Synopses & Reviews
Inand#160;Oscar Wildeandrsquo;s Chatterton, Joseph Bristow and Rebecca N. Mitchell explore Wildeandrsquo;s fascination with the eighteenth-century forger Thomas Chatterton, who tragically took his life at the age of seventeen. This innovative study combines a scholarly monograph with a textual edition of the extensive notes that Wilde took on the brilliant forger who inspired not only Coleridge, Wordsworth, and Keats but also Victorian artists and authors. Bristow and Mitchell argue that Wildeandrsquo;s substantial andldquo;Chattertonandrdquo; notebook, which previous scholars have deemed a work of plagiarism, is central to his development as a gifted writer of criticism, drama, fiction, and poetry. This volume, which covers the whole span of Wildeandrsquo;s career, reveals that his research on Chatterton informs his deepest engagements with Romanticism, plagiarism, and forgery, especially in later works such as andldquo;The Portrait of Mr. W. H.,andrdquo;and#160;The Picture of Dorian Gray, andand#160;The Importance of Being Earnest. Grounded in painstaking archival research that draws on previously undiscovered sources,and#160;Oscar Wildeandrsquo;s Chattertonand#160;explains why, in Wildeandrsquo;s personal canon of great writers (which included such figures as Charles Baudelaire, Gustave Flaubert, Thandeacute;ophile Gautier, and Dante Gabriel Rossetti), Chatterton stood as an equal in this most distinguished company.
Review
andldquo;This tour de force of Wilde scholarship makes his Chatterton notebook pivotal in redefining Wildeand#39;s career. Its major revisionary thinking extends to Pre-Raphaelitism and to the whole fin de siandegrave;cle.andrdquo;andmdash;Isobel Armstrong, Birkbeck, University of London
Review
andldquo;This book has the potential to transform our understanding not only of Wilde and his oeuvre, but also the notions of authenticity and originality that still exert a pervasive influence on literary history.andrdquo;andmdash;Nicholas Frankel, author of Oscar Wildeandrsquo;s Decorated Books
Review
andldquo;By establishing the significance of Chatterton for Wilde and for the nineteenth century as a whole, the authors invite us to reconsider what we mean when we complain of andlsquo;plagiarism.andrsquo; A revelationandmdash;and not just for Wildeans.andrdquo;andmdash;John Stokes, Kingandrsquo;s College London
Review
andldquo;This is a major, unrivalled accomplishment, of consequence both in Wilde studies and in the literary-cultural history of forgery and creative imagination.andrdquo;andmdash;Susan J. Wolfson, Princeton University
Review
andldquo;An impressive work of scholarship, this book, using previously unpublished archival material, not only thoroughly explores the Chatterton-Wilde connection but also presents credible evidence that Wildeand#39;s andlsquo;Chattertonandrsquo; notebook was not an act of forgery.andrdquo;?Library Journal
Review
andldquo;This remarkable book is a breath of fresh air in understanding [Oscar Wilde].andrdquo;andmdash;Steve Donoghue, Open Letters Monthly
Review
andldquo;Thoroughly researched and written with clarity and intelligence, this volume includes detailed footnotes and references to outside resources.andrdquo;andmdash;Choice
About the Author
Joseph Bristow is professor of English at the University of California, Los Angeles. Rebecca N. Mitchell is associate professor of English and Vice Provost Fellow at the University of Texasandndash;Pan American.