She was lovely, sophisticated, and famous for her witty conversation, even in a social circle that was known for its fabulous talkers. The only child of Oscar Wilde’s dissipated older brother Willie, Dolly Wilde (1895-1941) led a life as scandalous and glittering as her uncle’s: she, too, loved her own sex, and her longest romantic relationship was with American heiress Natalie Clifford Barney, who was host of the most important Parisian literary salon of the 20th century. Unfortunately for Dolly’s posthumous reputation, she ‘was an artist of the spoken word’ whose only written legacy was her marvelous correspondence. Quoting liberally and perceptively from those letters, American playwright Joan Schenkar brings Wilde to life in a modernist biography that is written in prose as sparkling as Dolly’s fabled bons mots. Schenkar eschews conventional chronology to consider Wilde’s life thematically, from her lesbianism to her taste for smart society to her self-destructive identification with Uncle Oscar. She reminds us just how remarkable and accomplished were the women at Barney’s salon (journalist Janet Flanner, novelist Djuna Barnes, and artist Mina Loy, among them) and how much they esteemed Dolly Wilde. Yet, her biographer downplays neither Wilde’s addiction to drugs nor the sad loneliness of her death (possibly from a drug overdose) at age 45. This is essentially a tale of ‘squandered gifts and lost opportunities,’ Schenkar acknowledges, but she successfully provokes readers to share her admiration for Wilde’s prodigal generosity with both her talent and her affections. –Wendy Smith
Genre: Autobiography/Biography; Award Winner
Subjects: Biography & Autobiography / General; Biography & Autobiography / Historical; Biography & Autobiography / Literary; Biography & Autobiography / Women; Social Science / Lesbian Studies
Publication History
| ISBN | 0465087728 |
|---|---|
| Copyright Date | 2000 |
| Publication Date | October 19, 2000 |
| Publisher | HarperCollins |
| Format | Hardcover |
| No. of Pages | 442 |
| Language | English |
| Rating | Great |
| ISBN | 9780306810794 |
|---|---|
| Copyright Date | 2000 |
| Publication Date | December 4, 2001 |
| Publisher | Da Capo Press |
| Format | Trade Paperback |
| No. of Pages | 478 |
| Language | English |
| Rating | Great |
Comment
Truly Wilde: The Unsettling Story of Dolly Wilde, Oscar's Unusual Niece (Basic Books, 2000; Virago, London) is Joan Schenkar's biography of Dorothy "Dolly" Wilde (1895 to 1941), whose wit and talk recalled her famous uncle's. It is also a cultural history of the Paris salon of Natalie Clifford Barney, frequented by Janet Flanner, Mina Loy and Djuna Barnes, where Dolly shone.
It was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for lesbian biography at the thirteenth awards (2001). Schenkar went on to win that award for The Talented Miss Highsmith.