Editing Oscar Wilde (section)

=== Journalism and editorship: 1886–1889 ===
[[File:A Wilde time 3.jpg|thumb|left|alt=A tall man rests on a chaise longue, facing the camera. On his knees, which are held together, he holds a slim, richly bound book. He wears knee breeches which feature prominently in the photograph's foreground.|Wilde reclining with ''Poems'', by [[Napoleon Sarony]] in New York in 1882. Wilde often liked to appear idle, though in fact he worked hard; by the late 1880s he was a father, an editor and a writer.{{sfn|Ellmann|1988|p=289}}]]

Criticism over artistic matters in ''[[The Pall Mall Gazette]]'' provoked a letter of self-defence, and soon Wilde was a contributor to that and other journals during 1885–87. Although Richard Ellmann has claimed that Wilde enjoyed reviewing,{{sfn|Ellmann|1988|p=248}} Wilde's wife would tell friends that "Mr Wilde hates journalism".<ref>{{cite news |last=Peters |first=William Theodore |date=16 December 1894 |title=Oscar Wilde at Home |work=The Sunday Inter Ocean |location=Chicago |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-inter-ocean-oscar-wilde-at-home/170424019/ |access-date=26 October 2023}}</ref> Like his parents before him, Wilde supported Ireland's cause, and when [[Charles Stewart Parnell]] was [[Parnell Commission|falsely accused of inciting murder]], he wrote a series of astute columns defending the politician in the ''[[Daily Chronicle (United Kingdom)|Daily Chronicle]]''.{{sfn|Ellmann|1988|p=273}}

His flair, having previously been put mainly into socialising, suited journalism and rapidly attracted notice. With his youth nearly over and a family to support, in mid-1887 Wilde became the editor of ''The Lady's World'' magazine, his name prominent on the cover.{{sfn|Mason|1972|p=219}} He promptly renamed it as ''[[The Woman's World]]'' and raised its tone, adding serious articles on parenting, culture, and politics, while keeping discussions of fashion and arts. Two pieces of fiction were usually included, one to be read to children, the other for adult readers. Wilde worked hard to solicit good contributions from his wide artistic acquaintance, including those of Lady Wilde and his wife, Constance, while his own "Literary and Other Notes" were themselves popular and amusing.{{sfn|Ellmann|1988|p=276}}

The initial vigour and excitement which he brought to the job began to fade as administration, commuting and office life became tedious.{{sfn|Clayworth|1997|p=91}} At the same time as Wilde's interest flagged, the publishers became concerned about circulation: sales, at the relatively high price of one shilling, remained low.{{sfn|Clayworth|1997|p=95}} Increasingly sending instructions to the magazine by letter, Wilde began a new period of creative work and his own column appeared less regularly.{{sfn|Mason|1972|p=202}}{{sfn|Holland|Hart-Davis|2000|p=404}} In October 1889, Wilde had finally found his voice in prose and, at the end of the second volume, Wilde left ''The Woman's World''.{{sfn|Holland|Hart-Davis|2000|p=413}} The magazine outlasted him by only a year.{{sfn|Seeney|2023|p=130}}
Wilde's period at the helm of the magazine played a pivotal role in his development as a writer and facilitated his ascent to fame. Whilst Wilde the journalist supplied articles under the guidance of his editors, Wilde the editor was forced to learn to manipulate the literary marketplace on his own terms.{{sfn|Clayworth|1997|pp=85, 86}}

During the 1880s, Wilde was a close friend of the artist [[James Abbott McNeill Whistler|James McNeill Whistler]] and they dined together on many occasions. At one of these dinners, Whistler produced a ''bon mot'' that Wilde found particularly witty, Wilde exclaimed that he wished that he had said it. Whistler retorted "You will, Oscar, you will."{{sfn|Raby|1997|p=6}} [[Herbert Vivian]]{{snd}}a mutual friend of Wilde and Whistler{{snd}}attended the dinner and recorded it in his article ''The Reminiscences of a Short Life'', which appeared in [[The Sun (1893–1906)|''The Sun'']] in 1889. The article alleged that Wilde had a habit of passing off other people's witticisms as his own{{snd}}especially Whistler's. Wilde considered Vivian's article to be a scurrilous betrayal, and it directly caused the broken friendship between Wilde and Whistler.{{sfn|Ellmann|1988|p={{page needed|date=May 2021}}}} ''The Reminiscences'' also caused great acrimony between Wilde and Vivian, Wilde accusing Vivian of "the inaccuracy of an eavesdropper with the method of a blackmailer"{{sfn|Spoo|2018|p=31}} and banishing Vivian from his circle.{{sfn|Ellmann|1988|p={{page needed|date=May 2021}}}} Vivian's allegations did not diminish Wilde's reputation as an epigrammatist. London theatre director Luther Munday recounted some of Wilde's typical quips: Wilde said of Whistler that "he had no enemies but was intensely disliked by his friends", of [[Hall Caine]] that "he wrote at the top of his voice", of [[Rudyard Kipling]] that "he revealed life by splendid flashes of vulgarity", of [[Henry James]] that "he wrote fiction as if it were a painful duty", and of [[Francis Marion Crawford|Marion Crawford]] that "he immolated himself on the altar of local colour".<ref name=Munday>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/cu31924029872060/cu31924029872060_djvu.txt|title=A chronicle of friendships|first=Luther|last=Munday|date=24 November 1907|publisher=New York : F. A. Stokes|via=Internet Archive}}</ref>