The Green Carnation

This article is about the book. For the band, see Green Carnation. For the symbol, see LGBT symbols § Other smbols.
The Green Carnation book cover

The Green Carnation, first published anonymously in 1894, was a scandalous novel by Robert Hichens whose lead characters are closely based on Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas – also known as "Bosie", whom the author personally knew. It was an instant succès de scandale on both sides of the Atlantic.

The reviewer for The Observer wrote, "The Green Carnation will be read and discussed by everyone... nothing so impudent, so bold, or so delicious has been printed these many years."

The book features the characters of "Esmé Amarinth" (Wilde), and "Lord Reginald (Reggie) Hastings" (Douglas). The words put in the mouths of the hero and his young friend in the story are mostly gathered from the sayings of their originals. Robert Hichens spent nearly a year "in the company of the men" and was able to accurately recreate the atmosphere and relationship between Oscar and Bosie.

The book was withdrawn from circulation in 1895, but by that time the damage had been done. Wilde soon stood three consecutive trials for gross indecency and was sentenced to two years at hard labor. The Green Carnation was one of the works used against him by the prosecution.

The Green Carnation was republished in 1948 with an introduction by the author, which also included Wilde's letter to the Pall Mall Gazette, October 2, 1894 denying he was the anonymous author. It was reissued in paperback in this form in 1992, and republished again in 2006 as a hardcover with a foreword by Anthony Wynn.


Wikisource has original text related to this article:
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/1/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.