Gay erotic novel linked to Oscar Wilde bought after Kickstarter campaign

Teleny, and its prequel Des Grieux – sometimes attributed to Wilde, and very little known – acquired ‘to disseminate the work as widely as possible’

A 19th-century gay erotic novel that has been associated with Oscar Wilde is set for wider dissemination after it was acquired at auction by a Canadian university following a PhD student’s crowd-funding campaign.

Teleny, anonymously published in 1893, describes the erotic relationship between two men – Camille Des Grieux, who has “always struggled against the inclinations of my nature”, and Rene Teleny. Its prequel Des Grieux was published in 1899. The authorship of Teleny was first attributed to Wilde decades later by the French bookseller Charles Hirsch, who had opened a London shop in 1889, and who counted Wilde among his customers.

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