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 other documents that remained uncollected. Sturgis incorporates this scholarly work and rediscovered material in the most extensively researched biography of Wilde to appear since 1988. Wilde's charm also had a lasting effect on Parisian literati, who produced several original biographies and monographs on him. André Gide, on whom Wilde had such a strange effect, wrote "In Memoriam, Oscar Wilde"; Wilde also features in his journals. Thomas Louis, who had earlier translated books on Wilde into French, produced his own "L'esprit d'Oscar Wilde" in 1920. Modern books include Philippe Jullian's "Oscar Wilde", and "L'affaire Oscar Wilde, ou, Du danger de laisser