Arriving at the port of New York in 1882, a 27-year-old Oscar Wilde
quipped he had "nothing to declare but my genius." But as Roy
Morris, Jr., reveals in this sparkling narrative, Wilde was, for
the first time in his life, underselling himself. A chronicle of
the sensation that was Wilde's eleven-month speaking tour of
America, Declaring His Genius offers an indelible portrait of both
Oscar Wilde and the Gilded Age. Wilde covered 15,000 miles,
delivered 140 lectures, and met everyone who was anyone. Dressed in
satin knee britches and black silk stockings, the long-haired
apostle of the British Aesthetic Movement alternately shocked,
entertained, and enlightened a spellbound nation. Harvard students
attending one of his lectures sported Wildean costume, clutching
sunflowers and affecting world-weary poses. Denver prostitutes
enticed customers by crying: "We know what makes a cat wild, but
what makes Oscar Wilde?" Whitman hoisted a glass to his health,
while Ambrose Bierce denounced him as a fraud. Wilde helped alter
the way post-Civil War Americans-still reeling from the most
destructive conflict in their history-understood themselves. In an
era that saw rapid technological changes, social upheaval, and an
ever-widening gap between rich and poor, he delivered a powerful
anti-materialistic message about art and the need for beauty. Yet
Wilde too was changed by his tour. Having conquered America, a
savvier, more mature writer was ready to take on the rest of the
world. Neither Wilde nor America would ever be the same.
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