Month: August 2015

Article

Lincoln and the Adult Novelty Store

John Cooper3 Comments
lincoln-ass

Regulars to this blog will already be suspicious of this article’s titular double entendres, however, lest there be any misunderstanding about the direction of our story, we shall spare you any possible disappointment, or as the flirtatious Gwendolen might say: Lincoln is not Abe, nor is it a name that produces any vibrations.

Instead, Lincoln and the Adult Novelty Store, in keeping with our theme is a historical detective story about Oscar Wilde.

The first task when examining Wilde’s tour of America is to establish the location for his lectures. In this case, it is the lecture which took place on April 24, 1882 in the city of—which I sense you anticipate—Lincoln, the state capital of Nebraska.

Continue reading “Lincoln and the Adult Novelty Store” →
Article

Doubtful as Men

John Cooper3 Comments
effete
How the effeminate Oscar Wilde was likened to women in 1882

During his lecture tour of America in 1882, Oscar Wilde was often described in interviews and articles as effeminate.

It has often been thought that Oscar was acting the part of the effeminate; certainly, he was playing up to it: his dress and manner coinciding with the “namby-pamby” image of Bunthorne from Gilbert & Sullivan’s Patience that preceded him.

But, given our knowledge that Wilde continued to display the same effeminate sensitivities throughout his life, how much of his 1882 pose was an act?

Perhaps rather than his being landed with an effeminate role, Wilde gravitated towards it.

Indeed, he portrayed his role so convincingly that, as we shall discover, the ever-anticipatory Wilde was conceptualized as female.

Continue reading “Doubtful as Men” →