Oscar Wilde first hanging at Reading in 18 years. From Wooldridge's hanging, Wilde later wrote "The Ballad of Reading Gaol". Wilde was not, at first, even allowed paper and pen but Haldane eventually succeeded in allowing access to books and writing materials. Wilde requested, among others: the Bible in French; Italian and German grammars; some Ancient Greek texts, Dante's "Divine Comedy", Joris-Karl Huysmans's new French novel about Christian redemption "En Route", and essays by St Augustine, Cardinal Newman and Walter Pater. Between January and March 1897 Wilde wrote a 50,000-word letter to Douglas. He was not allowed to send it, but was
Oscar Wilde Centre Oscar Wilde Centre The Oscar Wilde Centre is an academic research and teaching unit in Trinity College Dublin. It was founded in 1998, and is located at 21 Westland Row, the house in which Oscar Wilde was born and raised. This building, which is on the perimeter of Trinity, was purchased in the 20th century as part of an expansion programme. The Centre offers two post-graduate programmes: the M.Phil in Irish Writing, and another in Creative Writing – the first programme of its kind in Ireland. The centre was founded by the poets Brendan Kennelly and Gerald Dawe, who serves