Oscar Wilde on the Husbands of Beautiful Women

Abstract

Oscar Wilde often reused epigrams or even longer passages that had already been published in his earlier works. Although this practice may be explained in part by his simultaneously working on multiple drafts, with the result that he lost track of which material was new and which was old, ¹ he was also aware that he had a tendency to self-plagiarise—during the Queensberry libel trial he was cross-examined on his Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young and noted that ‘several of them have appeared in my plays’. ² He kept pages of his epigrams in draft form, ³ and must have referred back to them while writing. Epigrams may...