84 The Trials of Oscar Wilde

The History of Literature

Jacke Wilson

Arts, History, Books

4.6 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 17 March 2017

⏱️ 73 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In February of 1895, the playwright Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) continued an astonishing run of theatrical success with the opening of his artistic masterpiece, The Importance of Being Earnest. Three months later, he was imprisoned on charges of “gross indecency.” In this special St. Patrick’s Day episode, host Jacke Wilson takes a look at the career of Oscar Wilde, Irish boy wonder, and the forces that led to his tragic demise. FREE GIFT! Write a review on iTunes (or another site), then send us an email at jackewilsonauthor@gmail.com to receive your free History of Literature card as a thank you gift. Act now while supplies last! Show Notes: Contact the host at jackewilsonauthor@gmail.com or by leaving a voicemail at 1-361-4WILSON (1-361-494-5766). You can find more literary discussion at jackewilson.com and more episodes of the series at historyofliterature.com. Check out our Facebook page at facebook.com/historyofliterature. You can follow Jacke Wilson at his Twitter account @WriterJacke. You can also follow Mike and the Literature Supporters Club (and receive daily book recommendations) by looking for @literatureSC. Music Credits: “Handel – Entrance to the Queen of Sheba” by Advent Chamber Orchestra (From the Free Music Archive / CC by SA). “NewsSting” and “Modern Piano Epsilon – The Small” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. *** This show is a part of the Podglomerate network, a company that produces, distributes, and monetizes podcasts. We encourage you to visit the website and sign up for our newsletter for more information about our shows, launches, and events. For more information on how The Podglomerate treats data, please see our Privacy Policy. Since you're listening to The History of Literature, we'd like to suggest you also try other Podglomerate shows surrounding literature, history, and storytelling like Storybound, Micheaux Mission, and The History of Standup. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	The History of Literature Podcast is a member of the Podglamorate Network and LIT Hub Radio.
0:07.0	There's no question as to what it means.
0:11.0	I certainly not.
0:13.0	So, is it not clear that the love described relates to natural and unnatural love?
0:20.0	No.
0:22.0	Oh.
0:24.0	Then, what is the love that dare not speak its name in this century is such a great affection of an
0:50.1	elder for a younger man as there was between David and Jonathan such as Plato made the
0:57.7	very basis of his philosophy and such as you may find in the sonnets of Michelangelo and Shakespeare.
1:09.0	It is in this century misunderstood, so much misunderstood that it may be described as the love that
1:17.4	dare not speak its name and on account of it I am placed where I am now. It is beautiful, it is fine, it is the noblest form of affection.
1:40.4	There's nothing unnatural about it. It is intellectual and it repeatedly exists between an elder and a younger man,
1:44.0	when the elder has intellect,
1:48.0	and the younger man has all the joy, hope, and glamour of life before him.
1:57.0	That it should be so the world does not understand.
2:02.0	The world mocks at it and sometimes puts one in the pillory for it. And the We've been listening to Stephen Fry, a man who was born to play Oscar Wilde in the 1997 film, Wild.
2:35.2	The speech we just heard is the famous one given by Wild at his second trial, when asked
2:39.4	to explain the meaning of, quote, the love that dare not speak its name.
2:45.1	When he gave the speech he was at the height of his popular and literary success, and
2:49.6	then he was brought down by a series of three trials which began with comic energy and ended in nightmare
2:58.3	and led to the horrible final days of one of Victorian England's brightest literary stars.
3:05.0	We're looking at the trials of Oscar Wilde, Irish Boy Wonder, on this special St. Patrick's Day
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Jacke Wilson, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Jacke Wilson and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.