Audio from Chalke Valley History Festival 2018.
Recognised as an inspired and charismatic thinker ahead of his time, Oscar Wilde’s works are beloved around the world. But it was not always so. In this talk, Michèle Mendelssohn reveals the secrets behind his self-creation in Victorian England and post-Civil War America. A story that features a cast of lurid characters and is set against a backdrop of racial controversies, sex scandals, and the rising power of Irish nationalism.