Nearly 125 years after Oscar Wilde's death, his name continues to be synonymous with wit. His mastery of the art of dialogue is perhaps still unsurpassed in English literature. It’s that prodigious talent—and that the world was robbed of it so cruelly after Wilde was convicted of “gross indecency” for his love affair with Lord Alfred Douglas—that has made Wilde’s legacy a stinging reminder of the devastation wrought by society’s intolerance and bigotry.
In , Louis Bayard, author of nearly a dozen works of historical fiction, including and resurrects a piece of Wilde’s story often overlooked—his relationship with his family. The complicated, intimate dynamics between husband and wife, parent and child, brother and brother, as they are churned through public scandal and ruin make up the heart of this compassionate novel. Oscar Wilde’s downfall was “an explosion that never stops exploding,” as one character puts it, and that’s exactly what this story portrays, with an eye for nuance and an ear for language that Wilde himself would have appreciated. Bayard spoke with us about researching and writing his new novel as well as how he felt hearing the narration for the first time.
Phoebe Neidl: What inspired you to write a historical fiction novel focused on Oscar Wilde’s family?
Louis Bayard: Really, it came from realizing just how few people even know Oscar had a family. And that’s in part because his wife and children show up so infrequently in portrayals of him. The more I learned about Constance and the two boys, the more they seemed to demand their own story because nobody was granting them that.
Much like in an Oscar Wilde play, you use dialogue beautifully to establish character and plot, and of course Wilde is remembered as one of the most famously witty figures in English literature. How did you go about writing dialogue for him and the other characters? How important a tool was dialogue for you in your storytelling?
Well, I’ve always blocked out my chapters with dialogue because it’s the part that comes most naturally to me and because dialogue brings your people to life in a way nothing else does. But yes, with this book, I realized I would have to write a very specific kind of dialogue—in that stylized high-comedy register—and what kept it from being daunting was the simple fun of saying it out loud, in my best Lady Bracknell voice.
What was your research process like for The Wildes? And what were you most surprised to learn about the family?
The research was the usual plunge into biography and contemporary literature and surviving letters and everything I could wrap my arms around. But what I think most surprised and touched me was how devoted the Wildes were to each other. The emotional thread of the book is that, through all the scandal that surrounds them, they dearly want to be a family again.
You have three wonderful narrators for this story, Elisabeth Rodgers, Damian Lynch, and P.J. Ochlan. What qualities were you looking for in your narrators when this was being cast?
I agree with you—they are wonderful. What was equally wonderful was having some say in who would narrate the book, which—trust me—doesn’t always happen. At a superficial level, I wanted narrators who sounded British because that’s how I heard it in my head, but you also want people who get the characters. I have known Elisabeth for many years, but when I heard her read the opening pages, I just thought, That’s it. The same with Damian and P.J., whom I’ve never met. They seemed to find that private road.
I’ll just add it was a kick to be the cameo narrator, reading the parts of the book I didn’t actually write, and hearing my dead British mum correct my pronunciation at every turn.