The Importance of Being Wilde at Heart
Page 19
Promising nothing—
Even rain.
There are two ways to end this story.
The first is a haiku.
REBEL LOVE
Dear Divine Oscar,
Yes, we are the dare in love.
Yours truly, Ken Z.
The second is a kiss sealed with a list.
THE BEAUTIFUL THINGS LIST
Getting lost inside the mind of a list.
My bedroom window, rain-draped.
A garden of gardenias for my mother.
Skipping-stone words.
Serendipity.
Perspicacity.
Forsythia.
Water-lily-in-a-drinking-glass moment.
Imagination on full blast.
Autumn leaves in ink on paper.
CaZZ as Dorian Gray, in a velvet waistcoat, breeches, and cloak.
Estelle rebelling in a winter prom gown with spaghetti straps and knee-high black leather combat boots.
Me looking wild in tux, top hat, and ivory cane.
Bling it on.
The verb “to remember” in Spanish—recordar—means “to pass back through the heart.”
Concentric circles on a pond.
Salmon risking everything to see their birthplace perhaps for the last time.
A male penguin battling an Antarctic storm with an egg nestled between his legs.
Jocks passionately (mis)quoting Oscar Wilde.
Eternity in one moment.
My mother lost and mellow while listening to Duke Ellington’s “Daydream.”
The saga of a kiss.
The sigh that completes it.
The world shut its gateway against me, but the door of Love remains open.
—OSCAR WILDE
Chronology
1854
October 16. Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde is born in Dublin, Ireland. His father, Sir William Wilde, is an eye and ear doctor and a writer. His mother, Jane Francesca Elgee Wilde, an Irish nationalist, is also a poet. Oscar has two siblings: an elder brother, William Charles Kingsbury (born 1852) and a younger sister, Isola Emily Francesca (born 1857).
1864–1871
Oscar attends Portora Royal School, a boarding school at Enniskillen.
1867
Isola dies of a fever. She is only nine years old.
1871
Oscar is awarded a Royal School scholarship to Trinity College, Dublin, where he studies classics.
1874
Oscar earns a scholarship to study at Magdalen College in Oxford. Oscar is twenty years old. During this period, he begins to attract attention and criticism for his eccentric and dandy-esque taste in clothes (e.g., velvet cloaks and capes, knee breeches, fur-collared coats).
1876
Oscar’s father dies.
1878
Oscar wins the Newdigate Prize for his poem “Ravenna.” The annual award is given to an Oxford undergraduate for best poem.
1879
Oscar graduates from Oxford with honors in classics and moves to London.
1881
Oscar publishes his first book of poetry, titled simply Poems.
1882
Oscar travels to the United States to lecture on aesthetics. His first play, Vera; or, the Nihilists premieres unsuccessfully in New York.
1883
Oscar’s second play, The Duchess of Padua, is staged in London. It is also unsuccessful.
1884
Oscar marries Constance Lloyd, the wealthy daughter of a Dublin barrister. The newlyweds move to a house on Tite Street, in the artistic neighborhood of Chelsea.
1885
Oscar and Constance’s first child, Cyril, is born.
The Criminal Law Amendment Act is passed. Under section 11, homosexuals could be imprisoned for up to two years of hard labor if found guilty of gross indecency. No hard evidence was needed; testimony was sufficient. Homosexuality will not be decriminalized in England until 1967, seventy-two years after the trial of Oscar Wilde.
1886
Vyvyan, the couple’s second son, is born.
1887
Oscar takes over as editor of the Woman’s World; he works there for two years. He also meets Robert “Robbie” Ross, who will go on to become one of his best friends and, later, his literary executor.
1888
Oscar publishes The Happy Prince and Other Tales, his first collection of fairy tales.
1889
Oscar publishes several essays, including “The Decay of Lying.”
1891
Oscar publishes several essays and books, including two collections of short stories, Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime and A House of Pomegranates, and his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, which was serialized in Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine in 1890. The novel puts Oscar at the center of a controversy. Straitlaced Victorian critics attacked it for its immorality and homoerotic overtones.
Oscar meets Lord Alfred Douglas, aka “Bosie.”
Oscar is commissioned by George Alexander to write a play. Begins working on his third play, Lady Windermere’s Fan.
1892
Lady Windermere’s Fan premieres at the St. James’s Theatre in London. It is an instant hit. Writes Salomé, his first play in French. It is immediately banned because of a law in England that forbids the staging of plays featuring biblical characters.
Oscar begins writing A Woman of No Importance.
1893
A Woman of No Importance opens to critical and commercial success.
Oscar begins work on another play, An Ideal Husband.
1894
Oscar begins writing The Importance of Being Earnest.
1895
Oscar is at the height of his career, with two new plays premiering simultaneously in London—An Ideal Husband at Haymarket Theater and The Importance of Being Earnest at the St. James’s Theatre. Both plays are commercial and critical hits.
February 18. The Marquess of Queensberry, Bosie’s father, leaves a calling card for Wilde at the posh Albemarle Club. On it is the infamous inscription For Oscar Wilde posing as a Somdomite. Oscar sues Bosie’s father for libel.
April 3. The libel trial Oscar Wilde v. the Marquess of Queensberry begins. Oscar’s suit rebounds on him.
April 6. Queensberry is acquitted. Oscar is immediately arrested on charges of gross indecency. That evening, gay men, fearing persecution, flee England for Paris.
April 26. The trial of Oscar Wilde v. the Crown begins. Bosie leaves London for France. Oscar’s wife, Constance, takes their sons to Europe. She changes their last name to Holland. Oscar never sees his boys again.
May 1. The case ends with a mistrial. Oscar is released on bail.
May 20. A third trial is set in motion.
May 27. Oscar is found guilty of gross indecency and sentenced to two years of imprisonment with hard labor. Imprisoned at Pentonville.
July 4. Transferred to Wandsworth Prison.
November 20. Transferred to Reading Gaol, where he will serve his remaining sentence.
1896
Oscar’s mother dies. Oscar is not allowed to attend the funeral, nor was his mother allowed to visit him during his incarceration.
1897
Oscar writes De Profundis. Released from prison, he travels to France, where he spends the remaining years of his life in exile under the alias Sebastian Melmoth.
Oscar and Bosie reunite in Rouen, France, then take up residence near Naples, Italy. Their reunion experiences a brief bliss before it sours. They separate and Oscar moves into the Hôtel d’Alsace on rue des Beaux Arts in Paris.
1898
Oscar publishes “The Ballad of Reading Gaol,” his most quoted and popular poem. Based on a factual account about a soldier who is sentenced to death for murdering his wife.
Oscar’s wife dies in Italy. She is forty years old.
1900
November 30. Oscar Wilde dies of cerebral meningitis at the Hôtel d’Alsace. He is forty-six. He is first interred in the Cimetière de Bagneaux. In 1909, his remains are transferred to the Cimetière du Père Lachaise.
Bibliography
The following bibliography is a list of books by or about Oscar Wilde that inspired and guided me throughout this project. Some of his lines in the novel I borrowed from his plays, stories, and letters. My gratitude to the biographers, editors, and writers of the following books:
Ellmann, Richard. Oscar Wilde. Vintage, New York, 1988.
Fryer, Jonathan. Robbie Ross: Oscar Wilde’s Devoted Friend. Carroll & Graf, New York, 2002.
Holland, Merlin. The Complete Letters of Oscar Wilde. Henry Holt, New York, 2000.
Holland, Merlin, ed. The Real Trial of Oscar Wilde. Harper Perennial, New York, 2004.
Holland, Merlin. The Wilde Album. Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1997.
Hyde, Montgomery H. Oscar Wilde. Da Capo Press, New York, 1981.
Kaufman, Moises. Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde. Vintage, New York, 1998.
Pritchard, David. The Irish Biographies: Oscar Wilde. Geddes & Grosset, Scotland, 2001.
Redman, Alvin, ed. The Wit and Humor of Oscar Wilde. Dover, New York, 1959.
Schmidgall, Gary. The Stranger Wilde. Plume Penguin, New York, 1994.
Wilde, Oscar. The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde. Harper & Row, New York, 1989.
Extremely Grateful Acknowledgments
This book would not have happened if not for the endless support, encouragement, and friendship of the following amazing people. Thank you to:
Kirby Kim, überagent, for introducing me to Kate Sullivan, who saw the possibilities for this book and took me there. Mahalo nui loa, Kate, for being so patient with me, several years of back-and-forth editing and the wonderful surprises that came with them. Thank you, too, Alexandra Hightower, for your enthusiasm and keen insights; they gave me additional fuel during the revision process.
To Shawn Mizukani, Shelley Nishimura, Shirley Abe, Lucy Purcell, and Jaymee T. Siao: my readers who believed in, and loved, Ken Z so much they cheered me on even when I was running on low-bat or losing interest.
To Gabriela Diccion Ocreto. I could not have asked for a better young adult reader and critic. Your instant feedback blew me away.
To the Delacorte team: Maraming maraming Salamat.
To Brenna English-Loeb and folks at Janklow & Nesbit Associates.
To Allan Isaac, Jeffrey Rebudal, Marco A. V. Lopez, David Blackmore, Marissa Diccion Ocreto, and Mike Santos: thank you for offering me your homes when I needed a break.
To Katrina Tuvera, Paolo Manalo, and Rudy Quimbo, for the memorable dinner with unending wit and laughter.
To Faye Kicknosway, Lois-Ann Yamanaka, Lisa Asagi, Lori Takayesu, and Justin Chin (in memoriam).
To Jessica Hagedorn, Karen Tei Yamashita, Lucy Burns, Anjali Arondekar, Robert Diaz, Christine Balance, Martin Manalansan, and Meredith Nichols.
To Gordon Wong and Bill Maliglig: thank you for the magic room, my refueling station. And to Marlene Chong for listening.
To Macdowell Colony, where the final revision began and ended. Thank you for creating such a sanctuary for artists. And in memory of Ernest and Red Heller, who funded my eight-week residency there.
To David Azama, Hyon Chu Yi, Leif Meneke, Debbie Azama, Brenda Kwon, Michelle Cruz Skinner, Amalia Bueno, Noelani Arista, Vivien Lopez, and Tino Montero.
To Irene Suico Soriano, Joel B. Tan, Napoleon Lustre, Edwin Ramoran, Tala Mateo, Cirilo Domine, Wilma Consul, Noel Madlansacay, Noel Alumit, Kearny Street Workshop, Asian American Writers Workshop, Kundiman, PAWA, Edwin Lozada, Veronica Montes, and Paul Ocampo.
To Deirdre Dela Cruz, Ferdinand Lopez, David Eng, Jack Halberstam, Karen Tongson, Kale Fajardo, Gayatri Gopinath, Cathy-Schlund Vials, Eng Beng Lim, Genevieve Alva Clutario, Hoang Nguyen, Josen Diaz, Joseph Allen Ruanto-Ramirez, Chris Patterson, Anita Manuur, Brian Ascalon Roley, Denise Cruz, Isabel Waidner, Camaron Miyamoto, Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales, Liza Erpelo, Joi Barrios-Leblanc, and, como siempre, Robyn Magalit Rodriguez. And to the teachers, scholars, librarians, and directors of LGBTQ centers who invited me to share this work with them, their students, and patrons.
To Abdi Nazemian and Randy Ribay: thank you for your beautiful words.
To the musketeers Sabina Murray and Gina Apostol.
To my family and friends in the U.S. and the Philippines.
And last, but certainly far from the least, muchas gracias con mil besitos to Oscar Wilde, for without your wit and heartbreak, Ken Z and I would be so lost.
About the Author
Poet, novelist, and playwright R. Zamora Linmark was born in Manila and educated in Honolulu. He is the author of four poetry collections and the novels Leche and Rolling the R’s, which he’s adapted for the stage. He currently resides in Honolulu and Manila.
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