(W)Here lies Constance Wilde?
July 11, 2016 10:39 AM   Subscribe

"Oscar Wilde’s long-suffering wife is supposed to be buried in Italy. So what’s her gravestone doing in a cemetery in Spain, and who lies under it?"

Apart from the emotional trauma caused by the revelations that provoked Wilde’s 1895 jail sentence for “gross indecency,” a trove of letters written by and to Constance that surfaced in the 1970s leaves no doubt this vibrant, socially aware, intellectually gifted woman deserved far better from the husband who ruined her life and the quack doctor who ended it.

"Mrs. Wilde was more than just a long-suffering wife. She matched Oscar in both intellect and ambition."

The Lancet: The enigmatic illness and death of Constance, wife of Oscar Wilde.

Letters unravel mystery of the death of Oscar Wilde’s wife.
posted by mandolin conspiracy (4 comments total) 18 users marked this as a favorite
 
This is excellent. Thank you.
posted by angiep at 11:23 AM on July 11, 2016


Not true that OW didn't react when Constance died . The collected letters include a note to the effect of :"Constance is dead. Am mad with grief." My copy is packed away and I don't remember who the recipient was.
posted by brujita at 1:33 PM on July 11, 2016 [1 favorite]


Oscar Wilde's only grandson. Is it wrong to think I see shadows of Oscar and Constance in that face? An interesting man in his own right.
posted by Modest House at 2:44 PM on July 11, 2016 [1 favorite]


Another person with a family resemblance was Oscar's lesbian niece Dolly Wilde. Djuna Barnes had a character in the Ladies Almanack based on her named Doll Furious.
posted by larrybob at 5:41 PM on July 11, 2016


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