Oscar Wilde Discovers America

When Oscar Wilde arrived in New York for a nationwide publicity tour in 1882, only a few newspapers mentioned that he was joined by his Black valet, Traquair, on his journey across the nation. Louis Edwards brings life to this figure, rescuing Traquair from obscurity in this daring and richly imaginative work following Wilde and his gifted confidant from high-society Newport to art-conscious San Francisco, all the way to the Deep South.

While Wilde shocks America with his eloquent lectures and larger-than-life presence, Traquair delights in the greatest year of his youth, from losing his virginity in a Washington, D.C. brothel to meeting Jefferson Davis in Mississippi and falling hopelessly in love in St. Louis.

Edwards presents a tale of class and race in late-nineteenth-century America combining seductive language and a unique perspective that offers a chilling forecast of the tragic destiny of Wilde and a stunning redefinition of the American spirit.