Synopses & Reviews
Review
"Yet another volume is now added to the mountain of existing Wilde biography. Unfortunately, nearly half of this new book is abridged from Hyde's earlier works, The Trials of Oscar Wilde and Oscar Wilde: The Aftermath, so that a fuller account of Wilde's last eight years may be found in those two excellent books. Hyde's accounts of Wilde's work for The Women's World and, especially, of Wilde's trip to America are the most complete available. One must wonder why Mr. Hyde did not devote a volume to this important and heretofore insufficiently explored period of Wilde's life; instead, he has produced yet another flawed biography.
The greatest imperfection of Hyde's new biography, as of so many others, is its nearly complete inattention to Wilde's literary work. A good critical biography remains a chief desideratum in Wilde studies; when it appears, a great many volumes, including Mr. Hyde's latest, will become instantly dispensable. Until then, Mr. Hyde's biography of Wilde is as servicable as any and far better than most." Reviewed by Daniel Weiss, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review)