Wilde Between the Sheets

In the first book-length study of Oscar Wilde’s De Profundis, David Walton has produced something that should be of serious interest to all students of literary and cultural studies: a wonderfully focused and theoretically rich, textual and historical analysis, that has much to teach us all.

-- John Storey, University of Sunderland

Wilde Between the Sheets: Oscar Wilde, Mail Bondage and 'De Profundis' is a unique, ground-breaking and much needed contribution to literary studies that finally places Wilde’s ‘De Profundis’ centre-stage. Situating Wilde in his social, political, legal and cultural contexts, the sheer profundity, detailed research and intellectual imagination behind Walton’s examination of Wilde and ‘De Profundis’ shed new light (not to mention casting playful shadows) on Wilde, his life and writing. The book also presents a multidimensional Rubik’s cube of literary approaches and philosophical concepts; with much theoretical dexterity, the author realigns these to form intricate new patterns of critical thinking, making the book as much about literary criticism as it is about a study of a literary figure and their work. As Walton takes the reader with much wit and insight through each chapter, Wilde Between the Sheets indeed does as it promises: it opens the door to a new space for the literary, historical, material and (con)textual exploration of ‘De Profundis’ and the fascinating fashionings of Wilde.

-- Esperanza Myake, Strathclyde Chancellor's Fellow

This book offers a highly original critical approach to Oscar Wilde’s De Profundis. Characterized by an astonishing depth and detail of analysis, it engages in a thorough reading of the letter, teasing out virtually all interpretive possibilities. I would say that it offers the most comprehensive account possible, but this would negate Walton’s theoretical contention that the textual complexities of the work and its socio-political contexts mean that a final accounting of it is impossible. What I can say is that Wilde scholars should begin, rather than end, here.

-- Suzanne Ferriss, Nova Southeastern Univer