Truly Wilde: The Unsettling Story of Dolly Wilde, Oscar's Unusual Niece.Truly Wilde: The Unsettling un·set·tle v. un·set·tled, un·set·tling, un·set·tles v.tr. 1. To displace from a settled condition; disrupt. 2. To make uneasy; disturb. v.intr. Story of Dolly Wilde, Oscar's Unusual Niece by Joan Schenkar (Basic Books, $30) Dolly Wilde was, like her uncle Oscar, a scintillating scin·til·late v. scin·til·lat·ed, scin·til·lat·ing, scin·til·lates v.intr. 1. To throw off sparks; flash. 2. To sparkle or shine. See Synonyms at flash. 3. conversationalist con·ver·sa·tion·al·ist also con·ver·sa·tion·ist n. One given to or skilled at conversation. conversationalist Noun a person with a specified ability at conversation: and a stunning letter writer. She was also openly lesbian, the "second-best" lover (after artist Romaine Brooks) of the uber-lesbian of 1920s Paris, Natalie Clifford Barney Natalie Clifford Barney (31 October 1876 – 2 February 1972) was an American expatriate who lived, wrote, and hosted a literary salon in Paris. She was a poet, memoirist, and epigrammatist, but believed her life was her true work of art. . Dolly's wit was legendary in her social circle--as Schenkar comments pithily, she seemed "to occupy all parts of speech at once'--but so was her warmheartedness, which sustained lifelong friendships. And, also like her uncle, she was self-destructive: By the time she was in her 30s, Wilde was a serious heroin addict, a borderline alcoholic, and a casual user of cocaine, opium, and other narcotics. She was often broke, went through detox de·tox v. To subject to detoxification. n. A section of a hospital or clinic in which patients are detoxified. several times, and "borrowed" money from her wide circle of acquaintances, but was deeply and enduringly loved by friends who futilely tried to save her from her worst impulses. Schenkar's biography is a terrific introduction to the life of a remarkable woman; it is also a meditation on the meanings of success and failure. After all, although she wrote hundreds of letters, translated several poems, essays, and stories from French into English, and was a fluent and expressive writer in both languages, Dolly Wilde did not fulfill her potential as a wordsmith word·smith n. 1. A fluent and prolific writer, especially one who writes professionally. 2. An expert on words. Noun 1. . As an "artist of the spoken word," Schenkar argues, Dolly made literature into her life and her life worthy of literature: "If she couldn't write a book, she seemed determined to live one." Dolly Wilde never had much of a home life. Her father's alcoholism plunged the family into poverty so humiliating that Dolly was farmed out to various generous strangers for upbringing. And in this biography--as lively, passionate, and deeply interested in women's lives as Dolly herself was--the divine Miss W has found a true home at last. |
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