The Green Carnation

R S Hichins

Verlag: argus Books, 1929

Beschreibung

Condition of Hardback Book: Very Good. No Dust Jacket. Covers show signs of age (photo attached). Pages are very slightly tanned. The Green Carnation is a novel by Robert Hichens that was first published anonymously in 1894. A satire on contemporary champions of the Aesthetic Movement, it was withdrawn briefly after the scandal of the Oscar Wilde trial in the following year. Later printings followed and it has remained popular for its depiction of the witty personalities of the time. Background: Robert Hichens, a writer on the fringes of the circle about Oscar Wilde, published The Green Carnation with Heinemann in 1894 in the UK and with D. Appleton & Company in the US.[1] First editions were published anonymously on the advice of the English publisher in order to arouse greater interest, although his authorship was acknowledged later. According to the introduction that Hichens wrote for the Unicorn Press reprint in 1949, the book had been withdrawn from publication following the scandal of the Oscar Wilde trial in 1895.[2] However, a Heinemann edition of 1901 lists an 1896 reissue following the first four editions of 1894-5 and claims 12,000 copies as having been printed in all. The novel is a Roman à clef and a gentle parody of aestheticism whose main characters, Esmé Amarinth and Lord Reginald Hastings, are based upon Oscar Wilde and his disciple, Lord Alfred Douglas. It has also been suggested that their hostess, Mrs Windsor, portrays Wilde's faithful friend, Ada Leverson. For most of the time they converse "brilliantly" in the Wildean manner, championing artifice over Nature and defying middle-class orthodoxy in the name of artistic individuality. Wilde had at first been amused by The Green Carnation and had written to Ada Leverson that "I did not think [Hichens] capable of anything so clever". But when the review of the book in the Pall Mall Gazette suggested that Wilde himself could be the author, on the grounds that "A man may certainly burlesque himself if he like; in fact, it would be a clever thing to do", he immediately denied the fact: "I invented that magnificent flower. But with the middle-class and mediocre book that usurps its strangely beautiful name I have, I need hardly say, nothing whatsoever to do. The flower is a work of art. The book is not." There are conflicting accounts of how the flower came to be associated with Wilde. Dyed flowers had already been in existence in England for a decade before he adopted it, and green carnations went on to be worn in the US by the Irish to celebrate St Patrick's Day. It is believed that Wilde and some of his supporters wore the flower to the first night of his play Lady Windermere's Fan in 1892, most probably to gain attention a gesture similar to the decision to omit the author's name from Hichens's subsequent novel. The story that it was to identify wearers as homosexual is an unsubstantiated later invention Plot In the opening scene, Lord Reggie Hastings slips a green carnation into his evening coat before attending a dinner party at Mrs Windsor's house in Belgrave Square. He converses there with Esmé Amarinth, a married playwright; and Lady Locke (cousin to Mrs Windsor), a young widow who has only recently returned to England after a ten-year absence. Some days later, Lord Reggie, Mr Amarinth and Lady Locke (together with her nine-year-old son Tommy), are guests at Mrs. Windsor's countryside cottage near Dorking. An additional guest is the mysterious Madame Valtesi whose one good action, she claims, was to marry the only man not in love with her when young. Lady Locke is initially attracted by Lord Reggie, but becomes increasingly disturbed by his wearing of the green carnation and what it symbolises about his flippant attitude to life. Lord Reggie tells her that Esmé invented the flower, and that it is only worn by a few people who are followers of "the higher philosophy". 209pp. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers 1028

Bibliografische Details

Titel: The Green Carnation

Verlag: argus Books

Erscheinungsdatum: 1929

Einband: Hardcover

Zustand: Very Good

Zustand des Schutzumschlags: No Jacket