Talk:Oscar Wilde#Maynard

Oscar Wilde was born in the United Kingdom to parents who were also born in the United Kingdom this makes Oscar Wilde British. This may be an inconvenient fact but it is still a fact. 2A00:23C7:63D9:700:AD0D:C056:6A6:22C2 (talk) 14:56, 21 January 2025 (UTC)

:If you look in the archived chats, you'll see this is discussed. Halbared (talk) 08:58, 22 March 2025 (UTC)

The phrase “Regarded by most commentators as the greatest playwright of the Victorian era” has been added to the first paragraph. In my opinion, only completely uncontroversial statements should be included in this paragraph. I do not consider this particular statement uncontroversial. Firstly, the citation is to one book by Frankel. Frankel does express the opinion that Wilde is the greatest playwright of the Victorian era, but this is one person’s opinion. Therefore “most commentators” is unjustified. Secondly, Frankel can hardly be considered neutral on this point: he is a Wilde scholar. There may well be scholars who specialise in other playwrights who would differ. At the risk of complicating the picture, I will also mention that this is a retrospective judgement: Wilde was not considered superior to his peers at the time, and although he may be considered superior to them today there is a risk that in stating he was “the greatest” readers will be led to believe he was also considered the greatest in his lifetime. Tamara Gardens (talk) 22:01, 24 April 2025 (UTC)

:{{tq|When he visited San Francisco, the San Francisco Chronicle reported, "The city is divided into two camps, those who thought Wilde was an engaging speaker and an original thinker, and those who thought he was the most pretentious fraud ever perpetrated on a groaning public." Though his press reception was hostile, Wilde was well received in diverse settings across America: he drank whiskey with miners in Leadville, Colorado, and was fêted at the most fashionable salons in many cities he visited.}}

I think the quote can be shortened (paraphrased) to make way for an expansion of the famous party Jules Tavernier and Joseph Strong held for Wilde at the old offices of the California Supreme Court in the Montgomery Block in 1882. At the time, Tavernier and Strong were living there together with both of their families.{{cite book|last=Hjalmarson|first=Birgitta|year=1999|url=https://archive.org/details/artfulplayersart0000hjal|title=Artful Players: Artistic Life in Early San Francisco|publisher=Balcony Press|isbn=9781890449018|oclc=40450100|pages=61-66}}. Or, I could leave the quote as is and add the material. Viriditas (talk) 21:22, 10 May 2025 (UTC)

:I've left the relevant source and material for others to look at and add if they so desire. I'll check back here in a week or so to see if others (such as the primary contributors) have decided to expand the section based on this material. If not, and nobody has commented, I will go ahead and add it. Viriditas (talk) 00:27, 11 May 2025 (UTC)

::It occurs to me this entire visit (and party) could be turned into its own article but I don’t have access to Wikipedia Library to do so (it has access to all the original coverage). If others do, here’s your chance. Viriditas (talk) 01:12, 11 May 2025 (UTC)

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