Invention of Oscar Wilde

Nicholas Frankel is Professor of English at Virginia Commonwealth University. He is the author or editor of many books about Oscar Wilde, including The Picture of Dorian Gray: An Annotated Uncensored Edition.

"Frankel takes as his subject the relation between Wilde's life and his literary work. He discusses Wilde's imaginative self-invention(s), saying on the first page that "his life now reads like the greatest of his works." . . . The book abounds in perceptive remarks while also offering appropriately skeptical readings of evidence . . . I recommend Frankel's excellent The Invention of Oscar Wilde to every LGBT reader." - The Gay and Lesbian Review"Oscar the man, Oscar the life, Oscar the tragedy, Oscar the standard bearer for art, Irishness, queerness, intellect and wit we all know. But there is Oscar the idea too: the symbol, the representative, the totem, the global icon which looms above the other identities. It is an identity whose construction Wilde himself began, but on which subsequent generations build. There is no one better to unwrap the mystery and challenge of this Oscar than Nicholas Frankel, whose previous work has already established him as one of the world’s foremost Wildeans. This book is such an invaluable and permanent addition to the literature." - Stephen Fry"Sympathetic and laudatory, and a compelling introduction to Wilde’s life . . . Frankel shows us the many Wildes." - Review 31"fast-paced, engagingly written . . . a fascinating argument for Wilde’s self-invention, all contained within the framework of Wilde’s familiar tale, expertly told." - The Wildean"Frankel presents a condensed but vivid biography of Oscar Wilde. In nine well-annotated chapters, he explores Wilde's unconventional life and works, from his student days at Oxford to his exile in France under the pseudonym "Sebastian Melmoth." Close readings of Wilde’s poetry, drama, and prose writings demonstrate how Wilde carefully crafted his public persona and successfully engaged the media in his need for fame. Deliberately provocative, Wilde challenged Victorian conventions not only with his openly homosexual affairs but also by defying norms of appearance and dress. His long hair and clean-shaven face were at odds with his mostly short-cropped and bearded male contemporaries . . . Recommended." - Choice"Frankel employs close readings of Wilde’s works to reveal the impact of the people, events, and revelations that shaped him throughout his life. Pictures of Wilde, and of contemporary satirical portrayals of him, demonstrate this link between man and image. Even those who already know Wilde’s story by heart will enjoy Frankel’s detailed analysis of the way Wilde influenced, and was influenced by, those around him." - Foreword Review"In his latest book about Wilde, Frankel focuses on the author’s deliberate self-reinvention, predicated on a desire for fame. . . . This lively biography paints a colorful portrait of the writer as public relations master and trendsetter." - Kirkus Reviews"this new biography of Wilde takes us on a journey through his inventive, provocative life, taking a deep look at his writings along the way." - The Bookseller"Gay icon, influencer, playwright, wit: there are many Oscar Wildes, and in this sympathetic and fast-paced biography Nicholas Frankel captures them all. It is the perfect introduction to a writer who not only invented himself but also helped to create the modern world." - Robert Douglas-Fairhurst, author of The Story of Alice: Lewis Carroll and the Secret History of Wonderland and Becoming Dickens: The Invention of a Novelist"In this compact yet intricate examination of Wilde’s paradoxical, provocative life, public and private, Nicholas Frankel lauds his subject’s uncompromising revolt against cruel, hypocritical Victorian piety. Frankel’s recognition of the role women played in informing Wilde’s work and fuelling his meteoric rise helps rebalance a life too often examined almost exclusively through his associations with men." - Eleanor Fitzsimons, author of Wilde's Women