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Michele Mendelssohn is a literary critic and cultural historian. She is Associate Professor of English Literature at Oxford University. She earned her doctorate from Cambridge University and was a Fulbright Scholar at Harvard University. Her previous books include Henry James, Oscar Wilde, and Aesthetic Culture and two co-edited collections of literary criticism, Alan Hollinghurst and Late Victorian Into Modern (shortlisted for the 2017 Modernist Studies Association Book Prize). She has published in The New York Times, The Guardian, African American Review, Journal of American Studies, Nineteenth Century Literature, and Victorian Literature and Culture.
An original, meticulously-researched and beautifully-paced account of how a modern writer invented himself, and was invented, as an international artist-celebrity. He made his world, but not in conditions of his own choosing. This stylish meditation on the mysteries of identity illustrates Wilde's belief that the best way to intensify a personality is to multiply it. * Declan Kiberd, author of Ulysses and Us * Michele Mendelssohn's vividly written, consistently illuminating, and lavishly illustrated book is full of surprises, above all in showing how Wilde's Irishness played into the story of race relations in post-Civil War America. * Michael Gorra, author of Portrait of a Novel: Henry James and the Making of an American Masterpiece * A scholastic triumph, this highly original book rewrites the story of Oscar's tour of America with new, vivid detail, from fresh, unmined sources. Presenting the young Wilde caught in up a complex web of social and racial prejudices, Mendelssohn not only offers us a surprising view of Oscar through the lens of c19th America, but refocuses the young Wilde for a new generation. * Franny Moyle * Michele Mendelssohns Making Oscar Wilde is a fresh, exciting and illuminating study of the construction of celebrity and reputation. Looking at Wilde's trip to the United States in 1882, Mendelssohn shows both how stereotypes of the wild Irish immigrant and the minstrel show, and the promotional strategies of Wilde and his tour manager, made him a controversial star. The story of St. Oscar will never be the same. * Elaine Showalter, Professor Emerita of English, Princeton University * Mendelssohn's contribution to Wilde's legacy is her fresh look at the American tour, providing social and cultural context. A familiar biography embedded in a lively cultural history. * Kirkus * You may not think there is new stuff to learn about Oscar Wilde, but there is - as this book proves. Michele Mendelssohn has succeeded in throwing new light on Wilde's remarkable American lecture tour. Thoroughly researched and beautifully written, this is a valuable addition to Wildean scholarship. * Gyles Brandreth, President of the Oscar Wilde Society and author of The Oscar Wilde Murder Mysteries * A stylish account of [Wilde's] tumultuous rise, fall and resurrection... a hugely important and enjoyable book. * Mal Rogers, Irish Post * Mendelssohn's remarkable book focuses on the American year... it uncovers material missed by lengthier biographies, even Richard Ellmann's, and conveys the excitement of real research and discovery. * John Carey, Sunday Times *
The Penguin Book of Elegy
Poems of Memory, Mourning and Consolation...
Hardback
$75
In Stock 😊
