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Wilde (Oscar) and his Literary Circle Collection: Correspondence
MS. Wilde
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Description
Material described in this finding aid represents the main correspondence portion of the Oscar Wilde and his Literary Circle
collection at the Clark Library. The collection includes letters by Wilde, his wife, his mother, Lord Alfred Douglas, More
Adey, Christopher Millard, Robert Ross, and Adela Schuster, among many others.
Background
Oscar Wilde was born Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde in Dublin, Ireland, October 16, 1854. He attended Trinity College
and Magdalen College, Oxford, winning the Newdigate prize in 1878 for the poem Ravenna. He subsequently established himself in London society as a champion of the new Aesthetic movement, advocating "art for art's
sake," and publishing reviews and his Poems (1881). After being satirized (and made famous) as Bunthorne, the fleshly aesthetic poet in Gilbert and Sullivan's Patience, he made a year-long lecture tour of the United States, speaking on literature and the decorative arts. After his return to
London, he married Constance Lloyd in 1884; they had two sons, Cyril and Vyvyan Holland. In 1891 he met and began a love affair
with the handsome but temperamental poet, Lord Alfred Douglas.
Extent
38.36 Linear feet
Restrictions
The Clark Library owns the property rights to its collections but does not hold the copyright to these materials and therefore
cannot grant or deny permission to use them. Researchers are responsible for determining the copyright status of any materials
they may wish to use, investigating the owner of the copyright, and obtaining permission for their intended publication or
other use. In all cases, you must cite the Clark Library as the source with the following credit line: The William Andrews
Clark Memorial Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
Availability
Collection is open for research.