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Oscar Wilde: A Long and Lovely Suicide
"I was a problem for which there was no solution."—Oscar Wilde, 1897
During his lifetime Oscar Wilde was praised as a brilliant playwright, novelist, and conversationalist and stigmatized as a dangerous seducer of youth. Ironically, he is perhaps best remembered now for the bravery he exhibited in 1895 during his trial in England for homosexual offenses. In the first full-length psychoanalytic biography of Wilde, Melissa Knox explores the link between little-known childhood events and figures in his life and his psychological development to explain both Wilde's creativity and his self-destructive heroism.
Drawing on new information as well as on recent biographies and studies, Knox sketches the important characters in Wilde's formative an adoring and demanding mother, a father whose scandalous life degraded the family, and a beloved sister who died when Oscar was eleven. She describes Wilde's first daring efforts as a young man to challenge British mores; his lifelong battle with his fears of the syphilis he reportedly contracted at Oxford; his marriage and two children; his tempestuous and flamboyant love affair with Lord Alfred Douglas, whose father, the marquess of Queensberry, accused Wilde of homosexual practices; Wilde's libel suit against the marquess, subsequent trial, and two-year imprisonment; and his last years in exile, disgrace, and ill health. Uncovering the unconscious motivations beneath Wilde's surface bravado, Knox is able to explain his often puzzling actions. She also offers new interpretations of some of his works, from Salome , which she calls Wilde's most autobiographical work, to The Importance of Being Earnest , in which she sees Wilde artistically embracing his inability to resolve conflicts, to De Profundis , his attempt to salvage himself as a man and an artist.
During his lifetime Oscar Wilde was praised as a brilliant playwright, novelist, and conversationalist and stigmatized as a dangerous seducer of youth. Ironically, he is perhaps best remembered now for the bravery he exhibited in 1895 during his trial in England for homosexual offenses. In the first full-length psychoanalytic biography of Wilde, Melissa Knox explores the link between little-known childhood events and figures in his life and his psychological development to explain both Wilde's creativity and his self-destructive heroism.
Drawing on new information as well as on recent biographies and studies, Knox sketches the important characters in Wilde's formative an adoring and demanding mother, a father whose scandalous life degraded the family, and a beloved sister who died when Oscar was eleven. She describes Wilde's first daring efforts as a young man to challenge British mores; his lifelong battle with his fears of the syphilis he reportedly contracted at Oxford; his marriage and two children; his tempestuous and flamboyant love affair with Lord Alfred Douglas, whose father, the marquess of Queensberry, accused Wilde of homosexual practices; Wilde's libel suit against the marquess, subsequent trial, and two-year imprisonment; and his last years in exile, disgrace, and ill health. Uncovering the unconscious motivations beneath Wilde's surface bravado, Knox is able to explain his often puzzling actions. She also offers new interpretations of some of his works, from Salome , which she calls Wilde's most autobiographical work, to The Importance of Being Earnest , in which she sees Wilde artistically embracing his inability to resolve conflicts, to De Profundis , his attempt to salvage himself as a man and an artist.
223 pages, Paperback
First published September 28, 1994
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 2, 2023
I studied Wilde for many years and I was shocked while reading this book. I doubt whether this person should be qualified in psychoanalysis. The author does not even try to put herself in O. Wilde's perspective and has a poor understanding of psychological phenomena if she knows them at all. Moreover, she makes many claims that are not covered by facts.
December 4, 2012
Melissa Knox's psychobiography of Oscar Wilde is rerfreshingly unlike many other scholarly books--it's not full of academic jargon, it's not overblown, and it's highly readable.
Knox, a professor of English at St.Peter's College in New Jersey, began her quest to explore the unconscious mind of the famed 19th-century Irish-born playwright/poet/wit as a way to understand "his life, style, and literary work." It is the unconscious mind, writes Knox, that is "the source of creativity."
By digging deeper through the psychoanalytic approach, the biographer "can identify the unconscious conflicts that determine the forms (the subject's) creative genius took, as well as choices of subject and approach--genre, theme, style, plot." She further states that "ideally,one sees not just the outside actions but whence they originate."
Knox's book earns its place beside the collected works of Wilde. This is the book to consult to get a better understanding of the writer who was called "the foremost homosexual in the English mind."
This review was originally published in the Lambda Book Report (March 1997) and was posted on my blog www.urbanbookmaven.blogspot.com (November 30, 2012) under the title "Psychoanalyzing Oscar Wilde."
Knox, a professor of English at St.Peter's College in New Jersey, began her quest to explore the unconscious mind of the famed 19th-century Irish-born playwright/poet/wit as a way to understand "his life, style, and literary work." It is the unconscious mind, writes Knox, that is "the source of creativity."
By digging deeper through the psychoanalytic approach, the biographer "can identify the unconscious conflicts that determine the forms (the subject's) creative genius took, as well as choices of subject and approach--genre, theme, style, plot." She further states that "ideally,one sees not just the outside actions but whence they originate."
Knox's book earns its place beside the collected works of Wilde. This is the book to consult to get a better understanding of the writer who was called "the foremost homosexual in the English mind."
This review was originally published in the Lambda Book Report (March 1997) and was posted on my blog www.urbanbookmaven.blogspot.com (November 30, 2012) under the title "Psychoanalyzing Oscar Wilde."
October 26, 2014
Knox's book has a lot of gems and useful information about Wilde's life, as well as some new and enlightening readings of his texts in relation to his life. Many of the psychoanalytical readings of his works however are based on a 'perhaps' premise which of course made the theory void before it was even born.
January 23, 2013
Not sure that psychoanalysis is a good tool for investigating literature on the evidence of this book. A large building is erected on small foundations
October 8, 2015
Based on a weak premise - interesting but trivial
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews