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imaginereader's review
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
There was a lot of discussion among Wilde's contemporaries regarding the accuracy of this work when it was first published, particularly by Lord Alfred Douglas and George Bernard Shaw. Both Douglas and Shaw initially respond with overall praise for the work, but would both go back on this in the future. Douglas praised this work in a letter that is included in the introduction but wrote a more scathing account in his own biography, (though he would eventually go on to criticize his own work and suggest future revisions after taking back some of the ideas he set forth) and then partially retracted his anger, though not his refute, in a later letter to Shaw.
I think this opens up an interesting discussion into the validity of this work (and the biography of Wilde by Shaw), as their works are mainly based on personal recollections, which opens up the door for bias (which is ever present in this work). The two men notably disagreed on their recollection of a meeting they had with Wilde and Douglas just prior to the trials, and the differing accounts shift the narrative, making it difficult to discern the truth from these portrayals.
I think this opens up an interesting discussion into the validity of this work (and the biography of Wilde by Shaw), as their works are mainly based on personal recollections, which opens up the door for bias (which is ever present in this work). The two men notably disagreed on their recollection of a meeting they had with Wilde and Douglas just prior to the trials, and the differing accounts shift the narrative, making it difficult to discern the truth from these portrayals.
phileasfogg's review
4.0
This is a fairly thinly sketched biography wrapped around a memoir of the author's friendship with Wilde, concentrating especially on his trials, imprisonment and decline. Its great strength is the way it brings Wilde to life in remembered conversations, capturing the flavour of his conversation, which Harris and apparently Wilde considered to be Wilde's greatest art. It is also very frank, for the time of publication, about Wilde's private life, though Harris's open-mindedness is offset by some rather tedious passages in which he tries to persuade Oscar to go straight.
Harris has a reputation as an unreliable narrator of his own life, but I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt. The more I read, the more I began to feel pangs of scepticism. At times, Harris represents himself as the hero of Wilde's life, trying desperately but in vain to save his weak-willed friend from folly, excess and indolence.
I had only a very basic understanding of Wilde's life before reading this. Despite my occasional scepticism I feel I now know a lot more about it. Yet I still feel the need for verification by a more trusted source: the Richard Ellmann biography seems to be the 'standard'. So I recommend this book not so much as a reliable account of the life, but as a probably good record of what it was like to know and talk to Wilde.
Harris has a reputation as an unreliable narrator of his own life, but I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt. The more I read, the more I began to feel pangs of scepticism. At times, Harris represents himself as the hero of Wilde's life, trying desperately but in vain to save his weak-willed friend from folly, excess and indolence.
I had only a very basic understanding of Wilde's life before reading this. Despite my occasional scepticism I feel I now know a lot more about it. Yet I still feel the need for verification by a more trusted source: the Richard Ellmann biography seems to be the 'standard'. So I recommend this book not so much as a reliable account of the life, but as a probably good record of what it was like to know and talk to Wilde.
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