24 May 2010
(today, in 1882,
Oscar was in Ontario)
I've begun an overall revision of the OWSoA web pages, with the intent
of highlighting our primary focus -- providing an accurate, central
source for information on Wilde's 1882 American lecture tour.
The new link, above right,
OSCAR WILDE IN
AMERICA 1882 will take you to the home page of this on-going
project. This is the new home of our popular Lecture Tour Calendar.
The new format also includes two new features following the calendar
organization:
1. Full texts of 1882 American newspaper interviews with Wilde
which, to the best of my knowledge, are unavailable in Wilde reference
books. This section is especially designed to supplement the interviews
collected in the recently-published Oscar Wilde in America: The
Interviews. More on that book may be found on the Interviews
"Overview" page.
2. Full texts or bibliographic reference to localized
articles on Wilde's American tour. Such articles have been published for
many decades in a variety of publication formats (state and local
historical society periodicals, newspapers, monographs, etc.). Karl
Beckson's Oscar Wilde Encyclopedia "Lectures in America, 1882"
(191-192) gives the best list I've found, but I've never seen a list
that includes all of the localized articles that even I know are out
there. And then there are all the lovely references OWSoA members have
uncovered and told me of.
Information in both new categories is sparse at present, but should give
a notion of the intent.
In
the future I hope to add a few more categories of resources for research
on the American tour to the IN AMERICA page. This will include a
reorganization of information from our former Library page. The Library
continues to be available as an archive, but will not be updated.
By
nature, development of the IN AMERICA page content is continuous. If
something intrigues you, but you don't find what you are looking
for, check back or drop me a note.
I
am deeply indebted to our former web master, founding OWSoA member John
Cooper, for creating our original web pages. John's design is both
useful and beautiful. Any error or ugliness resulting from my revisions
is entirely my fault.
I
am not, nor will I ever be, a web "master." When not obsessed by
Oscar I teach ancient Greek and Latin, so please pardon and let me know
of any problems.
Suggestions are always welcome. The purpose of all of this is the same
as the mission of the Oscar Wilde Society of America. For a full
explanation of our mission, click here.
Thank you for your patience and your interest in Oscar Wilde.
Marilyn Bisch
President, Oscar Wilde Society of America
marilyn.bisch@owsoa.org
