“I suppose if one can be proud of a dead relative, then I’d say ‘yes’, I was. “It’s quite difficult to be proud of somebody you’ve never known, but I suppose in the last 25 to 30 years that I’ve been rummaging around inside his head, I’ve got to know him quite well,” he laughs. Oscar Wilde on the stand.), 1917, MMXVII Oil and gold leaf on linen 24 x 18 inches | Courtesy of the artists and Studio Voltaire, London Something we guest is a polite homage to his late grandfather. His writing has brought a new life to this age-old story in queer history. With a widely successful career as an author in his own right today, much of Merlin’s life has been based around his grandfather. I mean, my father had financial problems in the 50s and instead of making page six of The Times or whatever it might have been, it was front page news on The Mirror: ‘Oscar Wilde’s younger son faces Carey Street’.” “It’s difficult for us to believe this now but that’s what it was at the time. “I think Oscar Wilde was used as an example of where things could go badly wrong if you were that way sexually oriented,” Merlin tell us. Harris: One of the most important writers of our time Sadly his father’s connection to Oscar did also bring with it a wealth of baggage and public attention for him as well. With the first conversation with his father about his famous grandfather around aged eight or nine, Merlin – an author himself – explains that Oscar has “always been a part of the wallpaper” in his family growing up, and that conversations about him did happen – regardless of the possible negative public attention that came with one of the most famous openly queer men in history. “That was back in the 1950s, at a time when homophobia was alive and well in England,” states Merlin Holland with a small sigh as he calls us direct from his home in France, shortly after confirming that he is indeed Oscar Wilde’s grandson – something he admits has always been somewhat normal to him.
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