The inheritance of scandal.
Holland, grandson of Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), has spent more than 40 years researching and writing about his grandfather’s life and works. His eighth volume focuses on Wilde’s afterlife: posthumous publications, including the Collected Works and many forgeries; biographies and critical studies; “sordid squabbles” and legal wrangling among Wilde’s friends and enemies; and most significantly, the impact of Wilde’s life on his two sons, Cyril and the author’s father, Vyvyan. “Branded a convict, a bankrupt, and an unrepentant homosexual in his short lifetime,” Wilde, after his release from prison in 1897, had hoped to see his wife and sons. But Constance, who had remained loyal to him throughout his troubles, died in 1898, and the boys were remanded to the care of her family, who “immediately set about re-anglicising them and obliterating all references to their father, destroying any evidence which might possibly connect them to him.” They were separated, sent to different schools, kept away from their father’s friends, and their surname was changed to Holland. They grew up feeling lonely and unwanted. Told their father was dead—even though Wilde did not die until 1900— it was years before they gleaned what was “wrong” in the family. Not until he was a student at Cambridge did Vyvyan discover his father’s writings. Holland reveals the many challenges faced by Wilde’s selfless literary executor, Robbie Ross, who befriended the boys, and helped to support Vyvyan financially when, like his father, he fell into serious debt. “Oscar’s genes were all-too powerful,” Holland writes, referring to Vyvyan’s profligacy. Cyril was killed at the Western Front in 1915; Vyvyan died in 1967. Holland’s tireless investigation debunks myths and lies, and reveals hypocrisy and homophobia among the British upper classes.
A lively, richly detailed narrative.
