This remarkable book is unique in the literature of Oscar Wilde. Vincent O’Sullivan was the mystery-man of the 1890s decadent set, an American who lived large parts of his life in England and France, O’Sullivan and Wilde became friends in Paris after scandal and prison had brought Wilde down and effectively ended his literary career.



By no means a conventional biography, nor a memoir, Aspects of Wilde roams freely through anecdote, philosophy, literary criticism, polemic and reminiscence.



O’Sullivan paints an honest and fair picture of Wilde, particularly in his last years, it is a picture which is not without affection but which is also frank. The cast of characters includes all the ‘names’ of the Nineties and O’Sullivan often digresses to detail his own and Wilde’s dealings with Leonard Smithers, Beardsley, Dowson, Merrill, Lord Alfred Douglas and the like.



O’Sullivan himself was a part of that group of bright young authors and artists who gave the 1890s their enduring style, his portrait of Wilde remains an important contribution to our understanding of that period.