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The jewel in the crown of this collection is undoubtedly the cleanest text in print of the lengthy letter Wilde wrote to Lord Alfred Douglas from Reading Gaol in early 1897. It was this letter that was published in 1905 as De Profundis, although that version constituted less than half the original text. Holland and Hart-Davies present the whole thing, reedited from manuscript. Reading this extraordinary and moving letter in its entirety (it takes up nearly 100 pages), while being able to compare it with the usual tenor of Wilde's letter writing, is breath-taking. Most striking is the transition from the heartfelt but rather cloying earlier letters to the Douglas ("my dear boy ... It is really absurd. I can't live without you. You are so dear, so wonderful"), to the depth of expression from Reading Gaol: "Most people live for love and admiration. But it is by love and admiration that we should live. If any love is shown us we should recognise that we are quite unworthy of it. Nobody is worthy to be loved". But one thing--Wilde's sheer style--was unaffected by his downfall. "Everything about my tragedy has been hideous", he wrote from prison, "mean, repellent, lacking in style. Our very dress sense makes us grotesques. We are the zanies of sorrow". The most tragic aspect of the collection is the wilderness of rather undignified begging letters with which it ends ("Will you now send me £10? Please do this"; "Can you wire me £5 on account tomorrow?"), as Wilde lives out his last years in France. More immediate and vivid than even Ellman's classic Oscar Wilde, this is a wonderful book. --Adam Roberts
'The year's unputdownable joy.' Jonathan Keates, Spectator
'Almost like living his life with him... One puts down the letters heavy with mixed emotions – admiration, sorrow and exasperation.' Peter Lewis, Daily Mail
'You get a wonderful sense, such as even the best biography couldn't quite give, of Wilde in action from day to day – living in the thick of society, hustling his career forward. A monument to his great personality.' John Gross, Sunday Telegraph
'The long serpentine line of Oscar Wilde's career is traced here like some fiery scarlet thread. This is a marvellous volume, fully worthy of Wilde's own genius.' Peter Ackroyd, The Times
'These letters give us the human side of Wilde's legend and its human cost.' Philip Hoare, Observer
'A whole world is here. *****' Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday
'The most comprehensive collection yet of Wilde's correspondence, charting his development from ambitious young man about town to literary dandy and tortured outcast.' Guardian
'Oscar Wilde writes his own life in the newly revised and expanded Complete Letters. The one essential book on the subject.' The Independent Books of the Year
'The scholarship of Holland and Hart-Davis is as impeccable as their subject's wit, while the letters themselves bear comparison with any more conventional form of literary art. They are filled with the terror and the pity of Wilde's extravagant career, not untouched by pathos, and irradiated always by perpetual and wilful laughter.' Times Literary Supplement
'Meticulously edited, intelligently annotated, the letters were a biographer's dream.' Irish Times
'These 1,500 letters are always candid, always humorous (even in adversity) and add substantially to Wilde's reputation not only as a wit but as an intellectual heavyweight.' The Times Books of the Year
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Book Description Hardcover. Condition: New. Dust Jacket Condition: New. 1st Edition. NEW: First Edition hardcover (Orig. November 2000) First Printing: NEW mylar-protected jacket w/ sharp NEW edges & corners & showing orig. $45.00 pub. price at top-inside-front-flyleaf, NEW cover w/ black library-durable laid-weave paper wrapping spine & extending 1.46" onto front & back panels elegantly covered w/ champagne-green paper & w/ sharp NEW edges & corners, IMMACULATE smooth-cut text block exterior, IMPECCABLE cream-white card-stock end-papers, NEW perfect binding w/ black cloth bands at spine-caps, PRISTINE interior handsomely printed on EXCELLENT unblemished archival paper * 6.36" x 9.50" x 2.12", 1.76 kg, xxvi+1270 (1296) pp * CONTENTS: Chronological Table (vii), Introduction (xiii), Manuscript & Other Locations (xxii), List of Abbreviations (xxvi), Oxford: 1875-1878 (1), London I: 1878-1881 (75), America: 1882 (121), London II: 1883-1890 (193), London III: 1891-1895 (459), Prison: 1895-1897 (639), Berneval: 1897 (839), Naples: 1897-1898 (1015), Epilogue (1209), Index of Recipients (1231), General Index (1237) * ABOUT THE BOOK: Published to mark the centenary of his death, this splendid book reveals Oscar Wilde in his own words--including almost 300 letters that had never before appeared in print. Deliciously wicked, astoundingly clever, & often outright shocking, Oscar Wilde put his art into his work & his genius into his life In "The Complete Letters of Oscar Wilde" , replete w/ newly discovered correspondence, the full extent of that genius is unveiled. Charting his life from his Irish upbringing to his fame in fin de siecle London to infamy & exile in Paris, these letters, written between 1875 & 1900--reveal Wilde's wit, brilliance, and humanity. With letters to publishers & fans, friends & lovers, enemies & adversaries, this complete collection also includes editorial insights by Wilde's sole grandson, Merlin Holland, & the renowned Wilde scholar Rupert Hart-Davis. As Wilde's reputation as a serious thinker, humourous writer, & lay icon continue continues to flourish, this collection provides an intimate exploration of his life & thought. Here, in one comprehensive volume, are more than 1,000 letters which give insight into this notorious & often misunderstood literarary figure. An indispensable book for all lovers of Oscar Wilde, "The Complete Letters of Oscar Wilde" reveals his passion, his fears, his lies, his barbs. Above all, "The Complete Letters" celebrates the glory of Wilde's imagination. * ABOUT THE EDITORS: MERLIN HOLLAND is a journalist who devoted more than 20 years to researching his grandfather's life. The author of "The Wilde Album", he lives in London with his wife. RUPERT HART-DAVIS was the editor of the original collected letters of Oscar Wilde published in1962, as well as numerous scholarly works on the 1890s. * SHIPPING: MNEMOSYNE carefully wraps, labels & custom-packages this fine book for FREE domestic shipment via USPS MEDIA MAIL or USPS PRIORITY MAIL for a below-cost additional fee & (due to its weight) via Mandatory USPS INTERNATIONAL PRIORITY AIRMAIL to international destinations at rates quoted upon request. Seller Inventory # 010419
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