Hailed as a gay icon and pioneer of individualism, Oscar Wilde's insistence that 'there should be no law for anybody' made him a staunch defender of gender equality. Throughout his life from his relationship with his extraordinary mother Jane and the tragedy of his sister Isola's early death to his accomplished wife Constance and a coterie of other free-thinking writers, actors and artists, women were a central aspect of his life and career.
Wilde’s Women is the first book to tell the story of his female friends and colleagues who not only traded witticisms with Wilde but gave him access to vital publicity and informed his social commentaries. Eleanor Fitzsimons reframes Wilde’s story and his legacy through the women in his life including such fascinating figures as Florence Balcombe, who left him for Bram Stoker, his inseparable friend, actress Lillie Langtry, and his tragic and witty niece Dolly who loved fast cars, cocaine and foreign women. Replete with fascinating detail and anecdotes, Wilde’s Women relates the untold story of how the writer played a vitally sympathetic role on behalf of many women and how they supported him in the midst of a changing Victorian society.
Wilde’s Women is the first book to tell the story of his female friends and colleagues who not only traded witticisms with Wilde but gave him access to vital publicity and informed his social commentaries. Eleanor Fitzsimons reframes Wilde’s story and his legacy through the women in his life including such fascinating figures as Florence Balcombe, who left him for Bram Stoker, his inseparable friend, actress Lillie Langtry, and his tragic and witty niece Dolly who loved fast cars, cocaine and foreign women. Replete with fascinating detail and anecdotes, Wilde’s Women relates the untold story of how the writer played a vitally sympathetic role on behalf of many women and how they supported him in the midst of a changing Victorian society.
