Information AboutBunburying |
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In the play, the character Algernon describes to his friend John (or Jack) how his imaginary friend Bunbury lives in the country and frequently "falls ill", giving Algernon the excuse he needs to leave town (that is, London), escaping relatives and social commitments. John in turn has a fictional brother, Ernest, who lives in London but is frequently in trouble, giving John the opportunity to visit London from the country whenever he pleases. When in London, he assumes the identity of Ernest. The term may have been a reference to the bet that took place between Edward Smith-Stanley, 12th Earl Of Derby and Sir Charles Bunbury following the first running of the Epsom Oaks in 1779 . The pair flipped a coin to decide who would have the race named after him. Smith-Stanley won and thus the race was named the " Epsom Derby " rather than "The Epsom Bunbury". Wilde therefore may have been making a reference to the hypothetical and fictitious nature of the "Epsom Bunbury" and Bunburying in general. However, according to a letter from Aleister Crowley to Bruce Lockhart , the word is an in-joke conjunction that came about after Wilde boarded a train at Banbury on which he met a schoolboy. They got into conversation and subsequently arranged to meet again at Sunbury. Hence its use in terms of living a double life. (See D'arch Smith, Timothy: ''Bunbury - Two Notes on Oscar Wilde'' (1998)). Bunburying has also been seen as a metaphor for Wilde's own Double Life , as a married Socialite in Victorian England who was secretly an active Homosexual . In this sense anyone leading a double life might be said to be ''Bunburying''. Sir , the first Gwendolen, and Allan Aynesworth , the first Algy—as well as Wilde's lover Lord Alfred Douglas . EXTERNAL LINKS |
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