Following QSoc’s celebration of Oscar Wilde under the campanile on October 27th, Ireland’s favourite dandy will return to Trinity in spirit this evening at 7pm, specifically in the Phil Conversation Room, as the Trinity Literary Society (Lit Soc) plays host to Eleanor Fitzsimons, who will present her latest work, Wilde’s Women. She will be selling copies of her book for a discounted price on the night.
Formerly a University College Dublin (UCD) commerce student, Eleanor Fitzsimons crossed to the dark side and took an interest in the arts. She is now a researcher, writer, journalist and broadcaster. Her articles have been published in a range of newspapers including the Sunday Times, the Guardian and the Irish Independent. In 2012 she returned to UCD, graduating with a first class honours MA in women, gender and society. Since then, she has dedicated her career to uncovering the hidden history of women.
Wilde’s Women explores the ways Oscar Wilde’s multifaceted relationships with significant Irish and British women affected him. He campaigned throughout his life for female students to be admitted to Trinity and being allowed to benefit from formal education. He had a profound respect and admiration for all women. By challenging gender roles, he was channelling feminist ideology long before the term was coined. Fitzsimons’s book is provoking and readable, offering a unique perspective on Oscar Wilde as a devoted husband and an affectionate brother, showing him as more than the popular image of him as a homosexual adulterer and an eccentric dandy.
Rather than simply presenting Wilde’s Women, Lit Soc will hold also host a discussion around gender, feminism and literary stereotypes this evening. Oscar Wilde, the brilliant writer, poet and wit, will be presented as a fragile, profound and progressive man.
This will not be your usual presentation of Wilde as a humorous dandy and it is likely the usual traditional narratives associated with Wilde will be turned upside down. Whether a literary amateur or a bookworm, every Trinity student is invited to attend the discussion, and it’s sure to be an interesting occasion.
