Oscar Wilde Finally Gets His Library Pass Restored

It's been a long time since Oscar Wilde has been able to read a book at the British Library. Of course, a major reason is that he is dead, as he has been for over a century. However, there is a reason that has kept him out even longer, but that finally has been resolved. Welcome back, Oscar.

Oscar Wilde's tragic life story is well-known. He was a writer, poet, playwright, and speaker. He was witty and engaging. His popularity was such that he was able to tour America for a year in 1882 giving lectures. Throughout the 1880s he was a flamboyant personality whom some admired, others thought pretentious. It didn't matter. He was a celebrity.

Known mostly as a poet, in 1890 he wrote a major novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray. He then turned to writing plays, with his most notable being The Importance of Being Earnest. It was first performed in 1895, and he was on top of the world, but his world soon came tumbling down. He was involved in a homosexual relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas. Douglas' father, Lord Queensberry, accused Wilde of sodomy. Wilde responded by suing him for defamation, and Queensberry was tried for libel. His defense was to prove his claim was true. Queensberry succeeded. Wilde was prosecuted for sodomy, convicted, and spent two years in prison. On being released, he took the next boat to France and never returned.

The world piled on Wilde after his conviction. The self-righteous morés of his day would have subjected him to public humiliation along with his prison term. It must have been particularly hurtful to be condemned by the British Museum, predecessor to the British Library. They cancelled his library pass. However, the British Library, which has a major collection of Wilde's work, including a personal letter he wrote from jail to Lord Douglas, has finally decided to right that wrong. It will reinstate his pass on October 16. His ghost will be free to haunt the reading room of the library again.

That date was selected as it will be Oscar Wilde's 171st birthday, perhaps his happiest one in a long time. The pass will be given to Merlin Holland, Wilde's only grandson. Holland said, “Oscar had been in Pentonville prison for three weeks when his ticket to the British Museum Reading Room was cancelled, so he wouldn't have known about it, which was probably as well. I think it would have just added to his misery to feel that one of the world's great libraries had banned him from books just as the Law had banned him from daily life. But the restitution of his ticket is a lovely gesture of forgiveness and I'm sure his spirit will be touched and delighted.”

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Oscar Wilde Finally Gets His Library Pass Restored

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Oscar Wilde Finally Gets His Library Pass Restored

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