. Hamilton Grant 220
New Views of Mr. Oscar Wilde Percival W. H. A/my 228
The Oscar Wilde Rule Hesketh Pearson 235
'I Never Walk' Wilfrid Scawen Blunt 237
With Tree at the Haymarket W. H. Leverton 238
An Ideal Husband Gilbert Burgess 239
Haymarket Memories Julia .Neilson 243
Nobody Reads Nowadays Squire Bancroft 245
Mr. Oscar Wilde on Mr. Oscar Wilde 246
Appendix Oscar Wilde's American Lecture Tour
Acknowledgements
I wish to express my gratitude to Dr Brian F. Tyson who read this work in
typescript and made many valuable suggestions. At various stages I also
received useful comments, information, support or assistance from Miss
Barbara Dickinson, Mrs Jeane Handerek, Mr Montgomery Hyde, Mr
Merlin Holland, Professor William A. Armstrong, Mrs Jacqueline
McCartin and Mrs Christine Bender.
I am grateful to Miss Bea Ramtej for her patience and skill in typing and
preparing the final manuscript; to Mr Tim Farmiloe of Macmillan for his
interest and encouragement and to Miss Julia Brittain and her colleagues
of the same firm for their help in seeing the book through the press.
Thanks are due to the University of Lethbridge for granting me
sabbatical leave to complete this work.
It is also a pleasant duty to record my appreciation to the staff of the
University of Lethbridge Library; the British Library, London; the
Newspaper Library, Colindale; the National Library oflreland, Dublin;
the University of California Library, Los Angeles; the Bibliotheque
Nationale, Paris; the Bodleian Library, Oxford; and the New York Public
Library.
The editor and publishers wish to thank the following who have kindly
given permission for the use of copyright material:
Adam International Review for the extract from 'And So Wilde Came to
Lunch' by Lady Emily Lutyens, published in Vol. XXII, Nos. 241-243
( 1954);
Edward Arnold Ltd for the extracts 'My Quarrel with Oscar Wilde' by Sir
James Rennell Rodd from Social and DiploTTUltic Memories I884-18y3 and
'Memories of Oscar Wilde' by L. B. Walford from Memories of Victorian
London;
Associated Book Publishers Ltd for the extract from An Artist's Reminiscences
by Walter Crane, published by Methuen & Co. Ltd;
Ernest Benn Ltd and Charles Scribner's Sons for the extracts 'Oscar Wilde
at Trinity College Dublin' by Sir Edward Sullivan from Oscar Wilde: The
Man-the Artist, the Martyr by Boris Brasol and 'The Aesthetic Craze' by Sir
Frank Benson from My Memoirs;
Ernest Benn Ltd for the extract 'Oscar Wilde-and Art' by Sir Johnston