Портретът на мистър У. Х.

by Oscar Wilde, Оскар Уайлд, Аглика Маркова (translator)

Повестта „Портретът на Мистър У. Х.” е публикувана за първи път в оксфордското периодично списание „Блакудс” (Blackwood's Magazine) през 1889 г. По-късно авторът я включва в преизданията на сборника „Престъплението на лорд Артър Савил и други новели”. По първоначален замисъл и в своя първоначален вариант творбата е комична мистерия в стила на гореспоменатия сборник. Едва значително време след смъртта на Уайлд става ясно, че тя има и друг вариант, почти двоен по обем и с доста по-сложен текст, в който са включени обширни разсъждения както върху естеството на изкуството, така и върху същността на ренесансовата идея за неоплатонизма и мъжкото приятелство.
Настоящото издание възпроизвежда пълния текст.

Четейки и препрочитайки Оскар Уайлд през годините, установих един факт, убягнал на неговите критици. Това е неоспоримата истина, че Оскар Уайлд почти винаги е бил прав.
Хорхе Луис Борхес

Не съществува такова нещо като нравствена или безнравствена книга. Книгите са добре или зле написани. Това е всичко.
Оскар Уайлд

Оскар Уайлд е голям мислител на опасни мисли.
Уолтър Алън

Genres: Classics, Fiction, Short Stories, 19th Century, Poetry, Literature, Shakespeare

124 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1889

About the author

Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is best remembered for his epigrams and plays, his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, and his criminal conviction for gross indecency for homosexual acts.
Wilde's parents were Anglo-Irish intellectuals in Dublin. In his youth, Wilde learned to speak fluent French and German. At university, he read Greats; he demonstrated himself to be an exceptional classicist, first at Trinity College Dublin, then at Magdalen College, Oxford. He became associated with the emerging philosophy of aestheticism, led by two of his tutors, Walter Pater and John Ruskin. After university, Wilde moved to London into fashionable cultural and social circles.
Wilde tried his hand at various literary activities: he wrote a play, published a book of poems, lectured in the United States and Canada on "The English Renaissance" in art and interior decoration, and then returned to London where he lectured on his American travels and wrote reviews for various periodicals. Known for his biting wit, flamboyant dress and glittering conversational skill, Wilde became one of the best-known personalities of his day. At the turn of the 1890s, he refined his ideas about the supremacy of art in a series of dialogues and essays, and incorporated themes of decadence, duplicity, and beauty into what would be his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890). Wilde returned to drama, writing Salome (1891) in French while in Paris, but it was refused a licence for England due to an absolute prohibition on the portrayal of Biblical subjects on the English stage. Undiscouraged, Wilde produced four society comedies in the early 1890s, which made him one of the most successful playwrights of late-Victorian London.
At the height of his fame and success, while An Ideal Husband (1895) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) were still being performed in London, Wilde issued a civil writ against John Sholto Douglas, the 9th Marquess of Queensberry for criminal libel. The Marquess was the father of Wilde's lover, Lord Alfred Douglas. The libel hearings unearthed evidence that caused Wilde to drop his charges and led to his own arrest and criminal prosecution for gross indecency with other males. The jury was unable to reach a verdict and so a retrial was ordered. In the second trial Wilde was convicted and sentenced to two years' hard labour, the maximum penalty, and was jailed from 1895 to 1897. During his last year in prison he wrote De Profundis (published posthumously in abridged form in 1905), a long letter that discusses his spiritual journey through his trials and is a dark counterpoint to his earlier philosophy of pleasure. On the day of his release, he caught the overnight steamer to France, never to return to Britain or Ireland. In France and Italy, he wrote his last work, The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898), a long poem commemorating the harsh rhythms of prison life.

Reviews

[Kai Spellmeier · Rating 4 out of 5]

“It was better to be good-looking than to be good.”
- a bitch that just snapped

[Luís · Rating 4 out of 5]

It feels like an actual lecture! We review Shakespeare's sonnets with a fine comb, lyrics with strong words, and enticing thoughts that Shakespeare hammered to affix his eternity. That's the eternity of his troubled soul, the eternity of his love for a certain Mr. WH, whose identity is nicely enigmatic. Who is Mr. WH? Answering this question means immersing yourself in Shakespeare's universe, which inevitably leads to the bewitchment of the disorder of Shakespearean syndrome. Sometimes, we die of it!

[fionavalsa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had no idea what it was about. I really liked, it was a good time.

[شمس · Rating 5 out of 5]

— The most brilliant story of all is that story of Wilde's, Mr Best said, lifting his brilliant notebook. That Portrait of Mr W. H. where he proves that the sonnets were written by a Willie Hughes, a man all hues.
— For Willie Hughes, is it not? the quaker librarian asked.
Or Hughie Wills. Mr William Himself. W. H : who am I?
— I mean, for Willie Hughes, Mr Best said, amending his gloss easily. Of course it's all a paradox, don't you know, Hughes and hews and hues the colour, but it's so typical the way he works it out. It's the very essence of Wilde, don't you know. The light touch.
His glance touched their faces lightly as he smiled, a blond ephebe. Tame essence of Wilde.

—Ulysses, Scylla and Charybdis (1922, 190)

__________
Once you have read Shakespeare's Sonnets, I would highly recommend reading this great story by Mr. [W]ilde shortly after. The story is very entertaining, and although I didn't enjoy Olde Will's Sonnets all that much, I'm beginning to think I could read, with pleasure, this Mr. W., on almost anything.

By the by, as the title suggests, a certain Portrait plays a key role in this story, and I think there are some definite allusions/comparisons which could be made with the role of the famous Portrait in Wilde's other story, The Picture of Dorian Gray. Something to keep in mind if revisiting the latter.
_____
N.B.
This story seems to be included in collections (such as the Oxford World's Classics and Everyman's Library collections) in the abridged form of 3 chapters, which was the version released during Wilde's lifetime. To be sure, the full version contains 5 chapters of ~60+ pp., and was only published in this form after Wilde's death. As well as this Hesperus Press edition, the full version can be readily obtained in Penguin's Selection of Wilde's Critical Writings.
_____
Read from The Works of Oscar Wilde
__________
'My dear fellow,' he said, 'let me advise you not to waste your time over the Sonnets. I am quite serious. After all, what do they tell us about Shakespeare? Simply that he was the slave of beauty.’
'Well, that is the condition of being an Artist!' I replied.

Art, even the art of fullest scope and widest vision, can never really show us the external world. All that it shows us is our own soul, the one world of which we have any real cognizance. And the soul itself, the soul of each one of us, is to each one of us a mystery. It hides in the dark and broods, and consciousness cannot tell us of its workings. Consciousness, indeed, is quite inadequate to explain the contents of personality. It is Art, and Art only, that reveals us to ourselves.

. . . it seemed to me that I was deciphering the story of a life that had once been mine, unrolling the record of a romance that, without my knowing it, had coloured the very texture of my nature, had dyed it with strange and subtle dyes. Art, as so often happens, had taken the place of personal experience.
__________
But he always set an absurdly high value on personal appearance, and once read a paper before our debating society to prove that it was better to be good-looking than to be good. He certainly was wonderfully handsome. People who did not like him, Philistines and college tutors, and young men reading for the Church, used to say that he was merely pretty; but there was a great deal more in his face than mere prettiness. I think he was the most splendid creature I ever saw, and nothing could exceed the grace of his movements, the charm of his manner. He fascinated everybody who was worth fascinating, and a great many people who were not. He was often wilful and petulant, and I used to think him dreadfully insincere. It was due, I think, chiefly to his inordinate desire to please. Poor Cyril! I told him once that he was contented with very cheap triumphs, but he only laughed. He was horribly spoiled. All charming people, I fancy, are spoiled. It is the secret of their attraction.

[George Ilsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Portrait of Mr W.H is mostly frame: a form embracing a field of speculation concerning the identity of the beautiful young "Mr W. H.", the muse to whom Shakespeare dedicated his sonnets. (In fact, there are two framing stories, but who is counting?)

The bulk of this text is a literary analysis of the sonnets, selecting passages to buttress the argument, and to refute competing theories. No detail is insignificant.

We are introduced, by the character Erskine, to his (deceased) friend Cyril Graham. Cyril was a talented actor and in many ways can be seen as a double for the boy-actor W.H.; some people found Cyril effeminate. "He certainly was wonderfully handsome. People who did not like him, Philistines and college tutors, and young men reading for the Church, used to say that he was merely pretty; but there was a great deal more in his face than mere prettiness."

Structurally this work is awkwardly unbalanced; or perhaps a more generous interpretation would be to suggest that Wilde has found a clever means of introducing and framing this detailed, lengthy literary analysis.

Five hundred years ago, Shakespeare was inspired by the "rose of the whole world", a lovely boy decked in the proud livery of youth, and dedicated his sonnets to this vision. Centuries later we are still talking about it!

Oscar Wilde published this story before he wrote The Picture of Dorian Gray and it provoked outrage and speculation, foreshadowing the reaction to his novel.

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wilde was so enamored of his theory about Shakespeare's love of a boy actor (which was, in theory, Shakespeare's inspiration for the sonnets) that he wrote this story to frame it. After it was published it raised a furor, so naturally Wilde had to expand it. The enlarged version adds corroboration for the theory and is more philosophical, but it doesn't improve the original story. It's like a chocolate covered carrot. Unless you're a carrot-loving Shakespeare scholar, you'll say "more chocolate, less carrot."

[Daren · Rating 3 out of 5]

This Penguin 60 contains two short stories taken from The Complete Short Fiction of Oscar Wilde. The first is the titular story, the second is The Ballad of Reading Gaol.

The Portrait of Mr. W. H. tells the story of the "Mr. W.H" to which Shakespeare's Sonnets are dedicated. And is a story woven around a hoax by a third party where a painting is produced with a portrait of a Mr Willie Hughes, and a copy of the sonnets open on the dedication page.

Contains the line: “...and once read a paper before our debating society to prove that it was better to be good-looking than to be good.”

The Ballad of Reading Gaol was written by Wilde just after his release from Reading Gaol, where he had served a two year hard labour sentence for gross indecency with other men in 1895.
During his imprisonment, a hanging took place - Charles Thomas Wooldridge had been a trooper in the Royal Horse Guards. He was convicted of cutting the throat of his wife, Laura Ellen. He was aged 30 when executed.

I am not one for poetry, so skimmed over it fairly quickly.

3 stars.

[Tatevik]

I love Oscar Wilde, but this book was not for me. It's a fiction, but more like study and analysis of Shakespeare's sonnets, which I didn't read. A good guide for Shakespeare lovers, though.

[Natassa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for uni and so happy about it

[Rao Javed · Rating 4 out of 5]

One thing I hate and love about Oscar Wilde is that he makes the start and the end beautiful but what I hate about him is that he makes story uselessly long with arguments and debates.

This was also great from start boring in between but brilliant in the end. The story was written well, the concept was around the mystery of Mr. W.H of Shakespeare sonnets. The story line went fine not that great but fine. The best thing about the story was that it showed how obsession is a young man's game and how it can kill. There is nothing with dying for but trust...nothing is true at all not even you.

[K. Anna Kraft · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have arranged my takeaway thoughts into a haiku:

"Green obsession strikes,
Like venom in the bloodstream,
And can go two ways."

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

The fact that William Shakespeare’s Sonnets are dedicated to one Mr W.H. has been the source of much speculation. Eighteenth century critic Thomas Tyrwhitt suggests that the sonnets are written for a person known as William Hughes. He bases this theory on his interpretation of the Sonnets, lines like “A man in hue, all Hues in his controlling” (the 20th sonnet) where the word ‘Hue’ is capitalised and italicised and the multiple puns on the name ‘Will’ found in the sonnets.

The Portrait of Mr. W.H. is a short story by Oscar Wilde; it only took me about twenty minutes so I don’t think I’ll say much about it but it was a story I wanted to review. Yes, it was required reading for university but it was an interesting enough piece that getting my thoughts down seemed like a good idea. I remember reading The Picture of Dorian Gray a long time ago and not getting on with it; maybe I wasn’t for me or maybe I just hadn’t had the literary knowledge to get something out of it. In any case, I’m curious enough that maybe Dorian Gray will be a reread in the future.

I want to compare The Portrait of Mr. W.H. with My Life as a Fake because they both seem to talk about a similar topic. While My Life as a Fake covered a literary hoax, The Portrait of Mr. W.H. looks at a piece of literary criticism that has been around for a long time and is often talked about. I don’t agree with this theory and it is important to know that Oscar Wilde didn’t either, although by the end he almost did. What I really liked about this story is the fact that Wilde took a differing view of the Sonnets and tried to explore it. This is an excellent example of literary criticism because it got me looking at the Sonnets in another way, even if I didn’t agree with it.

The fact that Oscar Wilde managed to write this literary criticism in a form of a story was equally impressive. The whole story has this real gothic feel about it and the character of Willie Hughes showed vampiric characteristics in the way he destroyed lives, in particular Cyril’s. Yet another similarity to My Life as a Fake is the whole idea that literature or the author can be portrayed as a monster.

I read this story as social criticism, looking at the homo-eroticism of Shakespeare’s Sonnets and question if a particular piece of text has any effect on the value of the art form. I don’t know many people complaining about the homoerotic nature of Shakespeare but I’ve heard complaints about it when referring to Oscar Wilde. Wilde was a big believer in celebrating art as being art and not letting the opinion of the artist affect it. This means The Portrait of Mr. W.H. is a satirical look at the art, where you have to take a more literal approach and explore the life of William Shakespeare as an artist and its connection to the Sonnets.

Oscar Wilde tantalises the reader with his literary and social criticism, mix in the satirical nature of this story and the wit of the author and you have a compelling read. One thing I’ve been thinking about is the connection between this story and The Picture of Dorian Gray which I would like to leave you with. They both share very similar titles but in Dorian Gray you have a portrait that ages and the reader see the truth, of Gray and all his sins. While in The Portrait of Mr. W.H. the picture of Willie Hughes is a lie and I have to wonder the meaning behind this imagery when comparing the two.

This review originally appeared on my blog; http://literary-exploration.com/2014/...

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great little academic mystery peppered with Wildean wit. Recommended for anyone suffering a passionate love/hate relationship with literary criticism. Also, you will experience these lines in context:

"Martyrdom was to me merely a tragic form of scepticism, an attempt to realise by fire what one had failed to do by faith. No man dies for what he knows to be true. Men die for what they want to be true, for what some terror in their hearts tells them is not true."

"Or was there no permanence in personality? Did things come and go through the brain silently, swiftly, and without footprints, like shadows through a mirror? Were we at the mercy of such impressions as art or life chose to give us? It seemed to me to be so."

"The great events of life often leave one unmoved; they pass out of consciousness, and, when one thinks of them, become unreal. Even the scarlet flowers of passion seem to grow in the same meadow as the poppies of oblivion. ... But the little things, the things of no moment, remain with us."

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

An enjoyable story in which Wilde brings to fiction the theory that Shakespeare's sonnets were addressed to a Willie Hughes, a young male actor in Shakespeare's company.

The theory was actually first presented by Thomas Tyrwhitt in the an English scholar living in the 18th century. In his theory, however, William Hughes may have been a musician for the Earl of Essex as there is no evidence of a William Hughes in list of actors found in the First Folio of the plays.

Though we may never know the identity of Mr. W.H., the young man the poet so passionately addresses in the Sonnets, Wilde's version is an enjoyable literary mystery story as well as an exploration of the Artistic Muse, and of obsession to an idea.

[Teresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with much of Wilde's fiction, this is less a story than an exploration of an idea. Here, the exploration has to do with obsession; the fallacy in much literary theory when someone wants to prove the point of their obsession; and how that obsession can disappear as quickly as it came once the idea has been shared with someone else. Perhaps others might find the ending sad or even tragic; I thought it was funny in its absurdity, which I venture to say is what Wilde was probably going for.

The long poem, "The Ballad of Reading Gaol" is also included in this very slim volume. I'd read it once before and found it just as affecting this time.

[Sónia Teixeira · Rating 4 out of 5]

É um prazer aprofundar mais uma das minhas obras favoritas de Shakespeare

[Angeles♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

✨️𝐒𝐮 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐚 𝐭𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐚 𝐟𝐮𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐧 𝐥𝐨𝐬 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐥 𝐩𝐨𝐞𝐭𝐚✨️

Bruh, corto, conciso, interesante.

Lo escuché en audio libro mientras hacía cosas en casa, el tema de Shakespeare me confunde un poco ya que no leí nada de este señor (no puedo con sus clásicos, no entiendo nada), pero me llamó la atención la "investigación" de la que se habla en el libro y como al final se da un "círculo sin fin" en los que investigan, muy bueno.

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 5 out of 5]

How do you review a little gem? I don't know yet but I will try. This wonderful little tale is vintage Wilde with all his strengths and weaknesses. It is too short at 89 pages (that is the full version available in the Hesperus press edition of five chapters) to qualify as a novel, it isn't really a novella, otherwise I would praise it above 'The Portrait Dorian Gray' because as narrative it has more cohesion but then Wilde was always better at a small scale (and in a odd way I would include his plays). He didn't have the discipline for long narratives. Of course it is as camp as anything and a perfect example of Wilde 'hiding in plain sight'. But is the theory of Mr. W.H. True?

Well you can read Wikipedia on Mr.W.H. at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_.... Also about the novel at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Por.... Or read the excellent review of the Hesperus edition at: https://www.theguardian.com/books/200...
But to believe it? No it is complete fantasy or speculation or wishful thinking - or honestly a load of bollox - but I don't read Wilde for litewrary criticism or analysis. Wilde was many things but not a scholar.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story has an interesting topic: the mysterious male subject (Mr. W. H.) of Shakespeare's love sonnets. This is made even mroe interesting if the sonnets in question are read for good measure to give more of a context to the whole things. However, there are plenty of the typical Wildeisms to go around as well as many allusions to the Bard.

I have seen a few reviews on here that have classified Wilde's short stories as more of an explanation of an idea rather than a plot-based story. This is a completely valid way to look at it, and I agree with this even though there actually is a story present that is as engaging as I expect from Wilde. The topic explored is what really makes this story good. While I can get into the characters created to some degree, the mystery of Shakespeare is always interesting to read about. I was very pleased when I found out that good old Oscar wrote a story about it!

Just a wonderfully witty, engaging little story that is easily paired with the Shakespearean sonnets as a companion piece.

[nadia | notabookshelf · Rating 5 out of 5]

...it was better to be good-looking than to be good.

oh Cyril, oh my BOY how i understand you. oh to be an 18th-century delicate flower of a boy, obsessed with Shakespearean sonnets and dying for Shakespearean literary theory. oh humanity!

in all seriousness, this was... funny? like, i haven't read much Wilde yet, but i can hear this man laughing in my face as he tells me stories about his unfortunate characters through his unnamed narrators. it constantly feels like i'm in on a joke, like i'm the only sensible one - along with the narrator, of course, who was the one to come up with said joke in the first place. idk i just. i think it's brilliant and highly entertaining.

now please wish me luck as i need to write a coherent and argumentative short essay on this book and one other article by 11am tomorrow, and all i want to do is read the DND handbook i was just given. please give me strength

[Marie Tankersley]

Baffling.

[Ayşegül · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oscar Wilde kitabı ararken incelemeden başladım, Dorian Gray'in Portresi kitabındaki aynı düşünceler ve betimlemelerin olduğunu gördüm, sonradan baktığım kadarıyla bu kitap 1889'da Dorian Gray'in Portresi 1891'de yayımlanmış. W. H.'nin hayatı ve özellikleri romanlaştırılmış anlaşılan. İkisini peşpeşe okuyunca her şey gerçekliğe büründü, bu bana iyi geldi. Shakespeare sonelerinin çevirisi çok güzel olmuş. Kitabın rahatsız edici yanı, yaşlı erkeklerin genç erkeklere ilgisi anlatılırken "genç erkeklerin" 16-17 yaşlarında çocuklar olduğunu öğrenmek. Vaktiyle kraliyet eliyle bu çocukların istismarına zemin hazırlanması.. Yine de yazarın sanatını yazdıklarından bağımsız değerlendirme düşüncesiyle araştırma yeteneğine ve tutkusuna 5 yıldız veriyorum.

[Persephone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dorian Grayin portresinin ilham kaynağını bulmuş oldum. Konu Shakespearin Sonelerini atfettiği bay W.H’nin tahmin edilen bir kişiyi kanıtlamaya çalışılması. Her sayfasında dorian gray izlerini yakalamak çok keyifliydi. Zaten dorian grayin portresini de bundan 1 yıl sonra yazmış. Edebiyat uğruna can vermek gerçekten ilginç.

[Marco Reyes · Rating 1 out of 5]

¡ABURRIDO! Mucha tertulia sin sentido sobre Shakespeare cuyos diálogos llevan a ningún lado.

Hay fragmentos salvables de las obras de Shakespeare y en el monólogo del personaje, aparecen una que otra frase buena.

Aun así siento que perdí dos horas de mi vida leyéndolo. Amo las historias de Oscar Wilde, esta me sorprendió por lo absurdamente innecesaria que resultó una vez concluida.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

A dissertation written as fiction. Future inspiration? Probably

[kvir klub · Rating 4 out of 5]

mad respect for any and all queer headcanons
I also need to read more oscar wilde’s art theory, I have loved it so far

[Nicole Joanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wrote this at the end of the book as my response to it, those who have also read it, feel free to add on your thoughts:

The Story of W.H may have been false, but that doesn’t mean it was not true as well. It was real enough to someone that they had taken their life for it even when there was no evidence of its truth. Interpretation is everything.

Not only did it take one life, but it took two - maybe? If something is not real, does not the death for it make it become so? (I could never wrap my head around the action of martyrdom & now I’ve got a grasp on it since reading this book)

Did Eskrine die of disease or of his own hands? Medical information prove that he died of tuberculosis; the doctors could prove that true. That he (Eskrine) knew of his ultimate demise as well as his family. However, Eskrine also wrote a letter to his friend saying that by the time the letter has reached him he would have died by his own hand for the justice of Shakespeare & his love of common boy Willie Hughes. Is that not also evidence? (although not as strong evidence as medical records) So, what did kill him first? His own hands or his organs?

The story ends with the irony that the cause of his death could never be anything but a theory. There will be those who deem it be because of medical issues, while others say he believed so much in a theory that he could not prove & took his own life: as a reader, you’re exposed to both theories - one greatly elaborated on, and the other only mentioned at the end - however both holding great weight, leaving the reader with the same amount of “truth” that these interpreters did. “We shall never know the true secret,” & his intentions are “a closet never pierc’d with crystal eyes.”

The story of Willie Hughes may be fictional, however, real to those who have lived through the fictional story. If Willie Hughes has not been real, if his story had not been true, it was through Eskrine that it had become so.

[Chad Schimke · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Portrait of Mr. W.H. by Oscar Wilde is a great compact little book. It’s not really a book, but more like a novelette. Longer than a short story, shorter than a novella. There are two pieces contained within. FIRST - The Portrait of Mr. WH. It advances the idea that Shakespeare’s Sonnets are dedicated to Willie Hughes (Mr. WH). The intrigue centers on a purported portrait of an effeminate male actor depicted in female roles. Not unusual in Shakespeare’s days, since only males were allowed to perform on stage of the Globe Theatre in Elizabethan England. SECOND - The Ballad of Reading Gaol. It’s very dark, apparently the last work completed prior to his death. The poem is organized in six sections with images of trials, prisons, wardens, guards and the hangman’s gallows. There is conflicting information as to whether the poem’s genesis was his imprisonment for A. moral reasons or B. loss of a libel case. Nonetheless, the mood is severe, reinforced by the poem’s melodic structure. Wilde’s quotations are brilliant short witticisms, his plays are societal intrigues constructed of effervescent dialogue and his involvement in the aesthetic movement promoted gilding the lily, in other words, art for art’s sake.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is super good, even though its practically just Oscar Wilde's fanfic about Shakespeare(but that makes it even better). This book did drag a bit when the main character is defending his stance on why W.H. was Willie Hughes but besides that it was really good.

Wilde's writing in this is phenomenal. Just listen to how fucking amazing this is, "The great events of life often leave one unmoved; they pass out of consciousness, and, when one thinks of them, become unreal. Even the scarlet flowers of passion grow in the same meadow as the poppies of oblivion. We reject the burden of their memory, and have anodynes against them. But the little things, the things of no moment remain with us. In some tiny ivory cell the brain stores the most delicate, and the most fleeting impressions." This book is full of amazing passages like this one and I would list them all but there's just to many.

[Ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful tale about falling in and out of love with a literary interpretation. Is it worth dying for?

Erskine is telling the tale of his friend Cyril Graham who tried to uncover the identity of Mr. W. H., the enigmatic dedicatee of Shakespeare's Sonnets. Based on an assumption that the sonnets were addressed to one Willie Hughes, a boy actor who specialized in playing women in Shakespeare's company, this theory depends on the assumption that the dedicatee is also the Fair Youth who is the subject of most of the poems.