Wilde in America: Oscar Wilde and the Invention of Modern Celebrity

by David M. Friedman

The story of Oscar Wilde’s landmark 1882 American tour explains how this quotable literary eminence became famous for being famous. On January 3, 1882, Oscar Wilde, a twenty-seven-year-old “genius”―at least by his own reckoning―arrived in New York. The Dublin-born Oxford man had made such a spectacle of himself in London with his eccentric fashion sense, acerbic wit, and extravagant passion for art and home design that Gilbert & Sullivan wrote an operetta lampooning him. He was hired to go to America to promote that work by presenting lectures on interior decorating. But Wilde had his own business plan. He would go to promote himself. And he did, traveling some 15,000 miles and visiting 150 American cities as he created a template for fame creation that still works today. Though Wilde was only the author of a self-published book of poems and an unproduced play, he presented himself as a “star,” taking the stage in satin breeches and a velvet coat with lace trim as he sang the praises of sconces and embroidered pillows―and himself. What Wilde so presciently understood is that fame could launch a career as well as cap one. David M. Friedman’s lively and often hilarious narrative whisks us across nineteenth-century America, from the mansions of Gilded Age Manhattan to roller-skating rinks in Indiana, from an opium den in San Francisco to the bottom of the Matchless silver mine in Colorado―then the richest on earth―where Wilde dined with twelve gobsmacked miners, later describing their feast to his friends in London as “First course: whiskey. Second course: whiskey. Third course: whiskey.” But, as Friedman shows, Wilde was no mere clown; he was a strategist. From his antics in London to his manipulation of the media―Wilde gave 100 interviews in America, more than anyone else in the world in 1882―he designed every move to increase his renown. There had been famous people before him, but Wilde was the first to become famous for being famous. Wilde in America is an enchanting tale of travel and transformation, comedy and capitalism―an unforgettable story that teaches us about our present as well as our past. 16 pages of illustrations

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Biography, Queer, Biography Memoir

320 pages, Hardcover

First published October 6, 2014

About the author

David M. Friedman has written for Esquire, GQ, and Rolling Stone, and was a reporter for New York Newsday and the Philadelphia Daily News. His first book, A Mind of Its Own: A Cultural History of the Penis, was published in more than a dozen countries. He is also the author of the widely acclaimed The Immortalists: Charles Lindbergh, Dr. Alexis Carrel, and Their Daring Quest to Live Forever. He lives in New York.

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Got a little bogged down in the details/I'm not convinced that an entire book was needed on this narrow topic. HOWEVER, I was still wildly (pun intended) entertained, and Friedman's comparison of Oscar Wilde as a brand and our modern interpretations of celebrity/fame was fascinating.

[Bill Peschel · Rating 5 out of 5]

With so many books out there about Oscar Wilde, a new book has to justify itself by presenting new information, or old stories in a new bottle. David M. Friedman accomplishes this by recasting Wilde as the first true celebrity, known simply for being known, making a spectacle of himself, and creating a public persona in which image is more important than truth.

With chapter titles such as "Work the Room," "The Subject is Always You" and "Promote Is Just Another Word for Provoke," the book breathes the scent of a Buzzfeed listicle. Friedman uses them as a foundation for each section of Wilde's journey. As the son of a witty Dublin hostess and mentored by a priest who wrote the book on engaging conversation (seriously), Wilde was taught how to "Build Your Brand" with epigrams that turn into wit with the help of paradoxes (one early example: "My mother and I have founded a Society for the Suppression of Virtue").

In "Take Your Show on the Road," Wilde makes himself conspicuous at Trinity and Oxford with outlandish dress, frequent social gatherings, and brilliant talk (he also took two Firsts at Oxford and won the Newdigate Prize, so he had some talent to back it up). From there, it was high-ho for London, where his fashion sense and epigrams made him a favorite with the sociable ladies, and he became a performer at dinner parties. He associated with William Morris' movement art and aestheticism, and made himself such a high-profile target that Gilbert and Sullivan parodied him in "Patience." When "Patience" was about to appear on a U.S. tour, the play's producer convinced Wilde to lecture across the country. Wilde was all too happy to do so.

"Wilde in America" follows Wilde on this journey, filled with details about Wilde's reception, his talk, and the sometimes hostile responses ("Ass-thetic" was one of his nicknames in the newspapers). Oscar didn't mind. To the man who coined the epigram, "The only thing worse that being talked about, is not being talked about," there was no such thing as a bad review. Although, as Friedman pointed out, he was more than willing to lie to keep the folks back home from finding out.

Wilde wasn't the first self-promoter. Walt Whitman planted favorable book reviews (anonymously, of course) about "Leaves of Grass," and quoted Emerson's private letter to him in the preface to his next edition. Heck, even James Boswell promoted himself as an advocate of revolution, and displayed a cane (falsely) given to him by Garibaldi the Italian revolutionist. With the help of newspapers, which need to print something every day and can't be too choosey about what it is, Wilde was the first one to succeed. And as we've seen, he wasn't the last.

[Rob Atkinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A generally wonderful account of the young Oscar Wilde's American tour of 1882, "Wilde in America" is of course rich in outrageous anecdotes and bon mots, and peopled with a very surprising cast of characters (and I DO mean characters) he encountered on his coast-to-coast lecture tour. This tour was underwritten by impresario D'Oyly Carte, primarily to give Americans some context for the 'aesthetic' type Gilbert and Sullivan were satirizing in their new comic opera "Patience" -- but Wilde cleverly used the opportunity for his own ends. Despite the fact that he was not yet a successful author or playwright, the immediate stir his 'aesthetic' appearance and over-the-top pronouncements caused, widely covered by an often hostile press, soon made him a household name in the States. A series of photographic portraits of Oscar taken at Napoleon Sarony's New York studio shortly after his landing were also widely disseminated, and apparently sold like hot cakes, making his image just as famous as his moniker. Soon enough, literary lions like Whitman and Longfellow entertained him, as did former Civil war foes Jefferson Davis and U.S. Grant. Expert at the art of the 'sound bite' and tireless at self-promotion, Wilde was indeed one of the first to generate great fame with little basis in concrete accomplishment.

This fact serves Friedman's thesis of sorts, that Wilde was first to be 'famous for being famous', anticipating the media's celebration of such non-entities as the Kardashians, Paris Hilton, Spencer Pratt, et al. I'm sure I won't be the only one who must object to this characterization, which puts Wilde in such shallow company. True he was a master of hype, but he WAS already celebrated as London's greatest wit and already had a (self published) book of poems and a play (unproduced) under his belt. He would of course go on to become immortal thanks to his later poems, plays and stories, and justly so. By contrast, if this book is still read in 50 years, I imagine the list of contemporary names Friedman cites will inevitably elicit a lot of head scratching and Google searching. The attempt to contextualize Wilde's early succés de scandale in such shallow, contemporary terms comes off as gimmicky, and mars an otherwise well-written and thoroughly enjoyable history. Still, this title is a must for Oscar Wilde fans, and likely to please any literary/art history enthusiast.

[Steve Folan · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a good book but seemed to flag at the end. It gives a very different perspective on Oscar Wilde before he had written anything significant and was only famous for being famous. He was an Irish version of Gok Wan, nobody could work out why he was a celebrity. His tour of America was successful and showed how he developed a public persona that was playful and tough and set him up for the next phase of his life.

[Gertie · Rating 3 out of 5]

read 1/2. started out great but got tedious

[Greg Tackett · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have never done much research into Oscar Wilde (Ambassador of Aestheticism, Aesthetic Messiah, The Apostle of the Aesthetes) but always knew who he was so it was a great way to learn more about him. This book focuses specifically on his American Tour from 1881 - 1882 when he was 27/28 years old. His tour was him giving lectures on “The Decorative Arts” and “The House Beautiful”.

Friedman does an incredible job comparing how Wilde built his fame in America in the exact same way celebrities today do. Posing for pictures (Sarony), giving interviews to magazines, hanging out with other famous people (Whitman) and being written about, featured in cartoons and poems. He was the original “Famous for being Famous” archetype.

Also loved how little gay men have changed in over 100 years. Loving attention, known for their biting wit and love of art and culture, being obsessed with actresses and divas (Langtry, Sarah Bernhardt), making daring fashion choices.

“The ultimate sin in storytelling isn’t lying. It’s being dull”

[Mary D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oscar Wilde learned early on, "All publicity is good publicity" and quickly became the consummate celebrity and what better place to test your skills then the United States.

Wilde in America is an accounting of Wilde's tour across the US and the wide variety of reactions of all the fans and haters. Amazingly, Wilde's fame came before his writing and appears to be solely based on his personality. Flamboyant, intelligent with a gift for storytelling (a true Irishman) he made his mark across the US. Many times he was criticized and insulted but that's ok because he gave it back ten fold and with flair.

Overall the book was good but could get a bit repetitive only because there were similar reactions throughout the US but as the Kardashian of the Victorian era he is always fun to read about.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a clever theory, exhaustively researched and presented. I often felt like I was reading a particularly long conference report from a teammate. That said, reading a book full of Oscar Wilde is an amusing journey from one witticism to the next. Though I've read quite a bit about Wilde, there was new content for me since most of what I'd read didn't speak much to his time in America. I do feel like the author made his point and then repeated the point. And then repeated it again for extra measure. And, then again, for the idiots in the back. So, by about half way through the book, I was already finding that tedious. Points for a good concept and application and for finding lots of reference material to support that concept.

[Ernest Dempsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Starting with Wilde’s arrival in New York in January 1882, Friedman narrates in rich detail the nearly year-long journey of Wilde through the United States where he took the center stage not so much in literary circles as becoming the object of media’s obsession and an attraction for local elites, particularly women.

Read the complete review at https://www.ernestdempsey.com/wilde-i....

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I knew virtually nothing about Oscar Wilde before I picked up this book. By the time I was done, I had a good understanding of the man. I was also impressed with how much research went into the book evidenced by the 33 pages of notes which followed the story.

[Hannah Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Informative and fun read! Made me want to read a longer, more in depth bio.

[Jerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

if you can make it through the first half.. the last half is quite good..

[Dylan Rock · Rating 4 out of 5]

An extremely detailed account of Oscar Wilde North American lecture tour

[kaley · Rating 3 out of 5]

“I could deny myself the pleasure of talking, but not others the pleasure of listening.”

Dnf unfortunately :(

[Dennis Davenport · Rating 5 out of 5]

This proved to be both a page turner and a page lingerer (that is, I revisited some passages with pure pleasure) about not only Wilde and his 1882 speaking tour in America, but also America itself (New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, San Francisco, the Southwest, the Midwest, New Orleans and the South!) and its culture of newspapers, reporters and interviews, lecture tours, entertainment venues, grand hotels, trains, cuisine, “society” - prominent people both well-known (Lillian Langtry, Walt Whitman, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Jefferson Davis and Ulysses S. Grant) and forgotten, all drawn with care and depicted in sparkling prose befitting the subject.
Wilde was hired by Gilbert & Sullivan producer Richard D’Oyly Carte as a lecturing “aesthete” whose affectations would help American audiences understand the humor in G&S’s Patience, which toured America in the same year. Patience lampooned Wilde in the character of the poet Bunthorne, a ridiculous figure in medieval dress who flourishes a lily as he declaims fatuous verse to his adoring female followers. Wilde took advantage of what could have been a humiliating ordeal to establish his own “brand,” speak and act with canny self-regard, and see America from top to bottom, memorably dining with miners at the bottom of Colorado’s Leadville silver mine, where, Wilde later wrote: “The first course [was] whisky, the second whisky, and the third whisky.”
Wilde comes across as a brave and resourceful person who met ridicule and disdain with grace and humor, who readily made friends as well as enemies, swaying many Americans to treat his ideas and his person with respect. The author of only a slim volume of verse before coming to America, Wilde returned to England a celebrity ready to create the plays and stories that justly brought him fame and lasting renown. The tragedy of his final years is recounted in a brief epilogue. What a talent!

[Yasmin · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's hard to argue that it's a well researched book, it is, however, it's not as well researched as it ought to be. But one has to keep in mind that the legends surrounding Oscar Wilde continue to grow all the time. I've read some books in my time about him and indeed one book writes one thing and another book a little later will not refer to the incident, event or oral occasion anywhere or even slightly allude to it. As with all great people, whether famous, infamous or both one does have to take everything one reads with a sack of salt. Even if six, sixty or six hundred books say the exact same things it doesn't make it true. There are quite a few people that will swear that they are authorities on all things Wilde and yet I know for a fact that unless the said person was there to hear and see certain things those that write are left with conjecture. When researching and the researcher sees things in print they can't be absolutely sure they know how it was meant to be said. A lot of reporters were likely at a loss at the way Oscar Wilde meant to say things when they interviewed him and of course as with the media these days reporters then liked to have a sensational twist to their stories. However, I dare say it was true that he saw a lynching (or more than one) on his tour of America. But I think it is a mistake to simply give the impression he saw this horrific murder and said and did nothing. I do know that in The Ballad of Reading Gaol he didn't see Trooper Wooldridge die on the gallows, but he wrote the poem as if he did. He did indeed see very clearly how a man does die by hanging and that would stay with you for life. My other objection was that it would have been fair to have utilised his experiences in Canada as well as America. Although it is more and better detailed book of his tour than the other books on the same subject. On the other hand the epilogue casts an unfortunate pallor over the rest of the book. I didn't find that it had any relevance to the rest of the book. If you have bought this book or borrowed it from the library it means you know about Oscar Wilde's life and so a book of this kind could have easily left it to say "The rest is history..." as the best and most gratifying way for the end.

[Dane Cobain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disclaimer: While I aim to be unbiased, I received a copy of this for free to review

Okay, I’ll admit that at first I was worried that this was going to be a difficult read – how could it not be, with a title like ‘Wilde in America: Oscar Wilde and the Invention of Modern Celebrity‘? But I needn’t have worried – this turned out to be an awesome read, hence the high rating.

The book effectively follows Wilde’s travels across America, where he arrived as a nobody and left as an international superstar, in a journey which the author compares to people like Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian, who’ve become famous just for being famous, by manipulating the media and being seen as leading socialites.

After all, when Wilde landed in America, he’d sold less than 500 copies of his first (self-published) book of poetry, and while he had been a mover and a shaker in London’s burgeoning social scene, he wasn’t exactly famous. Friedman’s insightful book traces the journey that Wilde made, showcasing along the way what exactly it was that he did and why it worked so much.

It does touch upon the tragic circumstances of Wilde’s eventual fall from grace right at the end, but this is more a celebration of the living Wilde than a celebration of his memory. In some ways, it’s almost like a biography, even though it doesn’t focus on the whole of his life – it’s just that Friedman manages to capture Wilde’s personality so perfectly that you feel like you know him by the end of the book.

He also doesn’t believe Wilde’s hype, despite the fact that he’s clearly an admirer of his work, and that helps the reader to build up a clearer picture of what Oscar was actually like – a shrewd marketeer.

[John-Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Terrible as it may be to admit, before I read this book I couldn't have told you definitely whether or not Oscar Wilde ever visited America. After the book I can say with assurance...boy, did he EVER visit America! The scope of his journey, the experiences he had and the way his celebrity grew and grew as the trip went on was quite a marvel to read about. The read itself, though it didn't appear to be of the most scholarly nature, was easy and breezy. No wonder THE showman of the era (P.T. Barnum) was intrigued by the dandy Irishman by the end of his American travels. He really is one of the great founding fathers of the current cult of celebrity and it's too bad that many who owe their very public existance to this artist probably think that "Lady Windermere's Fan" is something you buy at Macys!

[Kimberly Wells · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm torn. There was a lot to like about this book. The look at Wilde as one of the first, if not the first, modern celebrity was intriguing and fun to consider. It was a fascinating look at a man whose bread and butter at the time was being fascinating. The fact that he latter showed he had the skills to back it up, makes it even better. However, it seemed that the story would have been improved if told in a long article rather than a 250+ page book. It did get a little repetitive. Though just as I was getting a bored something wonderful like his trip to Leadville would be described. I finished the book wanting to know so much more about his life. It's possible if I had picked this up having already read a full biography (I only knew what I had picked up in English class decades ago) if it would have been a better experience, more of a "cherry on top" than a tease.

[Elizabeth☮ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Who knew Oscar Wilde toured the US to extensively? I certainly didn't. He even visited my hometown! Wow.

This book chronicles his tour across the US to promote, what lease, himself! Wilde only had one book of poems published at the time (and it wasn't particularly well received). His plan was to be famous for being famous. He created the formula used today by so many reality stars or stars just to be stars (can you say Kardashian?): get yourself in the public eye; make a spectacle of yourself; say outrageous things; do all of the above.

Wilde would return to England and become a famous playwright, before his downfall and incarceration for "gross indecency."

I have always loved Oscar Wilde. I think his writing is smart and his humor so sharp. I enjoyed reading about his time in the US.

[Janice]

Interesting biography focusing on Oscar Wilde's cross country speaking tour of America. He was young, scholarly and effete. He had no professional successes and was mocked in England. So when a play about his dandified type was being produced in America he was paid to go promote this type. Instead of being insulted he used it as an opportunity to promote himself. His talks were both successes and failures but after a year of traveling throughout the U.S. and meeting people the most important people in America he returned to England with both fame and fortune. He understood branding before it was ever defined and author David Friedman does a wonderful job of documenting this journey.

[False · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was chosen for me to read as "something you might like." I've read a great deal about Oscar Wilde over the years, so I can't say that anything in this book was fresh to me other than the section on Napoleon Sarony, a famous photographer of his day and best known for the promotional shots he took of Wilde prior to his American lectures. Those images (see the book cover) have become iconic over time.

[Elysia Fionn · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was tough to rate this book. If you'd asked me to rate the first half, it would have gotten five stars. The second half, not so many. For some reason, the second half of the book was more concerned with newspapers and journalists and politics than Oscar himself. The first part, however, was a boundingly great read. So sad that a man so unique came to such a sad and early end. I love Oscar Wilde!

[Jbondandrews · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I enjoyed reading David M. Friedman's book, I was very disappointed in the ending. I thought it was completely unnecessary to go into a lengthy discourse about Oscar's final years. That had nothing whatever to do with Oscar's time in America. It would been better left out or Friedman could have mentioned more about Oscar's time in Canada. There was no need to go off on a tangent.

[Jake Cooper · Rating 2 out of 5]

I learned two things from this book:
1. Wilde's fame _launched_ his literary career, rather than vice-versa; that before Dorian Gray &c, Wilde was a celebrity in the modern fame-for-fame's-sake way. (Friedman's second thesis -- that Wilde was the first 'modern celebrity' -- is indefensible.)
2. Biographies are boring.

[Michael Dennis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating exploration of how Oscar Wilde used the media and a crafted persona to make himself a celebrity without having any body of work on which to base that fame. He created a brand -- himself -- and relentlessly promoted it during his lecture tour of America so that, love him or not, his name was on everyone's lips. The original "famous for being famous".

[Tracy Reasner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hooked me with Oscar Wilde was the Kim Kardashian of his era.

[Lori · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too damn tedious.

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice telling of Wilde's American tour. There were some facts I had not encountered before and the selection of illustrations is well-done.

[Marylisa Sullivan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I never knew anything about Oscar Wilde. Interesting and informative take on his beginnings.