OSCAR WILDE & SHAKESPEARE’S SONNETS: The Mystery of ‘The Portrait of Mr. W.H.’

Oscar Wilde & Shakespeare’s Sonnets is a study of Oscar Wilde’s analysis of the Sonnets which he entitled The Portrait of Mr. W.H. 135 years ago, Oscar Wilde’s The Portrait of Mr. W.H . appeared on the news-stands as the principal article in the July 1889 edition of the prestigious Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine. Almost immediately after publication, Wilde decided to expand this into a book-length study. There are many mysteries about Shakespeare’s Sonnets – principally, who was the ‘Fair Youth’ and was he the dedicatee of these poems, Mr. W.H.? – and more mysteries about Oscar Wilde’s studies of them. What first attracted Oscar Wilde to his theory of the identity of Mr. W.H? Was this theory correct? When did Wilde finish his book-length study and submit his manuscript to his publisher, John Lane? Lane delayed publication before rejecting it in the chaos of Wilde’s trials in 1895: what happened to Wilde’s manuscript – was it lost or stolen? And what happened, after his disastrous bankruptcy, to the forged portrait of Mr. W.H. created by the artists and publishers Charles Ricketts and Charles Shannon? Twenty years after Wilde’s death, a book-length manuscript of Wilde’s was found in the desk drawer of Lane’s office manager and literary advisor. This manuscript – now in the collection of The Rosenbach Museum and Library – was published by Mitchell Kennerley in 1921: was this the manuscript Wilde submitted to his publisher and were these Wilde’s final thoughts on the Sonnets? These are some of the questions explored and answered in Oscar Wilde & Shakespeare’s Sonnets , the result of detailed analyses of the different editions of The Portrait of Mr W.H . Geoff Dibb takes the reader on a fascinating, close reading of Wilde’s published magazine article and the incomplete book-length manuscript, to comprehend what these reveal about Wilde, the relationship of The Portrait of Mr W.H . to his fictional works including The Picture of Dorian Gray, Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime and his critical works including The Decay of Lying and The Critic as Artist . It is an engrossing literary detective story beginning in the wealthy and fashionable area of St. James’s in Westminster, London. This is the world which Wilde wrote about and inhabited until 1895. Wilde’s life in London, his homosexual experiences and the creation of his greatest works all feature in this major transitional work. – ASIN: 1399977350 | ISBN13: 9781399977357 | ISBN-13: 978-1399977357