Why a Booktrail?
1895: Oscar Wilde – what could have been….
The Weight of Angels
Why a Booktrail?
1895: Oscar Wilde – what could have been….
What you need to know before your trail
When the Marquis of Queensbury left his calling card at the Albemarle Club in February 1895, it bore only his name and five words: ‘For Oscar Wilde, posing Somdomite’. The most feted playwright of his day famously sued for libel, which led to his arrest, criminal prosecution and ultimately prison. From then on, his gilded existence spiralled into public disgrace, humiliation and an early death.
But what if he had simply ignored the insult? What direction might his life have taken?
Locations
Reset- England - London
- A: Albemarle Club
- B: 34 Tite St
- Ireland - Dublin
- C: Oscar Wilde Centre
- D: Merrion Square
- E: St. Mark's Church
Travel Guide
London
Oscar Wilde was arrested and jailed when he hit back at an antigay insult – at a time where it was illegal to be gay.
What if he had simply ignored the insult? What direction might his life have taken?
Rather than dying in penury in Paris at the age of forty-six, what if he had lived to bear witness to the momentous events and cataclysmic changes of the first part of the twentieth century, and even influence some of them? What if the second half of his life were as celebrated, dramatic, tumultuous and exhilarating as the first?
In imagining the life that Oscar Wilde never had – this is a story, a literary journey and a booktrail like no other.
The Albemarle Club was a private members’ club at 13 Albemarle Street, London, founded in 1874 and open to both men and women. It closed in 1941.
BookTrail Boarding Pass: The Weight of Angels
Destination/location: London, Dublin Author/guide: John Boyne Departure Time: 1895 onwards
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