A pornographic novel said to have been written by several authors including Oscar Wilde. The pianist Teleny and the protagonist des Grieux fall in love, distract each other from that love with sex with others, and eventually face themselves.

Occasionally subtitled or named, The Reverse of the Medal and A Physiological Romance of To-day. Published by Leonard Smithers as Cosmopoli in 200 copies of two volumes. Seven known copies are left. The first volume has 163 pages, and the second has 191.

Des Grieux: The Prelude to "Teleny" was published in 1899 Leonard Smithers, London.

In the 1934 reprint, Charles Hirsch explains that the original publishers, Smithers, gave the original transcript to a friend who passed it to him (Dominique Leroy). Here, he explains that the document seemed to have been written in several hands—including Wilde's. This translation also shifts the setting of the novel from Paris to London, and contains several small changes to the text (Fraser Riddell). Further changes to the differing texts are outlined in "The Introduction to the 1986 GMP edition of Teleny" by John McRae.

Also see:

• "Queer Music in the Queen’s Hall: Teleny and Decadent Musical Geographies at the Fin de Siecle" (2020) by Fraser Riddell
• THE OSCOLAR'S Special Teleny Issue

Additional Editions

• Paris : Charles Hirch (1934) as Teleny: étude physiologique. Includes a "Notice Bibliographique" written by Hirsch.

Content & Trigger Warnings

Chapter V:

• RAPE: of a female character by the protagonist.
• SUICIDE: of the raped female character.

Chapter VI:

• SUICIDE: attempted by the protagonist.

Chapter VIII:

• SUICIDE: of a minor character.
• SUICIDE: of a main character