Oscar Wilde on Trial : The Criminal Proceedings, from Arrest to Imprisonment

Author: Bristow, Joseph

c 1800 to c 1900

Published on 24 January 2023 by YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS in the United States as part of 'the Yale Law Library Series in Legal History and Reference' series.

Hardback | 672 pages, 25 b-w illus.
164 x 244 x 46 | 1010g

The most authoritative account of a pivotal event in legal and cultural history: the trials of Oscar Wilde on charges of “gross indecency”   Among the most infamous prosecutions of a literary figure in history, the two trials of Oscar Wilde for committing acts of “gross indecency” occurred at the height of his fame. After being found guilty, Wilde spent two years in prison, emerged bankrupt, and died in a cheap hotel room in Paris a few years after his release. The trials prompted a new intolerance toward homosexuality: habits of male bonding that were previously seen as innocent were now viewed as a threat, and an association grew in the public mind between gay men and the arts.

 Oscar Wilde on Trial assembles accounts from a variety of sources, including official and private letters, newspaper accounts, and previously published (but very incomplete) transcripts, to provide the most accurate and authoritative account to date of events that were pivotal in both legal and cultural history.