Into the Archives: Investigating the Authorities

 

In the past couple of weeks I’ve become aware of a half-hour show on YouTube called The Authority by one of my favored authors and academics, Joseph Pearce. Every week Pearce ‘introduces you to the men and women behind history’s greatest works of literature. Come along every week as we explore these renowned authors, the times and genres in which they wrote, why scholars praise their writing, and how we, as Catholics, should read and understand their works.’ – TAN Books. It’s been running for six months now and there are thirty-one episodes; that latest has been about J. R. R. Tolkien, an author on whom Pearce has a great expertise. The Catholicism is not overwhelming or strained but brings another philosophical dimension that is often overlooked by modern scholars. Anyway, it has been watching these videos that have influenced my choice of books this month, volumes that have been lurking around my Wish List for ages. They both arrived in the mail yesterday.

Maurice Baring Restored, Maurice Baring (1970 Farrar Straus and Giroux, Hardback 444 pages). Stories from his work, chosen and edited, with an introduction and commentaries by Paul Horgan. Maurice Baring, “(27 April 1874 – 14 December 1945) was an English man of letters, known as a dramatist, poet, novelist, translator and essayist, and also as a travel writer and war correspondent, with particular knowledge of Russia. During World War I, Baring served in the Intelligence Corps and Royal Air Force.” - Wikipedia.

He was also, with G. K. Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc, one of a closely associated trio of literary friends. When a famous portrait of the three, The Conversation Piece, was produced, Chesterton humorously dubbed it “(Maurice) Baring, Over-Bearing (Belloc), and Past-Bearing (himself).” Very popular in his time and place, Baring suffered from Parkinson’s disease through the last twelve years of his life and died near the end of WWII. His fame and reputation went into an eclipse. I’ve been wanting to investigate his works (known to me mostly from a few trifling triolets) more closely, and this anthology seemed a good place to start.

It was produced by Paul Horgan “(August 1, 1903 – March 8, 1995) … an American writer of historical fiction and non-fiction who mainly wrote about the Southwestern United States. He was the recipient of two Pulitzer Prizes for History.” – Wikipedia. He was himself something of a mucky-muck in his field in 1970 but has now receded into the background as well.  

If he meant to help ‘restore’ Maurice Baring to his place in history with this selection, I’m afraid it did not set the Thames on fire. But it may yet serve as a link between the times, though a quick glance makes me wonder if it is perhaps a selection of what seemed significant to the Seventies and not to the ages. But we shall see. The book itself is in remarkably good shape, which is nice, but argues that it may not have been read much in the past half-century.

 

The Unmasking of Oscar Wilde, by Joseph Pearce (2^nd Edition, 2004 Ignatius Press, Hardback 412 pages) “Vilified by fellow Victorians for his sexuality and his dandyism, Oscar Wilde, the great poet, satirist and playwright, is hailed today, in some circles, as a progressive sexual liberator. But this image is not how Wilde saw himself.

“Joseph Pearce’s biography strips away pretensions to show the real man, his aspirations and desires. It uncovers how he was broken by his prison sentence; it probes the deeper thinking behind masterpieces such as The Picture of Dorian Gray and De Profundis; and it traces his fascination with Catholicism through to his eleventh-hour conversion.” – Ignatius Press.

In other words, Oscar Wilde seems to have had his narrative appropriated by two groups, one seeing his lifelong interest in Catholicism as a bit of hypocritical dandyism, the other as a sort of broken shield disingenuously assumed in an effort to protect himself from total social disgrace.

But “On July 2, 1896, Wilde confessed remorse for the “terrible offences” he’d committed, declaring that they were “forms of sexual madness.” He had been suffering from “the most horrible form of erotomania”, he explained, citing the latest research in pathological science to justify his claim. His sickness had left him “the helpless prey of the most revolting passions”, causing him to neglect and betray his wife and children. He lamented the “monstrous sexual perversion” and the “sexual monomania of a terrible character” to which he had succumbed. “In what a mire of madness I walked!” - Joseph Pearce, in The Imaginative Conservative. So, maybe not a gay icon, no matter how he has been used?

Joseph Pearce does Wilde the honor of not seeing these as weasel words but as true professed opinions. This seems to be supported by Wilde’s reception into the Catholic Church shortly before his death in 1900. He had done his ‘crimes,’ they had broken him, and he had repented. The working out of his story, his times, and his literary connections should make an interesting stew, and whether Pearce can support his claims an involving debate.

Opening the book, I find that it is signed by Joseph Pearce himself, inscribed “23^rd September 2006 / For Robert and Mary Roby / Keep the Faith! / Joseph Pearce”. Thus it joins my unintentional collection of author’s autographs.