Bosie: The Tragic Life of Lord Alfred Douglas

Description

WITH A NEW FOREWORD AND REVISED INTRODUCTION 'A superb biography ... full of compassion, perception' Roger Lewis, The Times 'I love this book. Douglas Murray is a genius' Rupert Everett Lord Alfred Douglas, known as 'Bosie', son of the Marquess of Queensberry, was known as one of the most beautiful young men of his generation. Aged twenty-one he met and became the lover and subsequent obsession of Oscar Wilde. Their relationship caused a scandal in 1895 when Wilde took Queensberry, Douglas's aggressive father, to court for libel. When the details of their relationship were aired in court, Wilde was convicted of gross indecency and later imprisoned. Wilde's story is well known, but this is the first book to tell it fully from Douglas's perspective. Written, and originally published in 2000, with access to never-before-seen papers , Bosie explores the contradictions, tensions and turmoils of Douglas's life with Wilde and beyond as a poet, husband and father. This compelling biography uncovers the life of one of the most notorious figures in literary history, and its course from gilded beautiful youth to semi-reclusive outcast, at the time of Douglas's death in 1945.

Douglas Murray is the bestselling author of The Strange Death of Europe and The Madness of Crowds. He has been a contributor to The Spectator since 2000 and has been Associate Editor at the magazine since 2012. He has also written regularly for numerous other outlets including The Wall Street Journal, The Times, The Sunday Times, the Evening Standard, The New Criterion and National Review.

An excellent piece of work, intelligent and well-rounded - Sunday Telegraph Murray's triumph is in making his subject moving . . . The biography's clear prose and detached fascination with his subject constructs an engrossing fin-de-siecle early twentieth century culture without losing objectivity - Observer Murray is a firm, confident, objective biographer who writes unobtrusively well . . . One of the most impressive biographical debuts for some time . . . It comes across as entirely fresh - Sunday Times Thorough, well-researched and valiant - Independent on Sunday A remakable young writer with a confident style - Sunday Telegraph Murray's well-researched account soon has us in the thick of the affair, and by telling it from Douglas's point of view, the author gives us an illuminating new angle - Observer