ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book introduces new archival research on Rachilde's and the Mercure's importance to Wilde's 1890s work as well as to his posthumous reputation, arguing that Rachilde and her network helped carry Wilde's artistic reputation into the twentieth century. It examines the main tenets of Wilde's affinity for the Roman Catholic Church, whose cult of the Virgin Mary, Eucharistic devotion, and dogma of papal infallibility Wilde liberally adapted from within his own aestheticist, poetic, Protestant framework of reference. The book demonstrates Wilde's extraordinary worldwide reach—his worldliness—the last few emphasizing his reach into the future and his global influence. Wilde's ability to move freely from world to world and across worlds, his plurality, was a major reason his work and life have been so appealing and influential beyond his own world.
