Must read Built of Books: How Reading Defined the Life of Oscar Wilde, by Thomas Wright
You are what you read?
Oscar Wilde-Dandy. His library was sold off while he was jailed for "gross indecency" It sold for a song, was three decades in the making and Wilde was inconsolable and remembered it always as his "most distressing loss. "It was his literary self-portrait , a library of his aesthetic predilections, classical education, and own publications — but it was also a candid reflection of his evolution from bookish academic to flamboyant public figure."(from Daily Dose)
Controversy and Debate- Wright opines that reading Plato at Oxford may have "engendered Wilde's latent attraction to other men." (what?) This reading suggests that the battle over Wilde's legacy remains more than a little relevant in the world we live in today. I can't imagine how this sort of leap by the author translates to the reading material of today's young impressionable minds.
Read the introduction- (click) from Wright in the wsj online.
Read the review-(click) by Benjamin Ivry on sfgate.com
I will read it up and always marvel at the brilliance of the Wilde man, the hilarity of Being Earnest and the horror of Dorian Gray.
