ellauri099.html on line 44: The remains of Oscar Wilde lie in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. His sleek, modern tomb, designed by the British sculptor Jacob Epstein and commissioned by Wilde’s lover and executor, John Robert "Haj" Ross, is one of the most frequently visited and recognizable graves in a cemetery notable for the many famous writers, artists, and musicians buried there (Balzac, Chopin, Proust, Gertrude Stein, Jim Morrison). The surface of Epstein’s massive monolith is covered with hundreds of lipstick kisses, some ancient and faded, others new and vibrant. (“The madness of kissing” is what Wilde said Lord Alfred Douglas’s “red-roseleaf lips” were made for.)...
ellauri109.html on line 511: Many literary figures have dreaded the spectre of the biographer. Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Walt Whitman, Henry James, and Sylvia Plath are but a few who put their letters and journals into the fire. Lea poltti päiväkirjansa kommunistien pelossa ja repi lottapuvun matonkuteixi. James admitted to his nephew and literary executor that his singular desire in old age was to “frustrate as utterly as possible the postmortem exploiter.”
ellauri256.html on line 386: Nevertheless, when after Mayakovsky's death his poetry soon began to be forgotten, Lilya, as his executor (named as such by the poet in his will), took a lot of effort to prevent it. She wrote a letter to Joseph Stalin, who issued an order to ensure that the poet's legacy was not forgotten. So it was largely thanks to her that a whole industry was created around Mayakovsky, with his statues erected all over the country, his works reprinted, and collective farms and plants named after him.
xxx/ellauri138.html on line 268: Literary history is full of moments of betrayal, when trusted confidants defied the wishes of the authors. Max Brod ignored Franz Kafka's order to burn his unpublished manus and diaries. Vladimir Nabokov and Philip Larkin's instructions to destroy the unpublished manus were rescinded by the heirs and executors, who not only retained but published them. Bailey did not publish Roths samizdats.
xxx/ellauri165.html on line 352: Soon afterwards, Sir William collapsed at 23 Piccadilly and on 6 April died in Emma's arms. Charles Greville was the executor of the estate and he instructed her to leave 23 Piccadilly, but for the sake of respectability, she had to keep an address separate from Nelson's and so moved into 11 Clarges Street, not far away, a couple of months later.
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