Those Forgotten Reviews: Walter Pater and Oscar Wilde as Reviewers

Abstract

Oxford University Press’ The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde (2000-) and The Collected Works of Walter Pater (2019-), are the result of a series of personal and editorial engagements spanning two centuries.From Walter Pater's Essays from ‘The Guardian’, which appeared in a private edition in 1897, to the two volumes of his journalism announced for 2023, including the two volumes of Oscar Wilde's journalistic writings published in 2013, publishers have always been interested in the periodical writings of Pater and Wilde. While the former’s reviews were published at the turn of the century, the latter’s extensive journalistic writings were quickly published in a (near) complete edition by a trio of committed editors in 1908. This commitment contrasts with the reticence of Pater’s editors, as this article aims to show by paying attention to the various editions of their reviews since the turn of the 20th century.

Keywords

• Walter Pater
• Oscar Wilde
• journalism
• review
• remediation