The definitve study of the fall and rise of Oscar Wilde after his death, written by Wilde's grandson.


Oscar Wilde died in November 1900, exiled in Paris and exhausted by scandal and prison life. The details of his life in the limelight are all well known. What has been regularly ignored are the reverberations of the scandal for decades after his life, the myth and legends that have been created, the squabbles between his friends, the court cases. Beginning at Wilde's death, Merlin Holland charts the extraordinary afterlife of the legendary writer, thinker, wit and decadent. There is the story of his family; his sons Cyril and Vyvyan concealing their identity and selling off the family history, and his niece, the famous Parisian lesbian Dolly. The story of Wilde's friends and the court cases, fights and biographical inventions. The forgeries and impersonators, including sightings of Wilde in America, France and Italy and messages from beyond the grave. The biography industry that now surrounds Wilde's life and his position as gay icon.