Teleny

By Oscar Wilde

Book Overview

Teleny (1893) is an erotic novel published anonymously, yet often attributed to Irish playwright Oscar Wilde. Considered one of the first works of fiction to openly depict homosexuality, Teleny is the story of Camille Des Grieux's sexual awakening, the obstacles he faces from society as a gay man, and the passionate moments shared between lovers from all walks of life. "As I listened to his playing I was spell-bound; yet I could hardly tell whether it was with the composition, the execution, or the player himself. At the same time the strangest visions began to float before my eyes. First I saw the Alhambra in all the luxuriant loveliness of its Moorish masonry-those sumptuous symphonies of stones and bricks-so like the flourishes of those quaint Gipsy melodies. Then a smouldering unknown fire began to kindle itself within my breast." At a concert with his mother, Camille Des Grieux finds himself fiercely attracted to the young man on stage, the brilliant Hungarian pianist Teleny. As their eyes meet for the first time, Camille knows they are meant to be together. Despite the restrictions placed on gay men, despite the stories he has heard of Teleny as an unfaithful lover, Camille introduces himself. Filled with heated scenes of romance between its insatiable cast of characters, Teleny is an erotic novel that continues to entertain, shock, and surprise over a century after it was published. This edition of Teleny is a classic work of Victorian erotica reimagined for modern readers.

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• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1513295365
• ISBN13: 9781513295367
• Release Date: May 2021
• Publisher: Mint Editions
• Length: 154 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 4.9" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

Erotic Excellence

Teleny is undoubtably the finest example of an erotic novel that I have ever had the pleasure of reading. It flows smoothly and easily throughout the plot without becoming redundant or boring. The passion and conflicting emotions portrayed in these men are both riveting and timeless. I particularly enjoyed the subtle way in which sex and death, the two great constants, were so skillfully entertwined. The permanence of death serves to highlight the immediacy of our need to live life to the fullest extent. This is not a creampuff romance. It is a story of a passionate driving need to reach out and touch another human soul.

A complete edition at last

For anyone who has slogged through the artificial and self-conscious world of Victorian 'erotica', Teleny will seem both familiar and surprising. Written around 1893 by several anonymous writers of uneven ability, the novel claims our attention for two reasons. While the possibility that one of its writers was Oscar Wilde, an idea that grows more intriguing as one reads on, will probably remain its primary draw, it is also one of the first books to transcend its pornographic trappings and explore the emotional life of its protagonist. This progressive point of view, and the appropriately unaffected prose used to tell the tale, validate Teleny's position as the fountainhead of the modern approach to gender and sexuality in literature. Editor John McRae has succinctly summed up the circumstantial evidence of Oscar Wilde's authorship in his scholarly introduction to the only complete reprinting of the original text. This is not a case where the cheap edition just substitutes pulpier paper--for half the price you get half the book. Nor is Teleny for the weak stomach or the faint of heart. On the way to plumbing the depths of our human origins in our animal bodies, the book describes some extreme behavior. Readers who are offended by graphic descriptions of body parts and vividly imagined sex acts should look elsewhere. ON the other hand, those who would enjoy erotica more if it paid more attention to the sensuous and subjective experience may find something to celebrate.

Wilde... Wilde is on mine ("Cemetry Gates", The Smiths)

Creo que Wilde es uno de los tipos más auténticos y desencajados que existieron entre este siglo y el anterior. Desde sus cuentos para niños hasta sus obras maestras como El Retrato de Dorian Grey, podemos ver a un Wilde que se destapa de su apariencia y te lleva a recorrer los pasajes más reconditos de la existencia humana. No creo que haya algo mejor en el cielo. Teleny es la pluma de Wilde, de eso no hay duda, al menos para mí. Una historia tan descarnada y grotesca a veces y tan sutil y pasional en otras que me hace estremecer con cada línea. Con cada imagen. Un buen libro, pero no hay nada como Dorian, eso sí...