1 00:00:00,560 --> 00:00:03,760 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from how 2 00:00:03,800 --> 00:00:14,120 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot Com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:14,280 --> 00:00:17,480 Speaker 1: I'm Katie Lambert and I'm Sarah Dowdy. And in our 4 00:00:17,560 --> 00:00:21,239 Speaker 1: Lily Langtry episode, we considered following up with a podcast 5 00:00:21,360 --> 00:00:25,880 Speaker 1: on Oscar Wilde, and the response was overwhelmingly in favor 6 00:00:25,920 --> 00:00:29,400 Speaker 1: of this, And it's probably because wild is a really 7 00:00:29,440 --> 00:00:33,240 Speaker 1: inspired dramatist, and he's a talented poet and essayist. He's 8 00:00:33,479 --> 00:00:36,680 Speaker 1: one of the best loved Irish writers, which is pretty 9 00:00:36,720 --> 00:00:40,400 Speaker 1: tough company, i'd say. But he's also a really amazing man, 10 00:00:40,560 --> 00:00:43,120 Speaker 1: and I think that's the main reason people are so 11 00:00:43,280 --> 00:00:47,240 Speaker 1: interested in hearing about him. He's this bizarre dresser, he's 12 00:00:47,240 --> 00:00:51,760 Speaker 1: a public wit. He's a famously brilliant conversationalist, which is 13 00:00:52,159 --> 00:00:54,520 Speaker 1: something that's a little bit harder to talk about, of 14 00:00:54,560 --> 00:00:57,920 Speaker 1: course than his works. But one indicator of that is 15 00:00:57,920 --> 00:01:00,680 Speaker 1: that Churchill chose him as the person he would most 16 00:01:00,720 --> 00:01:04,360 Speaker 1: like to talk with in the afterlife. He's also famous, 17 00:01:04,400 --> 00:01:07,520 Speaker 1: of course for his tragic downfall. A libel suit that 18 00:01:07,560 --> 00:01:10,960 Speaker 1: turned against him cost him two years in prison and 19 00:01:11,160 --> 00:01:14,559 Speaker 1: ruined his name and reputation for decades after his death, 20 00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:18,280 Speaker 1: and Since June is Pride month in the United States, 21 00:01:18,360 --> 00:01:20,840 Speaker 1: it seemed like the perfect time to discuss a man 22 00:01:20,920 --> 00:01:24,720 Speaker 1: who was so famously persecuted because of his sexuality. So 23 00:01:24,880 --> 00:01:27,360 Speaker 1: we will start at the beginning, as we always do. 24 00:01:27,720 --> 00:01:32,200 Speaker 1: Oscar fingal Oh Flaherty Will's Wilde was born in Dublin. 25 00:01:32,280 --> 00:01:36,440 Speaker 1: I don't have overtames, I know clearly neither of us do. 26 00:01:36,959 --> 00:01:39,840 Speaker 1: He was born in eighteen fifty four and his family 27 00:01:39,920 --> 00:01:43,040 Speaker 1: was of Dutch origin, and they were descended from an artist, 28 00:01:43,120 --> 00:01:46,360 Speaker 1: appropriately enough, but the family had been in Ireland since 29 00:01:46,400 --> 00:01:49,680 Speaker 1: the late seventeenth century, and since then they had mostly 30 00:01:49,800 --> 00:01:54,160 Speaker 1: either worked in land management or worked as doctors. His father, 31 00:01:54,240 --> 00:01:57,279 Speaker 1: Sir William Wilde, was a renowned ear and eye doctor 32 00:01:57,400 --> 00:02:01,160 Speaker 1: and even invented a surgery for cataracts. He operated on 33 00:02:01,200 --> 00:02:04,160 Speaker 1: the King of Sweden, and his mother was Lady wild 34 00:02:04,400 --> 00:02:07,600 Speaker 1: Jane Francesca l g who was an Irish nationalist and 35 00:02:07,640 --> 00:02:11,840 Speaker 1: wrote poems and articles under the name Speranza. I think 36 00:02:12,120 --> 00:02:14,400 Speaker 1: I want that to be my nom de plume if 37 00:02:14,440 --> 00:02:17,239 Speaker 1: I ever take one on. Oscar is the second son, 38 00:02:17,360 --> 00:02:19,560 Speaker 1: and his birth is followed by that of a sister 39 00:02:19,720 --> 00:02:22,840 Speaker 1: named Zola, and she dies as a young girl, and 40 00:02:22,919 --> 00:02:27,360 Speaker 1: it's a pretty tragic event in his early years, switching 41 00:02:27,400 --> 00:02:30,640 Speaker 1: to a happier aspect of his childhood. Wild is a 42 00:02:30,760 --> 00:02:34,280 Speaker 1: dedicated scholar from the very start. He may have later 43 00:02:34,360 --> 00:02:38,600 Speaker 1: kept a library that mingled philosophers with the silly books 44 00:02:38,680 --> 00:02:41,520 Speaker 1: and French pornographic writings that we might think of, but 45 00:02:42,040 --> 00:02:46,520 Speaker 1: to forget his classical scholarly training was a mistake. And 46 00:02:46,680 --> 00:02:49,480 Speaker 1: a fact that Sarah and I liked a lot was 47 00:02:49,560 --> 00:02:52,760 Speaker 1: that he would tear off the top corner of pages 48 00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:56,400 Speaker 1: in his books and eat it while he was reading. 49 00:02:56,480 --> 00:02:59,280 Speaker 1: So a different kind of consumer. And how much paper 50 00:02:59,320 --> 00:03:01,680 Speaker 1: did this man eat? I mean, he was a very 51 00:03:01,720 --> 00:03:05,600 Speaker 1: avid reader. One of Sarah's friends lent her an Oscar 52 00:03:05,639 --> 00:03:07,639 Speaker 1: wild book and told her to be very careful with it, 53 00:03:07,600 --> 00:03:11,040 Speaker 1: and she retorted that Oscar Wilde ate his own books, 54 00:03:11,040 --> 00:03:13,919 Speaker 1: so he didn't really know what to say back to them. 55 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:17,360 Speaker 1: So Wild earns a scholarship to Trinity College, Devlin, which 56 00:03:17,480 --> 00:03:20,600 Speaker 1: we've talked about before because it's where the books kept, 57 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:24,120 Speaker 1: and from there he goes to Magdalen College, Oxford, and 58 00:03:24,160 --> 00:03:27,919 Speaker 1: he wins prizes in English and classics, and also really 59 00:03:27,960 --> 00:03:31,320 Speaker 1: comes to love the philosophies of John Ruskin and Walter Pater, 60 00:03:31,480 --> 00:03:34,920 Speaker 1: and I was thinking, what English class doesn't start with 61 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:38,400 Speaker 1: some essay on Peter. It seems they all do requisite reading, 62 00:03:38,480 --> 00:03:42,200 Speaker 1: for sure, but he takes Peter's teaching to love art 63 00:03:42,240 --> 00:03:45,280 Speaker 1: for art's sake a step further, and as his son 64 00:03:45,400 --> 00:03:49,040 Speaker 1: Vivian later describes, that, he set out to idealize beauty 65 00:03:49,120 --> 00:03:51,440 Speaker 1: for beauty's sake. So I think that's what we can 66 00:03:51,480 --> 00:03:55,280 Speaker 1: think of as Wild's philosophy in his writing. His dorm 67 00:03:55,360 --> 00:03:59,040 Speaker 1: room was also a little different from mine. He decorated 68 00:03:59,080 --> 00:04:02,440 Speaker 1: it with blue China and Prince by Dante Gabriel Rossetti 69 00:04:02,560 --> 00:04:06,120 Speaker 1: and Edward Burne Jones, which again big change from all 70 00:04:06,160 --> 00:04:09,560 Speaker 1: the mc shure I remember seeing in My friends. And 71 00:04:09,600 --> 00:04:12,920 Speaker 1: he was also an estete, believing that beauty is the 72 00:04:13,040 --> 00:04:15,920 Speaker 1: ideal that we should all strive for. Yeah, tying back 73 00:04:15,960 --> 00:04:18,960 Speaker 1: into that motto that we mentioned a second ago, But 74 00:04:19,400 --> 00:04:22,120 Speaker 1: we're going to skip ahead now to London in eighteen 75 00:04:22,200 --> 00:04:25,360 Speaker 1: seventy nine. Wild has just arrived in the city and 76 00:04:25,400 --> 00:04:28,120 Speaker 1: he's going to be a writer and an editor, and 77 00:04:28,200 --> 00:04:30,600 Speaker 1: he's going to do it in style because he dresses 78 00:04:30,680 --> 00:04:34,760 Speaker 1: really flamboyantly, which is something that might be lost on 79 00:04:35,040 --> 00:04:38,880 Speaker 1: modern people. You might just think it's old fashioned, funny clothes, 80 00:04:39,040 --> 00:04:42,680 Speaker 1: but people did not dress in black silk stockings. That 81 00:04:42,720 --> 00:04:46,640 Speaker 1: was not your typical attire in this period. And people 82 00:04:46,680 --> 00:04:49,680 Speaker 1: weren't wearing fur lined coats and knee breeches. That was 83 00:04:50,200 --> 00:04:54,480 Speaker 1: an Oscar Wild exclusive. And this and his work and 84 00:04:54,680 --> 00:04:58,440 Speaker 1: his larger than life personality got him satirized in the 85 00:04:58,520 --> 00:05:02,520 Speaker 1: periodical Punch, and Gilbert and Sullivan added him to the routine, 86 00:05:02,640 --> 00:05:06,200 Speaker 1: basing their character Bunthorne on him. And he didn't mind 87 00:05:06,520 --> 00:05:10,240 Speaker 1: being linked to the ascetic movement. He published poems in 88 00:05:10,320 --> 00:05:13,520 Speaker 1: eighteen eighty one with his own money to help enhance 89 00:05:13,640 --> 00:05:15,719 Speaker 1: this connection. Yeah, he didn't even mind if it was 90 00:05:15,760 --> 00:05:19,159 Speaker 1: a mocking connection. In some cases. He has a pretty 91 00:05:19,160 --> 00:05:22,920 Speaker 1: good sense of humor himself. He writes a play Vera 92 00:05:23,279 --> 00:05:26,800 Speaker 1: shortly after this, which essentially uh is just putting it 93 00:05:26,839 --> 00:05:29,240 Speaker 1: in a nice way. It's no importance of being earnest 94 00:05:29,320 --> 00:05:31,679 Speaker 1: and it only runs in New York City for one week, 95 00:05:31,800 --> 00:05:34,600 Speaker 1: not at all in London. But by eighteen eighty two 96 00:05:34,720 --> 00:05:37,880 Speaker 1: he's on a lecture tour in the United States and Canada. 97 00:05:37,920 --> 00:05:40,839 Speaker 1: And this is really how he builds up his fame. 98 00:05:40,920 --> 00:05:44,680 Speaker 1: When he arrives in New York, he famously declares that 99 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:48,120 Speaker 1: he has nothing to declare but his genius, which is 100 00:05:48,160 --> 00:05:51,839 Speaker 1: going to go down in history books for sure. Um 101 00:05:51,880 --> 00:05:56,040 Speaker 1: and then he makes a name for himself touring, giving lectures, 102 00:05:56,720 --> 00:06:00,760 Speaker 1: having conversations with people, and becoming famous from when coming 103 00:06:00,760 --> 00:06:03,159 Speaker 1: back from It a star. He got to work in 104 00:06:03,279 --> 00:06:06,560 Speaker 1: Paris on his next play, The Duchess of Padua, and 105 00:06:07,240 --> 00:06:10,320 Speaker 1: he's writing it. It's a commissioned work for the actress 106 00:06:10,440 --> 00:06:13,640 Speaker 1: Mary Anderson, but she turns it down and doesn't like it, 107 00:06:13,720 --> 00:06:17,159 Speaker 1: which of course isn't good for business. So he picks 108 00:06:17,240 --> 00:06:20,279 Speaker 1: up the lecture tour circuit again, this time in England, 109 00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:24,000 Speaker 1: but it doesn't last long. By eight four, he's settled 110 00:06:24,040 --> 00:06:28,039 Speaker 1: down in London to marry Constance Lloyd, and despite his 111 00:06:28,200 --> 00:06:31,520 Speaker 1: later trial and Constance is distancing of her family from 112 00:06:31,520 --> 00:06:34,919 Speaker 1: her husband, she changes her and her son's last names. 113 00:06:35,279 --> 00:06:38,920 Speaker 1: We shouldn't see their marriage as a sham, Vivian wrote 114 00:06:38,960 --> 00:06:42,160 Speaker 1: about it. Oscar was romantically in love with his beautiful 115 00:06:42,200 --> 00:06:44,960 Speaker 1: young wife, and for some years he was ideally happy, 116 00:06:45,800 --> 00:06:48,600 Speaker 1: and they have two sons together, Vivian, as we mentioned 117 00:06:48,640 --> 00:06:51,800 Speaker 1: in eighty six and a year before that, Cyril and 118 00:06:51,920 --> 00:06:56,039 Speaker 1: Oscar works a day job of sorts and versus, a 119 00:06:56,080 --> 00:06:59,359 Speaker 1: reviewer for the Paul Malgazette and then as an editor 120 00:06:59,440 --> 00:07:04,320 Speaker 1: for Women's World until eighteen eighty nine. But another important 121 00:07:04,360 --> 00:07:07,040 Speaker 1: point to make here is that marriage marks a pretty 122 00:07:07,040 --> 00:07:09,880 Speaker 1: big shift in his working style, and he had mostly 123 00:07:09,880 --> 00:07:14,120 Speaker 1: written poetry before it, and after he turns almost exclusively 124 00:07:14,200 --> 00:07:17,760 Speaker 1: to prose. And we have a quote from biographer Boris 125 00:07:17,880 --> 00:07:21,680 Speaker 1: Brazil noting that he began his literary career as a 126 00:07:21,720 --> 00:07:25,800 Speaker 1: composer of sonorous and pleasing verses, in which, however, as 127 00:07:25,840 --> 00:07:30,040 Speaker 1: he himself admitted, there was more rhyme than reason. Yet 128 00:07:30,040 --> 00:07:32,400 Speaker 1: as he grew older he seemed to have lost all 129 00:07:32,480 --> 00:07:35,200 Speaker 1: taste for poetry. And I also think it's important to 130 00:07:35,240 --> 00:07:40,480 Speaker 1: note that his only major major poem written after his 131 00:07:40,560 --> 00:07:44,400 Speaker 1: marriage is The Ballad of Reading Jail, written after his imprisonment, 132 00:07:45,200 --> 00:07:48,960 Speaker 1: and his major literary years where he's known so much 133 00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:52,440 Speaker 1: for his literary brilliance, is a pretty short span. It's 134 00:07:52,480 --> 00:07:56,040 Speaker 1: from eighteen eighty eight to eighteen ninety four. His first 135 00:07:56,120 --> 00:07:58,880 Speaker 1: major piece is The Happy Prince in eighteen eighty eight. 136 00:07:58,920 --> 00:08:02,760 Speaker 1: That's a collection of fairy tales, but very poetical despite 137 00:08:02,760 --> 00:08:05,240 Speaker 1: being prose there for kids and adults, and Sarah and 138 00:08:05,280 --> 00:08:08,080 Speaker 1: I would like a copy. And there are more stories 139 00:08:08,160 --> 00:08:12,560 Speaker 1: in Lord Arthur Saville's Crime and other Stories, and later 140 00:08:12,920 --> 00:08:16,360 Speaker 1: A House of Pomegranates and the Sphinx. But also in 141 00:08:17,240 --> 00:08:20,560 Speaker 1: one he has his first novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, 142 00:08:20,600 --> 00:08:25,120 Speaker 1: which first appeared in Lippincott's magazine and was condemned by reviewers, 143 00:08:25,440 --> 00:08:28,800 Speaker 1: and the idea for the novel was actually based in fact, 144 00:08:28,840 --> 00:08:30,680 Speaker 1: he had gotten it a few years before when he 145 00:08:30,800 --> 00:08:34,880 Speaker 1: visited the studio of the painter Basil Ward, and Ward 146 00:08:35,000 --> 00:08:38,040 Speaker 1: was painting this really lovely young man, and after the 147 00:08:38,080 --> 00:08:41,880 Speaker 1: sitter left, the two agreed that it was too bad 148 00:08:42,080 --> 00:08:45,360 Speaker 1: that this man's beauty would eventually fade and die, and 149 00:08:45,400 --> 00:08:48,720 Speaker 1: they wish that the painting itself could age and the 150 00:08:48,760 --> 00:08:53,199 Speaker 1: man could remain forever young. And Wild obviously thinks that 151 00:08:53,280 --> 00:08:56,520 Speaker 1: sounds like the makings of a great story. And he 152 00:08:56,640 --> 00:09:00,920 Speaker 1: also collects some of his philosophical essays eventually into Intentions. 153 00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:03,960 Speaker 1: So this is a really really productive span of a 154 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:07,400 Speaker 1: few years here for Wild. Of course, he's also writing 155 00:09:07,520 --> 00:09:13,040 Speaker 1: drama like Lady Windermere's Fan, which he described as one 156 00:09:13,080 --> 00:09:17,040 Speaker 1: of those modern drawing room plays with pink lampshades. It's 157 00:09:17,080 --> 00:09:21,240 Speaker 1: the epitome of a well built play, although Katie admitted 158 00:09:21,240 --> 00:09:23,640 Speaker 1: she was not as it's not one of my favorites. 159 00:09:24,160 --> 00:09:27,440 Speaker 1: But he was called for after its debut performance and 160 00:09:27,520 --> 00:09:30,280 Speaker 1: gave a bit too smug of a speech. Speaking to 161 00:09:30,280 --> 00:09:33,360 Speaker 1: the actors, he said, I congratulate you on the great 162 00:09:33,400 --> 00:09:36,520 Speaker 1: success of your performance, which persuades me that you think 163 00:09:36,559 --> 00:09:39,560 Speaker 1: almost as highly of the play as I do, so 164 00:09:39,760 --> 00:09:43,120 Speaker 1: not terribly modest there. He then heads off to Paris 165 00:09:43,160 --> 00:09:47,440 Speaker 1: to write Salome in French and Sarah Bernhardt, one of 166 00:09:47,480 --> 00:09:51,400 Speaker 1: the greatest actresses of her day, wants to star in it, 167 00:09:51,480 --> 00:09:53,920 Speaker 1: and she sends it into rehearsals, but the play is 168 00:09:54,000 --> 00:09:58,160 Speaker 1: stopped by the censor because no Biblical characters are allowed 169 00:09:58,320 --> 00:10:02,360 Speaker 1: on the English stage, and Wild is really upset by this, 170 00:10:02,520 --> 00:10:07,280 Speaker 1: really annoyed, and even considers renouncing his citizenship and moving 171 00:10:07,320 --> 00:10:10,319 Speaker 1: to France, which he probably should have. Yeah, it's it's 172 00:10:10,400 --> 00:10:14,520 Speaker 1: unfortunate that he doesn't, but he continues writing these funny 173 00:10:14,600 --> 00:10:17,960 Speaker 1: plays that are great hits in England. In eighteen ninety two, 174 00:10:18,000 --> 00:10:20,760 Speaker 1: he puts out a Woman of No importance, and this 175 00:10:20,880 --> 00:10:23,800 Speaker 1: time when the audience cries for author on the stage, 176 00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:27,760 Speaker 1: he's a little a little cooler with his speech. By 177 00:10:27,920 --> 00:10:32,000 Speaker 1: January eight, he hits the big time when an ideal 178 00:10:32,080 --> 00:10:36,200 Speaker 1: Husband debuts and is attended by the Prince of Wales 179 00:10:36,280 --> 00:10:40,079 Speaker 1: and Royalty does not come to a play on opening night, 180 00:10:40,200 --> 00:10:42,400 Speaker 1: so it's a big deal. I guess they're waiting to 181 00:10:42,520 --> 00:10:45,800 Speaker 1: find out if it's good before they bother. His last 182 00:10:45,920 --> 00:10:49,320 Speaker 1: play was the best of All, The Importance of Being Earnest, 183 00:10:49,440 --> 00:10:54,560 Speaker 1: which debuted February fourteen to eight. But that's also when 184 00:10:54,640 --> 00:10:58,280 Speaker 1: his troubles come to Adad and the root of all 185 00:10:58,280 --> 00:11:01,960 Speaker 1: this trouble dates back to the start of this big 186 00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:06,000 Speaker 1: literary success actually in when he met the twenty two 187 00:11:06,080 --> 00:11:10,120 Speaker 1: year old poet Lord Alfred Douglas, who was known as Bozy, 188 00:11:10,200 --> 00:11:15,040 Speaker 1: which was originally derived from his mother's nickname Boise. And 189 00:11:15,280 --> 00:11:17,839 Speaker 1: they meet at a tea party and they become really 190 00:11:17,840 --> 00:11:21,319 Speaker 1: good friends. They dined together, they stay at each other's houses, 191 00:11:21,720 --> 00:11:26,479 Speaker 1: they traveled together, and the first issue with this relationship 192 00:11:26,520 --> 00:11:29,520 Speaker 1: comes up when Douglas gives one of his friends an 193 00:11:29,520 --> 00:11:32,720 Speaker 1: old suit and the friend discovers letters in the pocket 194 00:11:33,120 --> 00:11:36,280 Speaker 1: and their letters always check your pocket, Yeah, don't leave 195 00:11:36,320 --> 00:11:43,560 Speaker 1: your incriminating letters behind. So Wild is blackmailed because these 196 00:11:43,600 --> 00:11:47,199 Speaker 1: are rather incriminating letters, and this still isn't too big 197 00:11:47,240 --> 00:11:50,000 Speaker 1: of a problem though. The big issue comes later when 198 00:11:50,040 --> 00:11:55,240 Speaker 1: Douglas's father, the Marquess of Queensbury, who absolutely hates the 199 00:11:55,280 --> 00:11:57,800 Speaker 1: friendship between these two men and may have been a 200 00:11:57,800 --> 00:12:02,440 Speaker 1: little mentally unhinged himself, goes after Wild, and aside from 201 00:12:02,520 --> 00:12:05,280 Speaker 1: his involvement in this whole affair, he's best known for 202 00:12:05,320 --> 00:12:10,200 Speaker 1: the Queensbury Rules of amateur boxing, so perhaps not a 203 00:12:10,240 --> 00:12:13,040 Speaker 1: great man to get and a tangle with guy to 204 00:12:13,200 --> 00:12:15,600 Speaker 1: have trouble with for sure. So as we mentioned, he 205 00:12:15,640 --> 00:12:18,240 Speaker 1: didn't like this friendship, but he feels a little bit 206 00:12:18,240 --> 00:12:21,240 Speaker 1: better about it after he meets Wild, who managed to 207 00:12:21,240 --> 00:12:25,679 Speaker 1: woo him over a long lunch. But in right, when 208 00:12:25,679 --> 00:12:28,760 Speaker 1: Wild's fame is reaching its heights, he's angry again with 209 00:12:28,800 --> 00:12:32,679 Speaker 1: the whole thing and demands his son stop seeing him. 210 00:12:32,720 --> 00:12:35,440 Speaker 1: He says, your intimacy with this man Wild must either 211 00:12:35,520 --> 00:12:38,760 Speaker 1: cease or I will disown you and stop all money supplies. 212 00:12:38,880 --> 00:12:41,240 Speaker 1: I am not going to try to analyze this intimacy, 213 00:12:41,360 --> 00:12:43,960 Speaker 1: and I make no charge. But to my mind, to 214 00:12:44,040 --> 00:12:46,360 Speaker 1: pose as a thing is as bad as to be it, 215 00:12:46,920 --> 00:12:50,559 Speaker 1: and Douglas replies, rather witheringly, what a funny little man 216 00:12:50,640 --> 00:12:53,520 Speaker 1: you are in a telegram too. You can just imagine 217 00:12:53,559 --> 00:12:58,079 Speaker 1: how is Boluste father must have taken that. So Queensbury 218 00:12:58,240 --> 00:13:01,120 Speaker 1: starts to get pretty menace thing after this, and he 219 00:13:01,160 --> 00:13:06,280 Speaker 1: threatens hotel managers and restaurant managers who may be entertaining 220 00:13:06,280 --> 00:13:08,960 Speaker 1: the man harboring the men. And he shows up at 221 00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:12,200 Speaker 1: the house of Oscar Wilde with a prize fighter, and 222 00:13:12,280 --> 00:13:15,080 Speaker 1: Oscar tells him, I do not know what the Queensbury 223 00:13:15,200 --> 00:13:18,000 Speaker 1: rules are, but the Oscar wild rule is to shoot 224 00:13:18,080 --> 00:13:22,800 Speaker 1: on site, which is a very menacing warning from this 225 00:13:23,120 --> 00:13:28,360 Speaker 1: poet who his motto is beauty for Beauty's sake. And then, 226 00:13:28,559 --> 00:13:32,440 Speaker 1: in at the opening night of the Importance of Being Earnest, 227 00:13:32,960 --> 00:13:37,600 Speaker 1: Queensbury attempts to disrupt the show, so wild orders additional 228 00:13:37,640 --> 00:13:41,040 Speaker 1: protection around the theater and Queensbury's left outside for the 229 00:13:41,120 --> 00:13:44,920 Speaker 1: course of the performance. But the final blow is when 230 00:13:44,920 --> 00:13:47,360 Speaker 1: he leaves a card at the club that wild and 231 00:13:47,400 --> 00:13:51,280 Speaker 1: his wife belonged to that says to Oscar Wilde, posing 232 00:13:51,360 --> 00:13:54,719 Speaker 1: as a psalmbed might and I'm not saying that incorrectly. 233 00:13:54,800 --> 00:13:59,440 Speaker 1: He spelled it incorrectly, and Wild was grossly offended. He wrote, 234 00:13:59,480 --> 00:14:02,480 Speaker 1: I don't see anything now but a criminal prosecution. My 235 00:14:02,559 --> 00:14:05,200 Speaker 1: whole life seems ruined by this man. I don't know 236 00:14:05,200 --> 00:14:08,439 Speaker 1: what to do. Yeah, he's worried that his reputation is 237 00:14:08,480 --> 00:14:11,920 Speaker 1: going to be affected. He's at the pinnacle of his 238 00:14:12,000 --> 00:14:15,600 Speaker 1: fame right now, and Douglas, who really hates his father, 239 00:14:15,760 --> 00:14:19,840 Speaker 1: urges Wild to sue Forliabel, and a lot of his 240 00:14:19,920 --> 00:14:23,920 Speaker 1: friends think this is a terrible idea. They tell him 241 00:14:23,920 --> 00:14:26,520 Speaker 1: that he'll have no hope winning it, and that he 242 00:14:26,560 --> 00:14:29,200 Speaker 1: should just get out of the country, move to France, 243 00:14:29,200 --> 00:14:32,520 Speaker 1: where it's more tolerant, and continue his writing career. But 244 00:14:32,600 --> 00:14:35,040 Speaker 1: he decides to go ahead with the suit and engages 245 00:14:35,160 --> 00:14:38,560 Speaker 1: Edward Clark to prosecute, and swears to him that there's 246 00:14:38,600 --> 00:14:41,520 Speaker 1: no basis to this libel. So that brings us to 247 00:14:41,640 --> 00:14:47,520 Speaker 1: our trial. April third. Wild is incredibly confident with his suit. 248 00:14:47,920 --> 00:14:50,440 Speaker 1: He testifies that I said to him, how dare you 249 00:14:50,520 --> 00:14:53,440 Speaker 1: say such things as you do about your son and me? 250 00:14:54,120 --> 00:14:57,640 Speaker 1: And he also faces off Queensbury's key piece of evidence, 251 00:14:58,080 --> 00:15:01,600 Speaker 1: a letter from Wild to Douglas. Clark urges the people 252 00:15:01,680 --> 00:15:04,400 Speaker 1: to remember that Wild as a poet, and that they 253 00:15:04,440 --> 00:15:08,360 Speaker 1: should take this letter as the expression of true poetic 254 00:15:08,440 --> 00:15:11,760 Speaker 1: feeling and nothing more than that. So while this letter 255 00:15:11,840 --> 00:15:15,440 Speaker 1: may seem really out there to you regular people, this 256 00:15:15,480 --> 00:15:19,160 Speaker 1: is a normal stuff for a poet exactly. And Wild 257 00:15:19,280 --> 00:15:22,480 Speaker 1: is really confident, as he said a second ago, he's 258 00:15:22,680 --> 00:15:25,600 Speaker 1: sure that his fame and his popularity are going to 259 00:15:25,720 --> 00:15:30,440 Speaker 1: carry this. And this even extends to his cross examination 260 00:15:30,480 --> 00:15:36,160 Speaker 1: by Edward Carson, who's representing Queensbury, and Wild's responses make 261 00:15:36,200 --> 00:15:39,800 Speaker 1: for really really good reading. They're witty, they're sharp. Sometimes 262 00:15:39,800 --> 00:15:42,840 Speaker 1: they contradict each other, so maybe it's not the best 263 00:15:44,320 --> 00:15:47,360 Speaker 1: best stuff to be saying on the stand, but it 264 00:15:47,440 --> 00:15:51,560 Speaker 1: does make for an inner tran read. The first part 265 00:15:51,600 --> 00:15:55,520 Speaker 1: of the questioning focused on his literary works, which Wild 266 00:15:55,560 --> 00:15:58,840 Speaker 1: defended against charges of immorality. He said, there's no such 267 00:15:58,880 --> 00:16:01,640 Speaker 1: thing as an immoral word. Books are well written or 268 00:16:01,920 --> 00:16:06,120 Speaker 1: badly written. That his cocky responses started to die down 269 00:16:06,160 --> 00:16:10,920 Speaker 1: when Carson asks about his relationships his presence to young men. 270 00:16:11,600 --> 00:16:16,520 Speaker 1: They're low intellectual capacity and perhaps unsuitability of some of 271 00:16:16,560 --> 00:16:19,920 Speaker 1: his friends. But while tried to play up his love 272 00:16:20,080 --> 00:16:23,240 Speaker 1: of youth, which was something he valued in his friends 273 00:16:23,280 --> 00:16:26,720 Speaker 1: above education or social standing. Yeah, so he tries to 274 00:16:26,760 --> 00:16:30,080 Speaker 1: make like he's an equal opportunity friend here and he 275 00:16:30,160 --> 00:16:34,240 Speaker 1: just loves youth. And things get really serious when Carson 276 00:16:34,320 --> 00:16:36,800 Speaker 1: announces that he'll be introducing a witness who had a 277 00:16:36,840 --> 00:16:41,720 Speaker 1: sexual relationship with Wild, and this is very dangerous territory 278 00:16:41,920 --> 00:16:45,200 Speaker 1: and Clark knows it. And that's because in eighteen nine, 279 00:16:45,640 --> 00:16:48,840 Speaker 1: the Criminal Law Amendment Act had passed which made it 280 00:16:48,880 --> 00:16:54,840 Speaker 1: illegal to commit gross indecency, which was essentially criminalizing homosexuality. 281 00:16:54,880 --> 00:16:59,280 Speaker 1: So it meant that this libel suit could become a 282 00:16:59,320 --> 00:17:03,320 Speaker 1: criminal one with Oscar Wild going to jail. So wild 283 00:17:03,480 --> 00:17:07,960 Speaker 1: counsel advised him to drop the suit and no jury 284 00:17:08,040 --> 00:17:11,119 Speaker 1: will convict Queensbury. It's just time to let all of 285 00:17:11,160 --> 00:17:15,280 Speaker 1: this go. But by the next afternoon, Queensbury's representation has 286 00:17:15,320 --> 00:17:19,480 Speaker 1: pushed the case ahead into criminal territory and the inspector 287 00:17:19,560 --> 00:17:23,680 Speaker 1: delivers the arrest warrant to Magistrate John Bridges, who adjourns 288 00:17:23,720 --> 00:17:27,000 Speaker 1: the court for a short period, which may have been 289 00:17:27,320 --> 00:17:30,560 Speaker 1: his way of trying to let Wild escape, you know, 290 00:17:30,640 --> 00:17:34,160 Speaker 1: heading out on the train to Europe, but he doesn't. 291 00:17:34,400 --> 00:17:38,080 Speaker 1: And his name comes off of the importance of being earnest. Yeah, 292 00:17:38,119 --> 00:17:41,480 Speaker 1: off of the playbills off the marquee, uh, and he 293 00:17:41,640 --> 00:17:45,560 Speaker 1: just feels like his life is absolutely crumbling, that this 294 00:17:46,800 --> 00:17:50,520 Speaker 1: the suit that he felt so confident about, has completely 295 00:17:50,560 --> 00:17:55,800 Speaker 1: backfired on him. And on April, his first criminal trial 296 00:17:55,920 --> 00:17:59,960 Speaker 1: begins and Wild is accused of gross indecencies and conspira 297 00:18:00,080 --> 00:18:04,520 Speaker 1: see to commit gross indecencies. Um, he's not prosecuted for sodomy, 298 00:18:04,680 --> 00:18:08,040 Speaker 1: but mail witnesses come to court and testify against him. 299 00:18:08,080 --> 00:18:11,200 Speaker 1: And when he himself appears, he's very different from how 300 00:18:11,240 --> 00:18:15,360 Speaker 1: he was in the earlier trial. He's quiet and respectful, yeah, 301 00:18:15,480 --> 00:18:20,160 Speaker 1: respectfully denying everything. And in Clark's closing statement, he echoes 302 00:18:20,400 --> 00:18:24,200 Speaker 1: most modern thoughts and says, clear from this fearful imputation 303 00:18:24,400 --> 00:18:27,240 Speaker 1: one of our most renowned and accomplished men of letters 304 00:18:27,240 --> 00:18:30,399 Speaker 1: of today. And in clearing him, clear society from a 305 00:18:30,520 --> 00:18:35,640 Speaker 1: stain which we interpreted as meaning that this shouldn't even 306 00:18:35,760 --> 00:18:38,040 Speaker 1: be a crime. It shouldn't even be in court, and 307 00:18:38,080 --> 00:18:42,240 Speaker 1: they shouldn't even be having to respond to it. Well, 308 00:18:42,240 --> 00:18:46,480 Speaker 1: and how embarrassing to to put one of your biggest, 309 00:18:46,680 --> 00:18:50,479 Speaker 1: most famous citizens on trial for something like this. So 310 00:18:50,560 --> 00:18:53,640 Speaker 1: the jury can't reach a verdict, although they quit him 311 00:18:53,640 --> 00:18:57,199 Speaker 1: on one charge and he's released on bail before the 312 00:18:57,240 --> 00:19:01,400 Speaker 1: second trial begins, and you would think people would let 313 00:19:01,440 --> 00:19:03,199 Speaker 1: it be at this point that that would be the 314 00:19:03,280 --> 00:19:06,240 Speaker 1: end of it, and even Carson is urging people to 315 00:19:06,480 --> 00:19:10,359 Speaker 1: lighten up, but the Liberal government of England wants a conviction. 316 00:19:11,520 --> 00:19:16,040 Speaker 1: One theory is that there were political motives for pursuing 317 00:19:16,040 --> 00:19:21,040 Speaker 1: wild with this great intensity, and it's likely that the 318 00:19:21,119 --> 00:19:24,359 Speaker 1: Prime Minister, Archibald Primrose, who was the Earl of Roseberry, 319 00:19:24,680 --> 00:19:27,639 Speaker 1: had had an affair with the brother of Douglas, a 320 00:19:27,640 --> 00:19:31,960 Speaker 1: man named Francis, and Francis is likely to have killed himself, 321 00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:35,639 Speaker 1: and it's not long after he did so that his father, 322 00:19:35,800 --> 00:19:41,840 Speaker 1: Queensberry started going after Oscar Wilde so intensely starts this 323 00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:47,160 Speaker 1: manic attack on him, hoping to quote save his other son. 324 00:19:47,760 --> 00:19:51,159 Speaker 1: And it's possible that if Rosebery didn't go after wild 325 00:19:51,320 --> 00:19:54,720 Speaker 1: and didn't try to to see his prosecution through to 326 00:19:54,760 --> 00:19:59,159 Speaker 1: a conviction, that his own case, in his own crime, 327 00:19:59,359 --> 00:20:03,000 Speaker 1: may have been at supposed by Queensberry. According to Douglas Linder, 328 00:20:03,160 --> 00:20:07,040 Speaker 1: Roseberry had insomnia and depression during the trial, but it 329 00:20:07,160 --> 00:20:10,840 Speaker 1: disappeared afterward, which perhaps gives a little more credence to 330 00:20:10,960 --> 00:20:14,159 Speaker 1: that theory, but this time the prosecution is led by 331 00:20:14,240 --> 00:20:18,440 Speaker 1: Solicitor General Frank Lockwood, and While describes Lockwood's treatment of 332 00:20:18,520 --> 00:20:22,200 Speaker 1: him as an appalling denunciation of me, like something out 333 00:20:22,200 --> 00:20:25,399 Speaker 1: of Tacitus, like a passage in Dante, like one of 334 00:20:25,440 --> 00:20:29,240 Speaker 1: Savonarola's indictments of the popes of Realm, which we all 335 00:20:29,240 --> 00:20:33,199 Speaker 1: know what that's like. So the jury finds Wild guilty 336 00:20:33,320 --> 00:20:36,080 Speaker 1: on all counts but one, and he sentenced to two 337 00:20:36,200 --> 00:20:39,600 Speaker 1: years of hard labor. Most of this is served at 338 00:20:39,640 --> 00:20:42,960 Speaker 1: reading jail and his sons. This is a really sad 339 00:20:43,040 --> 00:20:46,360 Speaker 1: aspect of the story. His sons are sent to Switzerland 340 00:20:46,440 --> 00:20:50,120 Speaker 1: and they never see their father again. Their last name 341 00:20:50,240 --> 00:20:54,440 Speaker 1: is changed them. The wife of Oscar Wild is really 342 00:20:54,600 --> 00:20:58,439 Speaker 1: doing all she can to help shore up their reputation 343 00:20:58,520 --> 00:21:01,760 Speaker 1: for the future, but they're still actual discriminated against as 344 00:21:01,840 --> 00:21:05,400 Speaker 1: adults because of who their father was. And while he's 345 00:21:05,440 --> 00:21:09,760 Speaker 1: in jail, Wild right stuprofundus a letter to Douglas, and 346 00:21:10,359 --> 00:21:13,480 Speaker 1: when Douglas receives it, he destroys it after the first 347 00:21:13,520 --> 00:21:15,920 Speaker 1: few pages. And Sarah, you read some of that. It's 348 00:21:16,040 --> 00:21:18,280 Speaker 1: pretty brutal, and I think Douglas thought that it was 349 00:21:18,320 --> 00:21:21,719 Speaker 1: the only copy and he could just get this really 350 00:21:21,800 --> 00:21:25,760 Speaker 1: detailed account of their relationship and of all of the 351 00:21:25,800 --> 00:21:30,120 Speaker 1: things that went wrong, just erased from history. And it's 352 00:21:30,200 --> 00:21:33,520 Speaker 1: not just a regretful letter because the friendship resulted in 353 00:21:33,720 --> 00:21:37,240 Speaker 1: while being in jail. After all, he's writing this from prison, 354 00:21:37,680 --> 00:21:41,120 Speaker 1: But it's regretful because he feels like Douglas cost him 355 00:21:41,200 --> 00:21:44,639 Speaker 1: his art, and he's ashamed of how much money they spent, 356 00:21:44,920 --> 00:21:49,800 Speaker 1: and he accuses Douglas of loving his life, loving his uh, 357 00:21:49,960 --> 00:21:54,160 Speaker 1: all the glamorous sides of celebrity writer. Yeah, the play 358 00:21:54,240 --> 00:21:58,840 Speaker 1: premiers and the parties and the fame, but not having 359 00:21:58,880 --> 00:22:02,760 Speaker 1: any respect for the quiet labor that actually went into 360 00:22:02,880 --> 00:22:05,600 Speaker 1: all his writing, the daily drudgery of sitting down and 361 00:22:05,680 --> 00:22:09,480 Speaker 1: actually getting it on paper. Wild had also sent this 362 00:22:09,600 --> 00:22:14,520 Speaker 1: manuscript to his publisher, Robert Ross, intending to revise it later, 363 00:22:14,560 --> 00:22:17,120 Speaker 1: and parts of it were published in nineteen oh five. 364 00:22:18,960 --> 00:22:22,320 Speaker 1: Wild and Douglas reunited for a time after prison, but 365 00:22:22,440 --> 00:22:26,639 Speaker 1: after Wild's death, Douglas tried to get the manuscript from Ross, 366 00:22:27,119 --> 00:22:30,040 Speaker 1: but he instead presented it to the British Museum and 367 00:22:30,200 --> 00:22:33,399 Speaker 1: embargoed its contents for sixty years. So imagine when this 368 00:22:33,480 --> 00:22:36,119 Speaker 1: came out in nineteen sixty it was made quite a 369 00:22:36,200 --> 00:22:40,200 Speaker 1: big deal. Um So wild is bankrupt when he comes 370 00:22:40,200 --> 00:22:42,800 Speaker 1: out of jail and he goes to France to try 371 00:22:42,800 --> 00:22:45,399 Speaker 1: to kick start his writing career again. But the only 372 00:22:45,800 --> 00:22:48,520 Speaker 1: thing he really produces is the ballot of writing jail, 373 00:22:48,680 --> 00:22:53,040 Speaker 1: and he writes letters to editors in concern about prison 374 00:22:53,080 --> 00:22:56,520 Speaker 1: conditions though, so he's he's still out there, he's just 375 00:22:57,119 --> 00:23:00,320 Speaker 1: not producing it anywhere near the same frequency he was 376 00:23:00,480 --> 00:23:04,920 Speaker 1: before his trial. Oscar Wilde died of acute meningitis from 377 00:23:04,920 --> 00:23:09,240 Speaker 1: the ear infection November thirtie in Paris, and on his 378 00:23:09,359 --> 00:23:12,600 Speaker 1: deathbed he was received into the Catholic Church, which he 379 00:23:12,680 --> 00:23:16,560 Speaker 1: had long been interested in along with mysticism, and he's 380 00:23:16,600 --> 00:23:20,600 Speaker 1: buried at Parla Chaise in Paris. And interestingly, on the 381 00:23:20,640 --> 00:23:23,320 Speaker 1: same trip, I saw the memorial to him at Reading 382 00:23:23,640 --> 00:23:28,480 Speaker 1: and his tomb in Paris, and it's a pretty crazy contrast. 383 00:23:28,600 --> 00:23:32,280 Speaker 1: The Paris memorial is this huge winged figure and it 384 00:23:32,320 --> 00:23:36,720 Speaker 1: is covered with lipstick kisses. There's a little sign discouraging 385 00:23:36,800 --> 00:23:40,560 Speaker 1: people to go kiss Oscar Wilde's tomb, but clearly most 386 00:23:40,600 --> 00:23:44,520 Speaker 1: people are not following that. It's surrounded by flowers. He's 387 00:23:44,840 --> 00:23:48,600 Speaker 1: definitely got a lot of very devoted fans still, and 388 00:23:48,640 --> 00:23:51,600 Speaker 1: at least don't wear that indelible lipstick if you feel 389 00:23:51,760 --> 00:23:54,760 Speaker 1: like you have to pick a nice shade too. Eventually 390 00:23:54,800 --> 00:23:57,280 Speaker 1: it turns into a grief something that Wild would like. 391 00:23:57,640 --> 00:24:01,159 Speaker 1: He was very concerned with beauty um And we'd like 392 00:24:01,240 --> 00:24:03,040 Speaker 1: to end on a note that's a little less sad. 393 00:24:03,119 --> 00:24:05,960 Speaker 1: Sarah found a pretty cool article in the New York Times. 394 00:24:06,320 --> 00:24:09,760 Speaker 1: But though about Wild and copyright law. Yeah, weirdly enough, 395 00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:12,480 Speaker 1: you know the famous photo of him where he's wearing 396 00:24:12,560 --> 00:24:15,080 Speaker 1: that fur lined coat in the knee breeches and the 397 00:24:15,119 --> 00:24:19,160 Speaker 1: silk stockings. It was taken by a celebrity photographer named 398 00:24:19,240 --> 00:24:23,520 Speaker 1: Napoleon Seroni, and it did play a very important role 399 00:24:23,560 --> 00:24:26,640 Speaker 1: in copyright law in the United States. And that's because 400 00:24:27,080 --> 00:24:30,200 Speaker 1: the photo had been reproduced as part of this New 401 00:24:30,280 --> 00:24:34,520 Speaker 1: York Department stores advertising campaign after he got so famous 402 00:24:34,560 --> 00:24:39,119 Speaker 1: on his American tour, and Seroni sued and eventually the 403 00:24:39,160 --> 00:24:43,400 Speaker 1: Supreme Court ruled that his photo should fall under constitutional 404 00:24:43,440 --> 00:24:47,280 Speaker 1: copyright protection, and the ruling is still cited today and 405 00:24:47,359 --> 00:24:52,480 Speaker 1: disputes over copyright laws right the Borough Giles Lithographic Company 406 00:24:52,520 --> 00:24:55,919 Speaker 1: for since Sereni, there's a little known Oscar wild fact 407 00:24:56,000 --> 00:24:59,840 Speaker 1: for you and speaking of things of beauty that brings 408 00:25:00,080 --> 00:25:06,600 Speaker 1: us to listen our mail. Our beautiful objects for today 409 00:25:06,640 --> 00:25:11,040 Speaker 1: are two bookmarks that we received from listener Mary and Austin, 410 00:25:11,480 --> 00:25:14,760 Speaker 1: who is five days shy of turning thirteen, so I 411 00:25:14,760 --> 00:25:18,600 Speaker 1: guess she's thirteen by now. Happy birthday, Mary, and she 412 00:25:18,720 --> 00:25:22,080 Speaker 1: wrote suggesting we do a little bit of history on Texas, 413 00:25:22,560 --> 00:25:26,520 Speaker 1: specifically the Battle of the Alamo and a few other things. 414 00:25:26,520 --> 00:25:29,600 Speaker 1: You've been suggested Texas might be right for a series, 415 00:25:30,160 --> 00:25:32,600 Speaker 1: so let us know what you think. Yeah, I really 416 00:25:32,600 --> 00:25:34,520 Speaker 1: like the part in the back where she wrote Texas 417 00:25:34,600 --> 00:25:36,560 Speaker 1: loves you. So I'm just gonna go around today saying 418 00:25:36,600 --> 00:25:39,239 Speaker 1: that we're big in Texas. 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