Ceremonies of Bravery

Oscar Wilde, Carlos Blacker, and the Dreyfus Affair

J. Robert Maguire

Adds new information to the vast literature of the two most written-about subjects of the 1890s: the life and career of Oscar Wilde and the far-reaching history of the Dreyfus affair
Based on the transcription of the unread and barely decipherable shorthand diaries of Blacker, a challenging task that occupied two talented experts at Pitman's Central College in London for seven years
Places Blacker's diaries alongside court records and personal letters to create a picture of the two men and the circles in which they moved
Richly illustrated with photographs from Carlos Blacker's personal collection

Ceremonies of Bravery

Oscar Wilde, Carlos Blacker, and the Dreyfus Affair

J. Robert Maguire

Description

Ceremonies of Bravery is a study of the friendship between the prolific writer Oscar Wilde and Carlos Blacker. The two men met in the 1880s, the period when Wilde was judged by many to be 'at his best', and Blacker went on to become a trustee of Wilde's marriage settlement. Wilde declared Blacker 'the truest of friends and the most sympathetic of companions', and diaries and letters show that the men were close confidantes for almost two decades, a period during which both endured personal crises and disgrace. However, the relationship came to an abrupt end in June 1898. Carlos Blacker recorded prophetically in his diary, 'After lunch just before dinner letter from Oscar which put an end to our friendship forever'.

Robert Maguire draws on Blacker's diaries to paint a rich portrait of Wilde's dear friend in their shared social milieu, providing an account that adds much to the already vivid picture of Wilde's life. He devotes the first half of the book to the formative years of the friendship, showing the two men attempting to support each other in disgrace, with personal crises unfolding in parallel in their lives. Maguire then turns his attention to the men's reunion in Paris in March 1898, some three years after Wilde's arrest. Here, the Dreyfus Affair was at its peak, and Wilde and Blacker found themselves with very different perspectives. Maguire weaves together court records, letters, and diaries to propose a new account of the way in which Dreyfusard Blacker, working on a secret plan to establish Dreyfus's innocence, drew his old friend Oscar Wilde into his confidence. Wilde, on the other hand, was developing increasing interest in and sympathy for the real traitor Esterhazy, and it is most likely that this led him to betray Blacker's confidence, ending the friendship between the two men.

The obscurity surrounding Carlos Blacker's role in the Dreyfus affair, as well as the attendant circumstances of his painful breakup with Oscar Wilde, was mainly due to Blacker's own rigidly maintained silence to the time of his death in 1928. The full story did not come to light until the transcription beginning in 1989 of Blacker's diaries. Using these diaries, alongside other archival sources, Ceremonies of Bravery provides new insight into a special relationship while also offering a unique perspective on the Dreyfus Affair.

Ceremonies of Bravery

Oscar Wilde, Carlos Blacker, and the Dreyfus Affair

J. Robert Maguire

Introduction
The Greatest Friendship of My Life
Sadness, Disappointment, Upset. & Weariness
The Girl With the Foghorn Voice
He Has Been Mad the Last 3 Years
Letters From Two Idiots to a Lunatic
The Most Bitter Experience of a Bitter Life
The Dreyfus-Case Paris Cannot Be Figured by the Paris of Today
Paradoxes Are Always Dangerous Things
No One Should Know Such an Infamous Person as Bosie
He Was a Great Genius. His Familiar Talk Was Golden
EPILOGUE
APPENDIX
Carlos Blacker s Private and Confidential Memorandum on the Dreyfus Affair
NOTES
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ceremonies of Bravery

Oscar Wilde, Carlos Blacker, and the Dreyfus Affair

J. Robert Maguire

Author Information

J. Robert Maguire, Independent scholar

Robert Maguire entered Princeton in June 1942 and withdrew in March 1943 to join the American Army. After service in the Pacific, he returned to Princeton in March 1946, withdrawing in June to spend the summer in Paris working with the American Delegation to the Peace Conference. While there he developed what became a life-long interest in the Dreyfus affair. He again withdrew from Princeton in September 1947 to spend a year at Christ's College, Cambridge, returning to Princeton to graduate in September 1948. Following graduation, he spent the next two years in Germany as a member of the American Displaced Persons Commission. In September 1950, he entered Yale University Law School, graduating (LLB) in June 1953, followed by a JD (Juris Doctor) degree in 1987. In addition to employment in a New York law firm (White & Case) for ten years, Maguire's institutional affiliations have been mainly trusteeships and/or committee memberships with various museums aand libraries.

Ceremonies of Bravery

Oscar Wilde, Carlos Blacker, and the Dreyfus Affair

J. Robert Maguire

Reviews and Awards

"the most original part of Ceremonies of Bravery is undoubtedly its account of the indirect participation of Wilde and Blacker in the Dreyfus affair which eventually led to their estrangement." - John Stokes, Review of English Studies

"Maguire offers a beautifully written, meticulously researched, and suspenseful book. It is sometimes difficult to call an academic work a page-turner, but the dramatic setup of Ceremonies of Bravery - namely, why did Oscar Wilde and Carlos Blacker have a falling out over the Dreyfus affair? - is emotionally and intellectually involving. Maguire succeeds in painting a vivid portrait of the interactions between Wilde and Blacker during Wilde's imprisonment, as well as making clear the nature of their involvement in the Dreyfus case ... Essential." - J. W. Moffett, Choice

"Ceremonies of Bravery is a recondite book, written with lawyerly precision and patrician understatement, but it also has rare charm. The loving care with which Maguire has assembled his odd, out-of-the-way story is palpable." - Richard Davenport-Hines, The Spectator

"Ceremonies of Bravery is an exceptional book for a simple reason; it tells a fascinating story and fills in many gaps in our knowledge of the last years in the life of Oscar Wilde." - Imad Moustapha, Weblog of a Syrian Diplomat in America

"...a richly detailed, well-written and meticulously researched account of previously neglected associations" - Robert Finnigan, Irish Studies Review