In Conversation with Ulrich Baer, author of My Own Dear Darling Boy: The Letters of Oscar Wilde to Lord Alfred Douglas
Oscar Wilde’s love letters to Lord Alfred Douglas, the man who inspired, exasperated, and thrilled Wilde and was responsible for the trials that would put Wilde in prison with hard labor for two years, were first published in America by collector William Clark Jr. in 1924. Clark had bought the letters from Rosenbach, who wrote a short introductory essay for the1924 edition and later reflected on the ethics of publishing letters “that we ought to burn.” In this talk, literary scholar and editor Ulrich Baer, University Professor at New York University and the editor of a new edition of Wilde’s letters to Bosie, reflects on the status of letters in Wilde’s life, why Wilde remains so important for us, and why Wilde and Bosie’s relationship continues to exert such fascination to this day.
Ulrich Baer is University Professor at New York University where he teaches literature and photography, and directs the Center for the Humanities. He received his B.A. from Harvard College, where in addition to reading a lot of books he rowed Varsity Crew, and earned his M. Phil. and Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Yale University. He has been awarded Guggenheim, Getty, Daad and Humboldt fellowships in recognition of his work.
Ulrich has published on poetry, photography, and cultural politics. His books include: Remnants of Song: The Experience of Modernity in Charles Baudelaire and Paul Celan; Spectral Evidence: The Photography of Trauma; The Rilke Alphabet; 110 Stories: New York Writes After September 11 (editor); The Claims of Literature: A Shoshana Felman Reader (co-editor); The Dark Interval: Rilke’s Letters on Loss, Grief and Transformation (translator and editor); Rainer Maria Rilke: Letters on Life (translator and editor). On his podcast, Think About It, he hosts leading thinkers and artists in more than 150 conversations on big ideas and transformative books; on his other podcast, The Proust Questionnaire co-hosted with Caroline Weber, he asks creative people 35 personal yet philosophical questions. He lives in New York City.
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My Own Dear Darling Boy: The Letters of Oscar Wilde to Lord Alfred Douglas
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Ulrich Baer
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Wilde in Philadelphia Walking Tour
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Guide to The Rosenbach’s Oscar Wilde holdings
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The Decadent Aubrey Beardsley | In-Person In Conversation with Margaret D. Stetz and Mark Samuels Lasner
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