Wilde About Whitman
by David Simpatico
Oscar Wilde, unpublished at only 27 years old, had an eye for the boys and ‘nothing to declare but his genius.’
Walt Whitman, penniless at 62, looked 72, and was banned in Boston for his ‘pornographic’ homoerotic poetry.
January 18, 1882 - On this fateful day these two literary giants spent three hours together behind closed doors in Whitman’s home in Camden, New Jersey. Walt faces an auspicious deadline: He...
Oscar Wilde, unpublished at only 27 years old, had an eye for the boys and ‘nothing to declare but his genius.’
Walt Whitman, penniless at 62, looked 72, and was banned in Boston for his ‘pornographic’ homoerotic poetry.
January 18, 1882 - On this fateful day these two literary giants spent three hours together behind closed doors in Whitman’s home in Camden, New Jersey. Walt faces an auspicious deadline: He must cut his best 25 poems from Leaves of Grass, or his work will be criminalized and banned forever. Oscar, who came looking for approbation from his idol, fervently dedicates himself to saving his hero's poetic legacy. Will Oscar convince Walt to stay true to his vision and share it with the world, or will Walt sacrifice his best poems, and lose his pivotal role in literary history?
This play is equal parts historical record and theatrical conjecture, of what they said, and did, behind those closed doors.
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