Please note: In order to keep Hive up to date and provide users with the best features, we are no longer able to fully support Internet Explorer. The site is still available to you, however some sections of the site may appear broken. We would encourage you to move to a more modern browser like Firefox, Edge or Chrome in order to experience the site fully.

Supporting your high street Find out how »
Dancing with Salome : Courting the Uncanny with Oscar Wilde & Friends, Paperback / softback Book

Dancing with Salome : Courting the Uncanny with Oscar Wilde & Friends Paperback / softback

Paperback / softback

Available to Order - This title is available to order, with delivery expected within 2 weeks

Description

Dancing with Salome unmasks the occult aspects of Oscar Wilde's celebrated tome The Picture of Dorian Gray, whilst exploring how the unseen manifested not just in the famous author's life but in that of his love interest, Lord Alfred Douglas. The gilded backdrop to their ill-fated liaison was the Decadent movement, a literary and artistic feast of the divine and debauched which redefined the lines of male beauty. Curiously, Aubrey Beardsley, the most renowned illustrator of the Decadents, refused to keep any of Oscar Wilde's books in his home, as he believed, like many of his friends, that the playwright was accursed. Beardsley's theory is not as far-fetched as it seems if one takes into account the doomed lineages from which both Oscar and Lord Alfred Douglas were descended.

Through a series of interlinking essays, Nina Antonia takes us to meet the Decadent demi-monde of the 1890's with whom Wilde and Douglas mingled. Whilst eroticism and mysticism were key themes of the Decadents, there was also a surge of interest in ritual magic, enabled by the flowering of the "Golden Dawn" - the most significant esoteric order in England's history. Wilde's wife, Constance, was a member, as was W.B. Yeats, alongside Aleister Crowley and Arthur Machen. All would play a part, directly or indirectly, in the drama of Oscar Wilde's enchanted & accursed life.

Information

£14.93

Available to Order - This title is available to order, with delivery expected within 2 weeks
Add to Basket
Sign in to add to wishlist
 
Free Home Delivery

on all orders

 
Pick up orders

from local bookshops

Information