Oscar Wilde: Trial and Punishment 1895-1897, Public Records Office, £12.99 in UK
This is a cleverly designed, exciting publication, much of which is seen here for the first time outside England's Public Record Office. What is captivating about this publication is its format: there are ten documents contained in a folder-like package; these documents are reproduced in the form of the originals. This provides the serious student of Wilde and the interested reader with the opportunity of viewing primary source material from the period of Wilde's trials and imprisonment, 1895-1897. Importantly for the Wilde scholar, this means that every mark, erasure and addition to the text is preserved in the facsimile.
The variety in size, shape and type of the material is aesthetically satisfying and makes the documents as pleasing to look at as to handle. This style of presentation gives a sense of discovery and of expectation - the selections from the Wilde archive in the PRO have been well made, although a less "tidy" collection, with the addition of related if seemingly stray documentation, might have al lowed a wider basis for informed conjecture.
However, the internal structure of the material is strong and balanced: two of the documents relate to Wilde's pre-trial lifestyle, three are immediately connected with the events leading up to the trial, and a further three to Wilde's state of mind within prison, while the response to his conviction of his wife, Constance, and of Lord Alfred Douglas are each represented. A booklet is also provided in which background information to the trials and their aftermath is carefully and clearly outlined.
The trials of Oscar Wilde centre around his relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas. Douglas, known as Bosie, was the youngest son of the Marquess of Queensberry; father and son shared a natural antipathy towards one another. Queensberry's anger against his son was also directed at Wilde, and under the guise of a "concerned parent", he demanded that Bosie break off all relations with Wilde, which he refused to do. On the 18th of February, 1895, matters were brought to a head when Queensberry went to Wilde's club - the Albermarle - and left his visiting card on which he had scrawled, "To Oscar Wilde posing somdomite (sic)". This action resulted in Wilde's decision to institute proceedings against him for libel. Wilde had been much encouraged in this decision by the persuasions of Lord Alfred Douglas who, regardless of Wilde, itched to confront his father in a public arena.
The facsimile of Queensberry's visiting card is an evocative inclusion in this pack of documents; opening the small, innocuous looking envelope, one is conscious of Wilde performing the same action more than a hundred years ago and discovering there the message which would cause such devastation. In light of the outcome of the legal events set in motion by the deposition made by Wilde at the Magistrates' Court, the facsimile of this document, written in the confident, flowing hand of Wilde, is deeply moving - the lucidity of its prose mocks the irrational course of action it signifies.
The libel case against Queensberry went disastrously wrong for Wilde. Queensberry had found witnesses who were willing to testify on Wilde's homosexual activities, which were illegal at the time. The charge against Queensberry was dismissed. Wilde was later arrested and, having endured two trials, was convicted of gross indecency and sentenced to two years hard labour on 25th May, 1895.
The facsimiles of Wilde's petition for freedom, the list of books he requested from prison and the covering letter to De Profundis, the testament he wrote while in prison, are an indication of Wilde's state of mind in imprisonment. Many of the books requested by him were of a spiritual nature, as was much of De Profundis, which took the form of a long letter to Alfred Douglas. Wilde's petition is an intensely moving document, and an air of suffering and desperation pervades its sentences. The two pages are crammed with Wilde's powerful prose in small script. He outlines his fears of impending insanity and claims to have been suffering from a sexual malady - more a disease than a crime. I do not think it is possible to make reliable deductions from this document about Wilde's actual views on his sexuality, given the awful conditions under which it was written; he was also, like any skilled writer, pitching his argument at his intended reader - the Home Secretary. While this petition has been previously published, to see the facsimile is revealing as no printed version can be.
Constance Wilde's letter reflects her concern for her husband. However, I think an insightful addition would have been the letter from Lily Wilde, Oscar's sister-in-law, held in the archives of the PRO but not included in the present package. Its simplicity captures the acute pathos of the situation. In the letter, Lily asks that her brother-in-law be given her love and know that she is thinking of him and that his mother is well. She asks the authorities if they could return the waistcoat which Wilde wore on the day he was convicted as it belongs to his brother and she will send on the right one.
Oscar Wilde: Trials and Punishment is an invaluable publication; it allows the reader access to documents contemporaneous with the actual events of 1895-1897 and to encounter the players face to face. Unlike some recent writings on the life of Oscar Wilde, this material is neither embellished nor distorted; its interest lies in the compelling power of original statement. After that it is all a matter of individual interpretation. We are indebted to the Public Record Office for providing solid grounding for the many fascinating speculations to which these documents will give rise.
(available from the Public Records Office, Ruskin Avenue, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, England)
Noreen Doody is a scholar and critic