Ervine, St. John G.

Oscar Wilde's reputation has shifted dramatically during the twentieth century from outcast in the wake of his trials for homosexual offences, to martyr to the gay cause in the 1980s and '90s, to important figure in the history of writing in English. Ruth Robbins introduces Wilde through a focus on his manipulations of genre and sets Wilde's life and work in its literary and cultural context.

"Robert Dunwoody has inherited his father's love of the sea and restless spirit while his mother dreams that he will play a part in their family business. Robert rebels against the world of small shopkeepers to follow the harsh, dangerous life of a sailor. After years away, travelling across the oceans and as a hobo in the United States, Robert returns to Belfast and is trapped into marriage and a shop of his own. Can he free himself to return to the world beyond Belfast's streets and return to the joys of an independent life?"--Page 4 of cover.

The characters are those of the Merchant of Venice: the time ten years after the date of Antonio's trial, and the author "imagines a ten-year reunion of the characters... and, in the process, shows a mellowed, quieter, and indeed assimilationist Shylock, friend of the Duke and wealthier than before." --www.readperiodicals.com.