Merlin Holland, grandson of Oscar Wilde, addressed The Oldie Literary Lunch on his monumental book, After Oscar: The Legacy of a Scandal, a work he said took “15.6 times as long as the gestation period of an African elephant.”
In his moving speech, Merlin recalled, “As a child, I was always discouraged from taking an interest in Oscar Wilde… I was coached to say, ‘Yes, we’re related, but he died a very long time ago and I never knew him.’”
Determined to end the myths surrounding his grandfather, he explained, “Everything to do with posthumous Oscar Wilde was so imaginative and completely exaggerated. I felt that history should be put right.”
Merlin added, “I have been critical of sloppy research… and the ‘follow-my-leader’ biographers who simply repeat gossip until it becomes enshrined as fact. If I inherited anything from my grandpa, it’s the delight in putting the establishment in its place.”
