Oscar Wilde | Lecture

Tuesday 22nd July | 6pm

A lecture by Gail-Nina Anderson

Standing out even among the catalogue of great and good, worthy and famous speakers who have graced this building we find the name of Oscar Wilde, who lectured here on “The House Beautiful” in 1883.

This illustrated talk will contextualise Wilde as public speaker within the larger pattern of his career as poet, novelist, arbiter of taste, playwright, aesthete and promoter of his own image. In his Victorian environment Wilde’s conduct as a gay man saw him flirting with danger to the point of destroying his own career, but with the posthumous result of being hailed as an iconic figure and martyr to the cause. His paradoxical relationship with celebrity and visibility remains as fascinating as the style and wit of his writings and opinions and his shifting place in both Victorian and modern literary history.

A LIVE Lit & Phil Event | £5

(If you would prefer to book directly over the phone, please call the Library Desk team on 0191 232 0192 and they will be happy to help)