Oscar Wilde




 
This article is about the 19th-century author. For other uses, see Oscar Wilde (disambiguation).
Oscar Wilde
Photograph taken in 1882 by Napoleon Sarony
Born 16 October 1854(1854-10-16)
Dublin, Ireland
Died 30 November 1900 (aged 46)
Paris, France
Occupation Writer
Language English, French
Nationality Irish
Alma mater Trinity College, Dublin
Period Victorian era
Genres Drama, short story, dialogue, journalism
Literary movement Aestheticism
Notable work(s) The Importance of Being Earnest
Children Cyril Holland, Vyvyan Holland
Relative(s) Sir William Wlide, Lady Jane Francesca Wilde
Signature

Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900) was an Irish writer, poet, and prominent aesthete. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890. Today he is remembered for his many epigrams, his plays which are still revived, and the tragedy of his imprisonment and early death.

Wilde's parents were successful Dublin intellectuals, and from an early age he was tutored at home, where he showed his intelligence, becoming fluent in French and German. He attended boarding school for six years, then matriculated to university at seventeen years of age. Reading Greats, Wilde proved himself to be an outstanding classicist, first at Trinity College, Dublin, then at Magdalen College, Oxford. His intellectual horizons were broad and he was deeply interested in the rising philosophy of aestheticism, led by two of his tutors Walter Pater and John Ruskin; but at the same time he profoundly explored Roman Catholicism.

After university, Wilde moved to London and into fashionable cultural and social circles, becoming a spokesman for aestheticism. He tried his hand at various literary activities: he published a book of poems and toured America and Canada lecturing extensively on the new "English Renaissance". He then returned to London, where he worked prolifically as a journalist for four years. Known for his biting wit, flamboyant dress, and glittering conversation, Wilde was one of the best known personalities of his day. He next produced a series of dialogues and essays that developed his ideas about the supremacy of art. However, it was his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray – still widely read – that brought him more lasting recognition.

The opportunity to construct aesthetic details precisely, combined with larger social themes, drew Wilde to writing drama. He wrote Salomé in French in Paris in 1891, but it was refused a licence. Unperturbed, Wilde produced four society comedies in the early 1890s, which made him one of the most successful playwrights of late Victorian London, culminating in his masterpiece The Importance of Being Earnest in 1895.

At the height of his fame and success—and two comedies on stage in London—Wilde sued his lover's father for libel. After a series of trials, Wilde was convicted of gross indecency with other men and imprisoned for two years, held to hard labour. In prison he wrote De Profundis, a long letter which discusses his spiritual journey through his trials, forming a dark counterpoint to his earlier philosophy of pleasure. Upon his release he left immediately for France, never to return to Ireland or Britain. There he wrote his last work, The Ballad of Reading Gaol, a long poem commemorating the harsh rhythms of prison life. He died destitute in Paris at the age of forty-six.

Contents

Early life

Statue of Oscar Wilde by Danny Osborne in Dublin's Merrion Square (Archbishop Ryan Park)

Oscar Wilde was born at 21 Westland Row, Dublin (now home of the Oscar Wilde Centre, Trinity College, Dublin) the second of three children born to Sir William Wilde and Jane Francesca Wilde, two years behind William ("Willie"). Jane Wilde, under the pseudonym "Speranza" (the Italian word for 'Hope'), wrote poetry for the revolutionary Young Irelanders in 1848 and was a life-long Irish nationalist.1 She read the Young Irelanders' poetry to Oscar and Willie, inculcating a love of these poets in her sons.2 Lady Wilde's interest in the neo-classical revival showed in the paintings and busts of ancient Greece and Rome in her home.2 William Wilde was Ireland's leading oto-ophthalmologic (ear and eye) surgeon and was knighted in 1864 for his services as medical adviser and assistant commissioner to the censuses of Ireland.3 He also wrote books about Irish archaeology and peasant folklore. A renowned philanthropist, his dispensary for the care of the city's poor at the rear of Trinity College, Dublin, was the forerunner of the Dublin Eye and Ear Hospital, now located at Adelaide Road.3

In addition to his children with his wife, Sir William Wilde was the father of three children born out of wedlock before his marriage: Henry Wilson, born in 1838, and Emily and Mary Wilde, born in 1847 and 1849, respectively, of different parentage to Henry. Sir William acknowledged paternity of his illegitimate children and provided for their education, but they were reared by his relatives rather than with his wife and legitimate children.4

In 1855, the family moved to No. 1 Merrion Square, where Wilde's sister, Isola, was born the following year. The Wildes' new home was larger and, with both his parents' sociality and success soon became a "unique medical and cultural milieu"; guests at their salon included Sheridan le Fanu, Charles Lever, George Petrie, Isaac Butt, William Rowan Hamilton and Samuel Ferguson.2

Until he was nine, Oscar Wilde was educated at home, where a French bonne and a German governess taught him their languages. He then attended Portora Royal School in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh.5 Until his early twenties, Wilde summered at the villa his father built in Moytura, County Mayo.6 There the young Wilde and his brother Willie played with George Moore.

Isola died aged eight of meningitis. Wilde's poem Requiescat is dedicated to her memory:7

"Tread lightly, she is near
Under the snow
Speak gently, she can hear
the daisies grow"

University education

Trinity College, Dublin

Wilde left Portora with a royal scholarship to read classics at Trinity College, Dublin, from 1871 to 1874,8 sharing rooms with his older brother Willie Wilde. Trinity, one of the leading classical schools, set him with scholars such as R.Y. Tyrell, Arthur Palmer, Edward Dowden and his tutor, J.P. Mahaffy who inspired his interest in Greek literature. Wilde, despite later reservations, called Mahaffy "my first and best teacher" and "the scholar who showed me how to love Greek things".9 For his part Mahaffy boasted of having created Wilde; later, he would name him "the only blot on my tutorship".10

As a student Wilde worked with Mahaffy on the latter's book Social Life in Greece.11 Wilde established himself as an outstanding student: he came first in his class in his first year, won a scholarship by competitive examination in his second, and then, in his finals, won the Berkeley Gold Medal, the highest academic award at Trinity.12

The University Philosophical Society also provided an education, discussing intellectual and artistic subjects such as Rosetti and Swinburne weekly. Wilde quickly became an established member – the members' suggestion book for 1874 contains two pages of banter (sportingly) mocking Wilde's emergent aestheticism. He presented a paper entitled "Aesthetic Morality".13 He was encouraged to compete for a demyship to Magdalen College, Oxford – which he won easily, having already studied Greek for over nine years.

Magdalen College, Oxford

Oscar Wilde posing for a photograph, looking at the camera. He is wearing a check suit and a bowler hat. His right foot is resting on a knee high bench, and his right hand, holding gloves, is on it. The left hand is in the pocket. Oscar Wilde at Oxford.
Oscar Wilde at Oxford.

At Magdalen he read Greats from 1874 to 1878, and from there he applied to join the Oxford Union, but failed to be elected.14

Attracted by its dress, secrecy and ritual, Wilde petitioned the Apollo Masonic Lodge at Oxford, and was soon raised to the "Sublime Degree of Master Mason".15 During a resurgent interest in Freemasonry in his third year, he commented he "would be awfully sorry to give it up if I secede from the Protestant Heresy".16 He was deeply considering converting to Catholicism, discussing the possibility with clergy several times. In 1877, Wilde was left speechless after an audience with Pope Pius IX in Rome.17 He eagerly read Cardinal Newman's books, and became more serious in 1878, when he met the Reverend Sebastian Bowden, a priest in the Brompton Oratory who had received some high profile converts. Neither his father, who threatened to cut off his funds, nor Mahaffy thought much of the plan; but mostly Wilde, the supreme individualist, baulked at the last minute from pledging himself to any formal creed. On the appointed day of his baptism, Fr Bowden received a bunch of altar lilies instead. Wilde retained a lifelong interest in Catholic theology and liturgy.18

While at Magdalen College, Wilde became particularly well known for his role in the aesthetic and decadent movements. He wore his hair long, openly scorned "manly" sports though he occasionally boxed,15 and decorated his rooms with peacock feathers, lilies, sunflowers, blue china and other objets d'art, once remarking to friends whom he entertained lavishly, "I find it harder and harder every day to live up to my blue china."19 The line quickly became famous, accepted as a slogan by aesthetes but used against them by critics who sensed in it a terrible vacuousness.19 Some elements disdained the aesthetes, but their languishing attitudes and showy costumes became a recognised pose.20 Wilde was once physically attacked by a group of four fellow students, and dealt with them single-handedly, surprising critics.21 By his third year Wilde had truly begun to create himself and his myth, and saw his learning developing in much larger ways than merely the prescribed texts. This attitude resulted in him being rusticated for one term, when he nonchalantly returned to college late from a trip to Greece with Prof. Mahaffy.22

Wilde did not meet Professor Walter Pater until his third year, but had been enthralled by his Studies in the History of the Renaissance, published during Wilde's final year in Trinity.23 Pater argued that man's sensibility to beauty should be refined above all else, and that each moment should be felt to its fullest extent. Years later in De Profundis, Wilde called Pater's Studies... "that book that has had such a strange influence over my life".24 He learned tracts of the book by heart, and carried it with him on travels in later years.

Pater gave Wilde his sense of almost flippant devotion to art, though it was Professor John Ruskin who gave him a purpose for it.25 Ruskin despaired at the self-validating aestheticism of Pater; for him the importance of art lay in its potential for the betterment of society. He too admired beauty, but it must be allied with and applied to moral good. When Wilde eagerly attended his lecture series The Aesthetic and Mathematic Schools of Art in Florence, he learned about aesthetics as simply the non-mathematical elements of painting. Despite being given to neither early rising nor manual labour, Wilde volunteered for Ruskin's project to convert a swampy country lane into a smart road neatly edged with flowers.25

Wilde won the 1878 Newdigate Prize for his poem Ravenna, which reflected on his visit there the year before, and he duly read it at Encaenia.26 In November 1878, he graduated with a rare double first in his B.A. of Classical Moderations and Literae Humaniores (Greats). Wilde wrote a friend, "The dons are 'astonied' beyond words – the Bad Boy doing so well in the end!"27

Apprenticeship of an aesthete: 1880–1889

Trade card for 'Aesthetic' cigars, using a photo taken by Napoleon Sarony, 1882

Debut in society

After graduation from Oxford, Wilde returned to Dublin, where he met again Florence Balcombe, a childhood sweetheart. She, however, became engaged to Bram Stoker (who later wrote Dracula), and they married in 1878.28 Wilde was disappointed but stoic: he wrote to her, remembering "the two sweet years – the sweetest years of all my youth" they had spent together.29 He also stated his intention to "return to England, probably for good". This he did in 1878, only briefly visiting Ireland twice.30

Unsure of his next step, he wrote to various acquaintances enquiring about Classics positions at Oxbridge.31 The Rise of Historical Criticism was his submission for the Chancellor's Essay prize of 1879, which, though no longer a student, he was still eligible to enter. Its subject, "Historical Criticism among the Ancients" seemed ready-made for Wilde – with both his skill in composition and ancient learning – but he struggled to find his voice with the long, flat, scholarly style.32 Unusually, no prize was awarded that year.32Notes 1 With the last of his inheritance from the sale of his father's houses, he set himself up as a bachelor in London.33

Wilde had been publishing lyrics and poems in magazines since his entering Trinity College, especially in Kottabos and the Dublin University Magazine. In mid-1881, at 27 years old, Poems collected, revised and expanded his poetic efforts.34 The book was generally well received, and sold out its first print run of 750 copies, prompting further printings in 1882. Bound in a rich, enamel, parchment cover (embossed with gilt blossom) and printed on hand-made Dutch paper, Wilde would present many copies to the dignitaries and writers who received him over the next few years.35 The Oxford Union condemned the book for alleged plagiarism in a tight vote. The librarian, who had requested the book for the library, returned the presentation copy to Wilde with a note of apology.3637

The 1881 British Census listed Wilde as a boarder at 1 Tite Street, Chelsea, where Frank Miles, a society painter, was the head of the household.38 Wilde would spend the next six years in London and Paris, and in the United States where he travelled to deliver lectures.

America: 1882

A Satirical cartoon shows a dandy figure, fancily dressed in a long coat and breeches, floating across the crowd in a tightly packed ballroom. Keller cartoon from the Wasp of San Francisco depicting Wilde on the occasion of his visit there in 1882
Keller cartoon from the Wasp of San Francisco depicting Wilde on the occasion of his visit there in 1882

Aestheticism was sufficiently in vogue to be caricatured by Gilbert and Sullivan in Patience (1881). Richard D'Oyly Carte, an English Impressario, invited Wilde on a lecture tour of North America, simultaneously priming the pump for the U.S. tour of Patience and selling the most charming English aesthete to the American public. Wilde arrived on 3 January 1882 aboard the SS Arizona and criss-crossed the country on a gruelling schedule, lecturing in a new town every few days.Notes 2Originally planned to last four months, it was continued for over a year due to the commercial success.

Wilde and aestheticism were both mercilessly caricatured and criticised in the press, Springfield Republican, for instance, commented on Wilde's behaviour during his visit to Boston to lecture on aestheticism, suggesting that Wilde's conduct was more of a bid for notoriety rather than a devotion to beauty and the aesthetic. T.W. Higginson, a cleric and abolitionist, wrote in "Unmanly Manhood" of his general concern that Wilde, "whose only distinction is that he has written a thin volume of very mediocre verse", would improperly influence the behaviour of men and women.39 Though his press reception was hostile, Wilde was well received in diverse settings across America; he drank whiskey with miners in Leadville, Colorado and was fêted at the most fashionable salons in every city he visited.40

London life and marriage

A small head-portrait of a young, pale man with dark hair. Robert Ross at twenty-four
Robert Ross at twenty-four

His earnings, plus expected income from The Duchess of Padua, allowed him to move to Paris between February and mid-May 1883; there he met Robert Sherard, whom he entertained constantly. "We are dining on the Duchess tonight", Wilde would declare before taking him to a fancy restaurant.41 In August he briefly returned to New York for the production of Vera, his first play, after it was turned down in London. He reportedly entertained the other passengers with Ave Imperatrix!, A Poem On England, about the rise and fall of empires. E.C. Stedman, in Victorian Poets describes this "lyric to England" as "manly verse – a poetic and eloquent invocation".42Notes 3 Wilde's presence was again notable, the play was initially well received by the audience, but when the critics returned lukewarm reviews attendance fell sharply and the play closed a week after it had opened.43

He was left to return to England and lecturing: Personal Impressions of America, The Value of Art in Modern Life, and Dress were among his topics. In London, he had been introduced to Constance Lloyd in 1881, daughter of Horace Lloyd, a wealthy Queen's Counsel. She happened to be visiting Dublin in 1884, when Wilde was lecturing at the Gaiety Theatre (W. B. Yeats, then aged eighteen, was also among the audience). He proposed to her, and they married on the 29 May 1884 at the Anglican St. James Church in Paddington in London.44 Constance's annual allowance of £250 was generous for a young woman (it would be equivalent to about £19,300 in current value), but the Wildes' tastes were relatively luxurious and, after preaching to others for so long, their home was expected to set new standards of design.45 No. 16, Tite Street was duly renovated in seven months at considerable expense. The couple had two sons, Cyril (1885) and Vyvyan (1886). Wilde was the sole literary signatory of George Bernard Shaw's petition for a pardon of the anarchists arrested (and later executed) after the Haymarket massacre in Chicago in 1886.46

Robert Ross had read Wilde's poems before they met, and he was unrestrained by the Victorian prohibition against homosexuality, even to the extent of estranging himself from his family. A precocious seventeen year old, by Richard Ellmann's account, he was "...so young and yet so knowing, was determined to seduce Wilde".47 Wilde, who had long alluded to Greek love, and – though an adoring father – was put off by the carnality of his wife's second pregnancy, succumbed to Ross in Oxford in 1886.48

Journalism and editorship: 1886–1889

A tall man rests on a chaise longue, facing the camera. On his knees, which are held together, he holds a slim, richly bound book. He is wearing knee breeches which feature prominently in the photograph's foreground. Oscar Wilde reclines with Poems for Napoleon Sarony in New York in 1882. Wilde often liked to appear idle, though in fact he worked hard; by the late '80s he was a father, an editor, and a writer.
Oscar Wilde reclines with Poems for Napoleon Sarony in New York in 1882. Wilde often liked to appear idle, though in fact he worked hard; by the late '80s he was a father, an editor, and a writer.49

Criticism over artistic matters in the Pall Mall Gazette provoked a letter in self-defence, and soon Wilde was a contributor to that and other journals during the years 1885–1887. He enjoyed reviewing and journalism, it was a form that suited his style: he could organise and share his views on art, literature and life, yet it was less tedious than lecturing. Buoyed up, his reviews were largely chatty and positive.50 Wilde, like his parents before him, also supported the cause of Irish Nationalism. When Charles Stewart Parnell was falsely accused of inciting murder Wilde wrote a series of astute columns defending him in the Daily Chronicle.46

His flair, having previously only been put into socialising, suited journalism and did not go unnoticed. With his youth nearly over, and a family to support, in mid-1887 Wilde became the editor of The Lady's World magazine, his name prominently appearing on the cover.51 He promptly renamed it The Woman's World and raised its tone, adding serious articles on parenting, culture, and politics, keeping discussions of fashion and arts. Two pieces of fiction were usually included, one to be read to children, the other for the ladies themselves. Wilde used his wide artistic acquaintance to solicit good contributions, including those of Lady Wilde and his wife Constance, while his own "Literary and Other Notes" were themselves popular and amusing.52

The initial vigour and excitement he brought to the job began to fade as administration, commuting and office life became tedious. His lack of interest showed in the magazine's declining quality and flagging sales. Increasingly sending instructions by letter, he began a new period of creative work and his own column appeared less regularly.5354 In October 1889, Wilde had finally found his voice in prose and, at the end of the second volume, Wilde left The Woman's World.55 The magazine outlasted him by one volume.53

Wilde's fictions

Main articles: The Picture of Dorian Gray and Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories#The Portrait of Mr. W.H.

Wilde, having tired of journalism, had been busy setting out his aesthetic ideas more fully in a series of longer prose pieces which were published in the major literary-intellectual journals of the day. The Decay of Lying:A Dialogue was in Eclectic Magazine in February 188956 and Pen, Pencil and Poison: A Study, a satirical biography, was published later in the year by his friend Frank Harris, editor of the Fortnightly Review.57 These were significantly revised and packaged with two more as Intentions in 1891.58 Significantly two of the four were dialogues, though Wilde was earning his living as a writer rather than a lecturer, he remained with an oral tradition of sorts. Wilde had always excelled as a wit and raconteur, and when writing often arranged phrases he had created until they formed a cohesive work.59 It was Wilde's annus mirabilis: apart from his novel and anthology, two collections of fairy stories for children were published, Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories, and in September The House of Pomegranates was dedicated "To Constance Mary Wilde".60

The Portrait of Mr. W.H., which he had begun in 1887, was published in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine in July 1889.61 It is a short story, which reports a conversation, in which the theory that Shakespeare's sonnets were written out of the poet's love of the boy actor "Willie Hughes", is advanced, retracted, and then propounded again. The only evidence for this is two supposed puns within the sonnets themselves.62 The anonymous narrator is at first sceptical, then believing, finally flirtatious with the reader: he concludes that "there is really a great deal to be said of the Willie Hughes theory of Shakespeare's sonnets.63 By the end fact and fiction have melded together.64 "You must believe in Willie Hughes" Wilde told an acquaintance, "I almost do myself".64

Next Wilde produced the first version of The Picture of Dorian Gray; which was published as the lead story in the July 1890 edition of Lippincott's Monthly Magazine, along with five other novels.65 He revised it extensively (adding six new chapters and excising some overly decadent passages and latent homo-eroticism) at the behest of his publisher for publication as a book the following year.66 The story begins as Gray's portrait is being completed, and he talks with the libertine Lord Henry Wotton, who has a curious influence on him. When Gray, who has a "face like ivory and rose leaves" sees his finished portrait he breaks down, distraught that his beauty will fade, but the portrait stay beautiful, inadvertently making a faustian bargain. Contemporary reviewers and modern critics have postulated numerous possible sources of the story, a search Jershua McCormack argues is futile because Wilde "has tapped a root of Western folklore so deep and ubiquitous that the story has escaped its origins and returned to the oral tradition."67 While Wilde was forced to defend his work against moral criticism ("Books are well written, or badly written. That is all. " he wrote in the preface)68 modern critics have considered the novel to be technically mediocre: the conceit of the plot has guaranteed its fame, but the device is never pushed to its full.69

Theatrical career: 1892–1895

Salomé

Main article: Salomé

The 1891 census records the Wildes' residence at 16 Tite Street,70 where he lived with his wife Constance and sons. Wilde though, not content with being more well-known than ever in London, returned to Paris in October 1891. The success of his stories and novel behind him, his thoughts had begun to move towards the dramatic form, though it was the biblical iconography of Salome that filled his head.71 He was received at the salons littéraires, including the famous mardis of Stéphane Mallarmé, a renowned symbolist poet of the time.72 One evening, after discussing his ideas of Salome, he returned to his hotel to notice a blank copybook lying on the desk, and it occurred to him to write down what he had been saying. Salomé, written in French, was soon nearly finished.73 When Wilde left just before Christmas, the Paris Echo newspaper referred to him as "le great event" of the season.74 Rehearsals, including Sarah Bernhardt began, but the play was refused a licence by the Lord Chamberlain, since it depicted biblical characters.75Salomé was published jointly in Paris and London in 1893, but was not performed until 1896 in Paris, during Wilde's later incarceration.76

Two men sit on a bench with their legs crossed. Both are well dressed in suits. Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas in 1893
Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas in 1893

Comedies of society

Main articles: Lady Windermere's Fan, A Woman of No Importance, and An Ideal Husband

Wilde, who had first set out to irritate Victorian society with his dress and talking points, then outrage it with Dorian Gray, his novel of vice hidden beneath art, finally found a way to critique society on its own terms. Lady Windermere's Fan was first performed on 20 February 1892 at St James Theatre, packed with the cream of society. On the surface a witty comedy, there is subtle subversion underneath: "it concludes with collusive concealment rather than collective disclosure".77 The audience, like Lady Windermere, are forced to soften harsh social codes in favour of a more nuanced view. The play was enormously popular, touring the country for months, but largely thrashed by conservative critics.78 When Wilde answered the calls of "Author!" and appeared before the curtains after the third act, they were more offended by the cigarette in his hand than his egoistic speech:

Ladies and Gentlemen. I have enjoyed this evening immensely. The actors have given us a charming rendition of a delightful play, and your appreciation has been most intelligent. I congratulate you on the great success of your performance, which persuades me that you think almost as highly of the play as I do myself.79

It was followed by A Woman of No Importance in 1893, another essentially Victorian comedy: revolving around the spectre of illegitimate births, mistaken identities and late revelations.80 Wilde was commissioned to write two more plays and An Ideal Husband, written in 1894,81 followed in January 1895.82

Peter Raby said these essentially English plays were well-pitched, "Wilde, with one eye on the dramatic genius of Ibsen, and the other on the commercial competition in London's West End, targeted his audience with adroit precision".83

Queensberry family

A semi-detached red-brick Georgian house, with a small blue plague on the wall. No. 34 Tite Street, Chelsea, the Wilde family home from 1884 to his arrest in 1895. In Wilde's time this was No. 16 – the houses have been renumbered.[84]
No. 34 Tite Street, Chelsea, the Wilde family home from 1884 to his arrest in 1895. In Wilde's time this was No. 16 – the houses have been renumbered.84

In mid-1891 Lionel Johnson introduced Wilde to Alfred Douglas, an undergraduate at Oxford at the time. Known to his family and friends as "Bosie", he was a handsome and spoilt young man. An intimate friendship sprang up between Wilde and Douglas and by 1893 Wilde was infatuated with Douglas and they consorted together regularly in tempestuous affair. If Wilde was relatively indiscreet, even flamboyant, in the way he acted, Douglas was reckless in public. Wilde, who was earning up to £100 a week from his plays (his salary at The Woman's World had been £6), indulged Douglas's every whim: material, artistic or sexual. Douglas soon dragged Wilde into the Victorian underground of gay prostitution and Wilde was introduced to a series of young, working class, male prostitutes from 1892 onwards by Alfred Taylor. These infrequent rendez-vous usually took the same form: Wilde would meet the boy, offer him gifts, dine him privately and then take him to a hotel room. Unlike Wilde's idealised, pederastic relations with John Gray, Ross, and Douglas, all of whom remained part of his aesthetic circle, these consorts were uneducated and knew nothing of literature. Soon his public and private lives had become sharply divided, in De Profundis he wrote to Douglas that "It was like feasting with panthers; the danger was half the excitement ... I did not know that when they were to strike at me it was to be at another's piping and at another's pay."85

Douglas and some Oxford friends founded an Oxford journal, The Chameleon, to which Wilde "sent a page of paradoxes originally destined for the Saturday Review".86 Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young was to come under attack six months later at Wilde's trial, where he was forced to defend the magazine to which he had sent his work.87 In any case, it became unique: The Chameleon was not published again.

Lord Alfred's father, The Marquess of Queensberry, was known for his outspoken atheism, brutish manner and creation of the modern rules of boxing. Notes 4 Queensberry, who feuded regularly with his son, confronted Wilde and Lord Alfred of the nature of their relationship several times, but Wilde was able to mollify him. In June 1894, he called to Wilde at 16 Tite Street, without an appointment, and clarified his stance:

"I do not say that you are it, but you look it, and pose at it, which is just as bad. And if I catch you and my son again in any public restaurant I will thrash you"

to which Wilde responded:

"I don't know what the Queensberry rules are, but the Oscar Wilde rule is to shoot on sight".88

His account in De Profundis was less triumphant: "It was when, in my library at Tite Street, waving his small hands in the air in epileptic fury, your father ... stood uttering every foul word his foul mind could think of, and screaming the loathsome threats he afterwords with such cunning carried out".8990 Queensberry only described the scene once, saying Wilde had "shown him the white feather", meaning he had acted in a cowardly way.90 Though trying to remain calm, Wilde saw that he was becoming ensnared in a brutal family quarrel. He did not wish to bear Queensberry's insults, but he knew to confront him could lead to disaster were his liaisons disclosed publicly.

The Importance of Being Earnest

Main article: The Importance of Being Earnest

Wilde's final play again returns to the theme of switched identities: the play's two protagonists engage in "bunburying" (the maintenance of alternate personas in the town and country) which allows them to escape Victorian social mores.91 Earnest is even lighter in tone than Wilde's earlier comedies. While their characters often rose to serious themes in moments of crisis, Earnest lacks the by now Wildean stock characters: there is no "woman with a past", the protagonists are neither villainous or cunning, simply idle cultivés, and the idealistic young women are not that innocent. Despite being mostly set in drawing rooms nearly completely lacking action or violence, the self conscious decadence that was present in The Picture of Dorian Gray and Salomé is absent from Earnest.92

The play, now considered Wilde's chef d'oeuvre, was written in Wilde's artistic maturity and he rapidly wrote it in late 1894.93 It was first performed on 14 February 1895, at St James's Theatre in London, Wilde's second collaboration with George Alexander, the actor-manager. Both author and producer assiduously revised, prepared and rehearsed every line, scene and setting in the months before the premiere, creating a carefully constructing a representation of late-Victorian society yet simultaneously mocking it.94 During rehearsal Alexander requested that Wilde shorten the play from four acts to three, which the author did. Premieres at St. James's seemed like "brilliant parties", and the opening of The Importance of Being Earnest was no exception. Allan Aynesworth (who played Algy) recalled to Hesketh Pearson, "In my fifty-three years of acting, I never remember a greater triumph than [that] first night."95 Earnest's immediate reception as Wilde's best work to-date finally crystallised his fame into a solid artistic reputation.96 Save his fellow Irishman George Bernard Shaw, Wilde's work is the only theatre of this period that is revived today; and The Importance of Being Earnest remains the most popular part of his oeuvre.97

Wilde's professional success mirrored escalation in his feud with Queensberry. Queensberry had planned to publicly insult Wilde by throwing a bouquet of spoiling vegetables onto the stage; Wilde was tipped off and had Queensberry barred from entering the theatre.98 Fifteen weeks later Wilde would be in prison.

Trials

A rectangular calling card printed with "Marquess of Queensberry" in copperplate script. Hand-written across the top of the card are the words "For Oscar Wilde, posing somdomite".
The Marquess of Queensberry's calling card with the offending inscription "For Oscar Wilde posing Somdomite sic"

Wilde vs Queensberry

On the 18 February 1895, the Marquess left his calling card at Wilde's club, the Albemarle, inscribed: "For Oscar Wilde, posing somdomite sic".99Notes 5

Wilde, egged on by Douglas and against the advice of his friends, initiated a private prosecution against Queensberry, and had him arrested on a charge of criminal libel. As sodomy was then a crime, Queensberry's note amounted to a public accusation that Wilde had committed a felony, forming the legal basis for libel charges. Queensberry could avoid conviction for libel only by demonstrating that his accusation was, in fact, true.

The libel trial became a cause célèbre as salacious details of Wilde's private life with Taylor and Douglas began to appear in the press. A team of private detectives had directed Queensberry's lawyers (led by Edward Carson QC) to the world of the Victorian underground. Wilde's association with blackmailers and male prostitutes, cross-dressers and homosexual brothels was recorded, and various persons involved were interviewed, some being coerced to appear as witnesses, since they too were accomplices to the crimes Wilde was accused of.100

The trial opened on the 3 April 1895 amongst scenes of near hysteria both in the press and the public galleries. The extent of the evidence massed against Wilde forced him to declare meekly, "I am the prosecutor in this case".101 Wilde's lawyer, Sir Edward George Clarke, opened the case by pre-emptively asking Wilde about two suggestive letters Wilde had written to Douglas, which the defence had in its possession. Wilde stated that the letters had been obtained by blackmailers who had attempted to extort money from him, but he had refused, suggesting they should take the £60 offered, "unusual for a prose piece of that length".102 He claimed to regard the letters as works of art rather than as something to be ashamed of.102

On cross-examination, Queensberry's lawyer, Edward Carson, questioned Wilde as to how he perceived the moral content of his works.102 Wilde handled the cross-examination with characteristic wit and flippancy, claiming that works of art are not capable of being moral or immoral but only well or poorly made, and that only "brutes and illiterates," whose views on art "are incalculably stupid"102 would make such judgements about art. Carson, a leading barrister at the time, was diverging from the normal practice of asking closed questions. In seeking to justify Lord Queensberry's description of Wilde as a poseur, he allowed Wilde to strike poses, which the latter did.103

Carson then questioned Wilde about his many acquaintances with lower class men of half his age who were either unemployed or worked as servants.102 Wilde admitted being on a first-name basis with the men and giving them gifts of money, fine clothes, drinks, meals at expensive restaurants, and travel abroad at expensive hotels, but insisted that nothing untoward had occurred and that the men were merely good friends of his. Carson repeatedly pointed out that intimate friendship and lavish gifts between a well-educated gentleman and uneducated men of the lower class were highly unusual, and insinuated that the men were prostitutes. Wilde replied that he did not believe in social barriers, and that he simply enjoyed the society of young men. Carson asked Wilde whether he had ever kissed a certain servant boy. Wilde replied, "Oh, dear no. He was a particularly plain boy – unfortunately ugly – I pitied him for it."104 Carson pressed him on the point, repeatedly asking why the boy's ugliness was relevant. Wilde hesitated, then for the first time became flustered: "You sting me and insult me and try to unnerve me; and at times one says things flippantly when one ought to speak more seriously."102

In his opening speech for the defence, Carson announced that he had located several male prostitutes who were to testify that they had had sex with Wilde. On the advice of his lawyers, Wilde then decided to drop the libel prosecution against Queensberry. Queensberry was found not guilty, as the court declared that his accusation that Wilde was "posing as a Somdomite" sic was justified, "true in substance and in fact."102

Under the Libel Act 1843, Queensberry's acquittal rendered Wilde legally liable for the considerable expenses Queensberry had incurred in his defence, which left Wilde bankrupt.

Wilde in the dock, from The Illustrated Police News, 4 May 1895

The Crown vs Wilde

After Wilde left the court, a warrant for his arrest was applied for on charges of sodomy and gross indecency. Robbie Ross found Wilde at the Cadogan Hotel, Knightsbridge with Reginald Turner; both men advised Wilde to go at once to Dover and try to get a boat to France; his mother advised him to stay and fight like a man. Wilde, lapsing into inaction, could only say, "The train has gone. It's too late."105 Wilde was arrested for "gross indecency" under Section 11 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885. In British legislation of the time, this term implied homosexual acts not amounting to buggery, which was an offence under a separate statute.106107 At Wilde's instruction, Ross and Wilde's butler forced their way into the bedroom and library of 16 Tite Street, packing some personal effects, manuscripts, and letters.108 Wilde was then imprisoned on remand at Holloway where he received daily visits from Douglas.

Events moved quickly and his prosecution opened on the 26 April 1895. Wilde pleaded not guilty. He had already begged Douglas to leave London for Paris, but Douglas complained bitterly, even wanting to take the stand; however he was pressed to go and soon fled to the Hotel du Monde. Fearing persecution, Ross and many other gentlemen also left the United Kingdom during this time. Under cross examination Wilde was at first hesitant, then spoke eloquently:

Charles Gill (prosecuting): What is "the love that dare not speak its name?"

Wilde: "The love that dare not speak its name" in this century is such a great affection of an elder for a younger man as there was between David and Jonathan, such as Plato made the very basis of his philosophy, and such as you find in the sonnets of Michelangelo and Shakespeare. It is that deep spiritual affection that is as pure as it is perfect. It dictates and pervades great works of art, like those of Shakespeare and Michelangelo, and those two letters of mine, such as they are. It is in this century misunderstood, so much misunderstood that it may be described as "the love that dare not speak its name," and on that account of it I am placed where I am now. It is beautiful, it is fine, it is the noblest form of affection. There is nothing unnatural about it. It is intellectual, and it repeatedly exists between an older and a younger man, when the older man has intellect, and the younger man has all the joy, hope and glamour of life before him. That it should be so, the world does not understand. The world mocks at it, and sometimes puts one in the pillory for it."109

This response was, however, counterproductive in a legal sense as it only served to reinforce the charges of homosexual behavior.

The trial ended with the jury unable to reach a verdict. Wilde's counsel, Sir Edward Clark, was finally able to agree bail.110 The Reverend Stewart Headlam put up most of the £5,000 bail,111 having disagreed with Wilde's treatment by the press and the courts. Wilde was freed from Holloway and, shunning attention, went into hiding at the house of Ernest and Ada Leverson, two of his firm friends. Edward Carson approached Frank Lockwood (QC) and asked "Can we not let up on the fellow now?"112 Lockwood answered that he would like to do so, but feared that the case had become too politicised to be dropped.

The final trial was presided over by Mr Justice Wills. On 25 May 1895 Wilde and Alfred Taylor were convicted of gross indecency and sentenced to two years' hard labour.113 The judge described the sentence as "totally inadequate for a case such as this," although it was the maximum sentence allowed for the charge under the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1885.114 Wilde's response "And I? May I say nothing, my Lord?" was drowned out in cries of "Shame" in the courtroom.115

Imprisonment

When first I was put into prison some people advised me to try and forget who I was. It was ruinous advice. It is only by realising what I am that I have found comfort of any kind. Now I am advised by others to try on my release to forget that I have ever been in a prison at all. I know that would be equally fatal. It would mean that I would always be haunted by an intolerable sense of disgrace, and that those things that are meant for me as much as for anybody else - the beauty of the sun and moon, the pageant of the seasons, the music of daybreak and the silence of great nights, the rain falling through the leaves, or the dew creeping over the grass and making it silver - would all be tainted for me, and lose their healing power, and their power of communicating joy. To regret one's own experiences is to arrest one's own development. To deny one's own experiences is to put a lie into the lips of one's own life. It is no less than a denial of the soul.

De Profundis
Main article: De Profundis (letter)

Wilde was imprisoned first in Pentonville and then Wandsworth prisons in London. The regime at the time was tough; "hard labour, hard fare and a hard bed" was the guiding philosophy. It wore particularly harshly on Wilde as a gentleman and his status provided him no special privileges.116 In November he was forced to attend Chapel, and there he was so weak from illness and hunger that he collapsed, bursting his right ear drum, an injury that would later contribute to his death.117 He spent two months in the infirmary.117118

Richard B. Haldane, the Liberal MP and reformer, visited him and had him transferred in November to HM's Prison, Reading, 30 miles west of London.119 The transfer itself was the lowest point of his incarceration, as a crowd jeered and spat at him on the platform.117 Now known as prisoner C. 3.3 he was not, at first, even allowed paper and pen but Haldane eventually succeeded in allowing access to books and writing materials.120 Wilde requested, among others: the Bible in French, Italian and German grammars, some Ancient Greek texts, Dante's Divine Comedy, En Route, Joris-Karl Huysmans's new French novel about Christian redemption; and essays by St Augustine, Cardinal Newman and Walter Pater.121

Between January and March 1897 Wilde wrote a 50,000-word letter to Douglas, which he was not allowed to send, but was permitted to take with him upon release.122 In it he coldly examines his life with Douglas leading up to his demise, repudiating him for what Wilde finally sees as his arrogance and vanity: he had not forgotten Douglas's remark, when he was ill, "When you are not on your pedestal you are not interesting."123 Though, Wilde blamed himself for the ethical degradation of character that he allowed Douglas to bring about on him and took responsibility for his own fall, "I am here for having tried to put your father in prison."96 The first half concludes with Wilde's forgiving Douglas, for his own sake as much as Douglas'. The second half of the letter traces Wilde's spiritual journey of redemption and fulfilment through his prison reading. He realised that his ordeal had filled the soul with the fruit of experience, however bitter it tasted at the time.

...I wanted to eat of the fruit of all the trees in the garden of the world... And so, indeed, I went out, and so I lived. My only mistake was that I confined myself so exclusively to the trees of what seemed to me the sun-lit side of the garden, and shunned the other side for its shadow and its gloom.124

On his release, he gave the manuscript to Ross, who may or may not have carried out Wilde's instructions to send a copy to Douglas (who later denied having received it). De Profundis was partially published in 1905, its complete and correct publication first occurred in 1962 in The Letters of Oscar Wilde.Notes 6

Decline: 1897–1900

Exile

Main article: The Ballad of Reading Gaol

Wilde was released on the 19 May 1897, and though his health had suffered greatly, he had a feeling of spiritual renewal. He immediately wrote to the Society of Jesus requesting a six-month Catholic retreat; when the request was denied, Wilde wept.125 He left England the next day for the continent, to spend his last three years in penniless exile. He took the name "Sebastian Melmoth", after Saint Sebastian, and the titular character of Melmoth the Wanderer; a gothic novel by Charles Maturin, Wilde's great-uncle.126 Wilde wrote two long letters to the editor of the Daily Chronicle, describing the brutal conditions of English prisons and advocating penal reform. His discussion of the dismissal of Warder Martin, for giving biscuits to an anaemic child prisoner, repeated the themes of the corruption and degeneration of punishment that he had earlier outlined in The Soul of Man Under Socialism.127

Wilde spent mid-1897 with Robert Ross in Berneval-le-Grand, where he wrote The Ballad of Reading Gaol. The poem narrates the execution of a man who murdered his wife for her infidelity; it moves from an objective story-telling to symbolic identification with the prisoners as a whole.128 No attempt is made to assess the justice of the laws which convicted them, but rather the brutalisation of the punishment that all convicts share. Instead, he juxtaposes the executed man and himself with the line "and so each man kills the thing he loves".129 Wilde too was separated from his wife and sons. He adopted the proletarian ballad form, and the author was credited as "C.3.3." He suggested it be published in Reynold's Magazine, "because it circulates widely among the criminal classes – to which I now belong – for once I will be read by my peers – a new experience for me".130 It was a commercial success, going through seven editions in less than two years, only after which "[Oscar Wilde]" was added to the title page, though many in literary circles had known Wilde to be the author.131132 It brought him a little money.

Although Douglas had been the cause of his misfortunes, he and Wilde were reunited in August 1897 at Rouen. This meeting was disapproved of by the friends and families of both men. Constance Wilde was already refusing to meet Wilde or allow him to see their sons, though she kept him supplied with money. During the latter part of 1897, Wilde and Douglas lived together near Naples for a few months until they were separated by their respective families under the threat of a cutting-off of funds.133

Wilde's final address was at the dingy Hôtel d'Alsace (now known as L'Hôtel), in Paris; "This poverty really breaks one's heart: it is so sale, so utterly depressing, so hopeless. Pray do what you can" he wrote to his publisher.134 He corrected and published An Ideal Husband and The Importance of Being Earnest, the proofs of which Ellmann argues show a man "very much in command of himself and of the play" but he refused to write anything else "I can write, but have lost the joy of writing".135 He spent much time wandering the Boulevards alone, and spent what little money he had on alcohol.136 A series of embarrassing encounters with English visitors, or Frenchmen he had known in better days, further damaged his spirit. Soon Wilde has sufficiently confined to his hotel to remark, on one of his final trips outside, "My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One of us has got to go."137 On the 12 October 1900 he sent a telegram to Ross: "Terribly weak. Please come."138 His moods fluctuated; Max Beerbohm relates how their mutual friend Reginald 'Reggie' Turner had found Wilde very depressed after a nightmare. "I dreamt that I had died, and was supping with the dead!" "I am sure", Turner replied, "that you must have been the life and soul of the party."139140 Turner was one of the very few of the old circle who remained with Wilde right to the end, and was at his bedside when he died.

A large, rectangular, granite tomb. A large, stylised angel, leaning forward is carved into the top half of the front. There are a few flowers beside a small plaque a the base. The front is covered in red daubings and graffiti. The tomb of Oscar Wilde in Père Lachaise Cemetery
The tomb of Oscar Wilde in Père Lachaise Cemetery

Death

By 25 November Wilde had developed cerebral meningitis and was injected with morphine, his mind wandering during those periods when he regained consciousness. Robbie Ross arrived on 29 November and sent for a priest, and Wilde was conditionally baptised into the Catholic Church by Fr Cuthbert Dunne, a Passionist priest from Dublin.141 Fr Dunne recorded the baptism:

As the voiture rolled through the dark streets that wintry night, the sad story of Oscar Wilde was in part repeated to me....Robert Ross knelt by the bedside, assisting me as best he could while I administered conditional baptism, and afterwards answering the responses while I gave Extreme Unction to the prostrate man and recited the prayers for the dying. As the man was in a semi-comatose condition, I did not venture to administer the Holy Viaticum; still I must add that he could be roused and was roused from this state in my presence. When roused, he gave signs of being inwardly conscious.... Indeed I was fully satisfied that he understood me when told that I was about to receive him into the Catholic Church and gave him the Last Sacraments.... And when I repeated close to his ear the Holy Names, the Acts of Contrition, Faith, Hope and Charity, with acts of humble resignation to the Will of God, he tried all through to say the words after me.142 Notes 7

Wilde had flirted with the Church all his life, expressing his intention to convert a number of times including a discussion with a journalist after his release from custody about his romance with the Church, "I intend to be received before long."143

Wilde died of cerebral meningitis on 30 November 1900. Different opinions are given as to the cause of the meningitis; Richard Ellmann claimed it was syphilitic;144 Merlin Holland, Wilde's grandson, thought this to be a misconception, noting that Wilde's meningitis followed a surgical intervention, perhaps a mastoidectomy; Wilde's physicians, Dr. Paul Cleiss and A'Court Tucker, reported that the condition stemmed from an old suppuration of the right ear (une ancienne suppuration de l'oreille droite d'ailleurs en traitement depuis plusieurs années) and did not allude to syphilis.145

Wilde was initially buried in the Cimetière de Bagneux outside Paris; in 1909 his remains were disinterred to Cimetière du Père-Lachaise, inside the city.146 His tomb was designed by Sir Jacob Epstein, commissioned by Robert Ross, who asked for a small compartment to be made for his own ashes which were duly transferred in 1950. The modernist angel depicted as a relief on the tomb was originally complete with male genitalia which have since been vandalised; their current whereabouts are unknown. In 2000, Leon Johnson, a multi-media artist, installed a silver prosthesis to replace them.147

The epitaph is a verse from The Ballad of Reading Gaol:148

And alien tears will fill for him
Pity's long-broken urn,
For his mourners will be outcast men,
And outcasts always mourn.

Themes and influences

Life imitating art

Main article: The Decay of Lying
1881 caricature in Punch

For Wilde, the purpose of art was to guide life, and to do this it must concern itself only with the pursuit of beauty, disdaining morality. Just as Dorian Gray's portrait allows its owner to escape the corporeal ravages of his hedonism, and Miss Prism mistakes a baby for a book in The Importance of Being Earnest, Wilde sought to juxtapose the beauty he saw in art onto daily life.91 This was a practical as well as philosophical project: in Oxford he surrounded himself with blue china and lilies; in America he lectured on interior design; in London he is reputed to have paraded down Piccadilly carrying a lily, long hair flowing.91 In Victorian society, Wilde was a colourful agent provocateur: his art, like his paradoxes, sought to subvert as well as sparkle. His own estimation of himself was of one who "stood in symbolic relations to the art and culture of my age".149 Wilde believed that the artist should hold forth higher ideals, and that pleasure and beauty would replace utilitarian ethics.150 When asked, in America, if he had really promenaded in such a way in London, Wilde replied, "It's not whether I did it or not that's important, but whether people believed I did it". Ellmann argues that Wilde's poem Hélas was a sincere, though flamboyant, attempt to explain the dichotomies he saw in himself:151

To drift with every passion till my soul
Is a stringed lute on which all winds can play

Wilde's deepest concern was with man's soul; when he analysed poverty and its causes and effects in The Soul of Man Under Socialism it was not simply the material well-being of the poor that distressed him, but how society does not allow them to individualise and reach a form of self-understanding and enlightenment. He adopted Jesus of Nazareth as a symbol of the supreme individualist.152 For much of his life, Wilde advocated socialism, which he argued "will be of value simply because it will lead to individualism" and ″substituting competition for cooperation will restore society to its proper condition ... and insure material well being for each member of the community."153 Wilde was concerned about the effect of moralising on art: following his vision of art as separate from life, he thought that the government most amenable to artists was no government at all. In The Soul of Man Under Socialism he presents a vision of society where mechanisation has freed human effort from the burden of necessity – effort can be expended entirely on artistic creation. George Orwell summarised the result of his vision, "In effect, the world will be populated by artists, each striving after perfection in the way that seems best to him."154 This point of view did not align him with the Fabians, the leading intellectual socialists of the time, who advocated using state apparatus to change social conditions.155

Politics

Main article: The Soul of Man under Socialism

In The Soul of Man Under Socialism he wrote, ″If the Socialism is Authoritarian; if there are Governments armed with economic power as they are now with political power; if, in a word, we are to have Industrial Tyrannies, then the last state of man will be worse than the first.″153 He had a strong libertarian streak as shown in his poem Sonnet to Liberty and, subsequent to reading the works of the anarchist communist Peter Kropotkin (whom he described as "a man with a soul of that beautiful white Christ which seems coming out of Russia") he declared himself an anarchist.156 Also in The Soul of Man under Socialism he defended libertarian socialism as the way to guarantee individualism and so he saw that "With the abolition of private property, then, we shall have true, beautiful, healthy individualism. Nobody will waste his life in accumulating things, and the symbols for things. One will live. To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all."153

He also manifests that "Art is individualism, and individualism is a disturbing and disintegrating force. There lies its immense value. For what it seeks is to disturb monotony of type, slavery of custom, tyranny of habit, and the reduction of man to the level of a machine."153 For anarchist historian George Woodcock "Wilde's aim in The Soul of Man Under Socialism is to seek the society most favorable to the artist...for Wilde art is the supreme end, containing within itself enlightenment and regeneration, to which all else in society must be subordinated...Wilde represents the anarchist as aesthete."157 Woodcock also wrote that "The most ambitious contribution to literary anarchism during the 1890's was undoubtedly Oscar Wilde The Soul of Man Under Socialism" and finds that it is influenced mainly by the thought of William Godwin 157 Wilde influenced later individualist anarchists such as Renzo Novatore158 and gained the admiration of Benjamin Tucker159.

Selected works

Main article: Oscar Wilde bibliography

Biographies

Main article: Biographies of Oscar Wilde
A low rectangular public monument, with a bust of Wilde's face built into one raised end, at the other at seat that one straddles to experience being in conversation with Wilde.
"A Conversation with Oscar Wilde" – A civic monument to Wilde by Maggi Hambling, on Adelaide Street, near Trafalgar Square, London.

Wilde's life continues to fascinate and he has been the subject of numerous biographies since his death. The earliest were memoirs by those known to him: often they are personal or impressionistic accounts which can be good character sketches, but factually unreliable.160 Frank Harris, his friend and editor, wrote a biography, Oscar Wilde: His Life and Confessions (1916), though prone to exaggeration and sometimes factually inaccurate, it offers a good literary portrait of Wilde.161 Lord Alfred Douglas wrote two books about his relationship with Wilde: Oscar Wilde and Myself (1914), largely ghost-written by T.W.H. Crossland, vindictively reacted to Douglas's discovery that De Profundis was addressed to him and defensively tried to distance him from Wilde's scandalous reputation. Both authors later regretted their work.162 Later, in Oscar Wilde:A Summing Up (1939) and his Autobiography he was more sympathetic to Wilde. Of Wilde's other close friends, Robert Sherard, Robert Ross, his literary executor; and Charles Ricketts variously published biographies, reminiscences or correspondence. In 1946, Hesketh Pearson published The Life of Oscar Wilde, it contains material derived from conversations with many who had known or worked with Wilde. It gives a vivid impression of what Wilde's presence must have been like, though is less analytically penetrating than later biographies. In 1954 Vyvyan Holland published his memoir Son of Oscar Wilde, which recounts the difficulties Wilde's wife and children faced after his imprisonment.163 It was revised and updated by Merlin Holland in 1989.

Wilde's life was still waiting for independent, true scholarship when Richard Ellmann began researching his 1987 biography Oscar Wilde, for which he posthumously won a National (USA) Book Critics Circle Award in 1988164 and a Pulitzer Prize in 1989.165 The book was the basis for the 1997 film Wilde, directed by Brian Gilbert.166

Neil McKenna's 2003 biography, The Secret Life of Oscar Wilde, offers an exploration of Wilde's sexuality. Often speculative in nature, it was widely criticised for its lack of scholarly rigour and pure conjecture.167168 Thomas Wright's Oscar's Books (2008) explores Wilde's reading from his childhood in Dublin to his death in Paris.169 After tracking down many books that once belonged to Wilde's Tite Street library (dispersed at the time of his trials), Wright was the first to examine Wilde's marginalia.

Later on I think everyone will recognise his achievements; his plays and essays will endure. Of course you may think with others that his personality and conversation were far more wonderful than anything he wrote, so that his written works give only a pale reflection of his power. Perhaps that is so, and of course it will be impossible to reproduce what is gone forever.

Robert Ross, 23 December 1900170

Wilde's charm also had a lasting effect on the Parisian literati, who have produced a number of original biographies and monographs on him. André Gide, on whom Wilde had such a strange effect, wrote, In Memoriam, Oscar Wilde; Wilde also features in his journals.171 Thomas Louis, who had earlier translated books on Wilde into French, produced his own L’esprit d’Oscar Wilde in 1920.172 Modern books include Philippe Jullian's Oscar Wilde,173 and L'affaire Oscar Wilde ou Du danger de laisser la justice mettre le nez dans nos draps (The Oscar Wilde Affair, or, On the Danger of Allowing Justice to put its Nose in our Sheets) by Odon Vallet, a French religious historian.174

Notes

  1. ^ The essay was later published in "Miscellanies", the final section of the 1908 edition of Wilde's collected works. (Mason, S. 1914:486)
  2. ^ Wilde reputedly told a customs officer that "I have nothing to declare except my genius", although the first recording of this remark was many years afterward, and Wilde's best lines were usually quoted immediately in the press. (Cooper, John. "Attribution of 'I have nothing to declare except my genius'". Oscar Wilde Society of America. http://www.owsoa.org/quotations1.htm. Retrieved 19 February 2010. )
  3. ^ Ave Imperatrix had been first published in The World, an American magazine, in 1880, having first been intended for Time magazine. Apparently the editor liked the verse, so switched it to the other magazine so as to attain "a larger and better audience". It was revised for inclusion in Poems the next year. (Mason 1914:233)
  4. ^ Queensberry's oldest son, Francis Douglas, Viscount Drumlanrig, possibly had an intimate association with Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, the Prime Minister to whom he was private secretary, which ended with Drumlanrig's death in an unexplained shooting accident. The Marquess of Queensberry came to believe his sons had been corrupted by older homosexuals or, as he phrased it in a letter in the aftermath of Drumlanrig's death: "Montgomerys, The Snob Queers like Rosebery and certainly Christian Hypocrite like Gladstone and the whole lot of you".(Ellmann (1988:402)
  5. ^ Queensberry's handwriting was almost indecipherable: The hall porter initially read "ponce and sodomite", but Queensberry himself claimed that he'd written "posing 'as' a sodomite", an easier accusation to defend in court. Merlin Holland concludes that "what Queensberry almost certainly wrote was "posing somdomite sic", (Holland (2004:300))
  6. ^ Ross published a version of the letter expurgated of all references to Douglas in 1905 with the title De Profundis, expanding it slightly for an edition of Wilde's collected works in 1908, and then donated it to the British Museum on the understanding that it would not be made public until 1960. In 1949, Wilde's son Vyvyan Holland published it again, including parts formerly omitted, but relying on a faulty typescript bequeathed to him by Ross. Ross's typescript had contained several hundred errors, including typist's mistakes, Ross's 'improvements' and other inexplicable omissions. (Holland/Hart-Davis (2000:683)
  7. ^ Robert Ross, in his letter to More Adey (dated 14 December 1900), described a similar scene: "(Wilde) was conscious that people were in the room, and raised his hand when I asked him whether he understood. He pressed our hands. I then went in search of a priest and with great difficulty found Fr Cuthbert Dunne, of the Passionists, who came with me at once and administered Baptism and Extreme Unction. – Oscar could not take the Eucharist".(Holland/Hart-Davis (2000:1219–1220))

References

  1. ^ "Literary Encyclopedia – Oscar Wilde". Litencyc.com. 25 January 2001. http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4718. Retrieved 3 April 2009. 
  2. ^ a b c Sandelescu (1994:53)
  3. ^ a b McGeachie, James (2004). "Wilde, Sir William Robert Wills (1815–1876)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. 
  4. ^ Ellmann (1988:13)
  5. ^ Ellmann (1988:20)
  6. ^ Sandelescu (1994:55–56)
  7. ^ Ellmann (1998:24)
  8. ^ Ellmann (1988:25)
  9. ^ Ellmann (1988:26)
  10. ^ Ellmann (1988:27)
  11. ^ Sandelescu (1997:59)
  12. ^ Coakley (1994:154)
  13. ^ Ellmann (1988:29)
  14. ^ See pages 183–5 of Thomas Toughill's "The Ripper Code" (The History Press, 2008) which mention Toughill's research in the archives of the Oxford Union. This book also contains a photograph of Wilde's unsuccessful entry in the Union's "Probational Members Subscriptions" (022/8/F2/1) for the period 1862–1890.
  15. ^ a b Ellmann (1988:39)
  16. ^ Ellmann (1988:65)
  17. ^ Ellmann (1988:70)
  18. ^ Schwchord, Ronald; "Wilde's Dark Angel and the Spell of Decadent Catholicism" in "Rediscovering Oscar Wilde" pp375–376
  19. ^ a b Ellmann (1988:43–44)
  20. ^ Breen (1977, 2000) pp22–23
  21. ^ Ellmann (1988:44)
  22. ^ Ellmann (1988:78)
  23. ^ Ellmann (1988:46)
  24. ^ De Profundis, Holland/Hart-Davis (2000:735)
  25. ^ a b Ellmann (1988:95)
  26. ^ Ellmann (1988:93)
  27. ^ Letter to William Ward; Holland/Hart-Davis (2000:70; see also Ellmann (1988:94)
  28. ^ Kifeather (2005:101)
  29. ^ Letter to Florence Balcombe, Holland/Hart-Davis (2000:71)
  30. ^ Letter to Florence Balcombe, Holland/Hart-Davis (2000:71); See also Ellmann (1988:99)
  31. ^ Holland/Hart-Davis (2000:72–78)
  32. ^ a b Ellmann (1988:102)
  33. ^ Ellmann (1988:105)
  34. ^ Ellmann (1988:131)
  35. ^ Mason (1914:282)
  36. ^ Morely (1976:36)
  37. ^ Hyde (1948:39)
  38. ^ Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1881 England Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004. Source Citation: Class: RG11; Piece: 78; Folio: 56; Page: 46; GSU roll: 1341017. Accessed 2 March 2010
  39. ^ Higginson, Thomas Wentworth (4 February 1882). "Unmanly Manhood". Woman's Journal (Boston). http://www.classroomelectric.org/volume2/price/remembered/womans_journal.htm. Retrieved 14 April 2010. 
  40. ^ King, Steve. "Wilde in America". Today in Literature. http://www.todayinliterature.com/stories.asp?Event_Date=12/24/1881. Retrieved 14 April 2010.  Regarding Wilde's visit to Leadville, Colorado, 24 December 1881.
  41. ^ Ellmann (1988:205)
  42. ^ Mason (1972:232)
  43. ^ Ellmann (1988:228)
  44. ^ "Oscar & Constance Wilde". Saint James, Sussex Gardens, London. http://www.stjamespaddington.org.uk/history/oscar-constance-wilde.html. Retrieved 14 April 2010. 
  45. ^ UK CPI inflation numbers based on data available from Measuring Worth: UK CPI.
  46. ^ a b Ellmann (1988:273)
  47. ^ Ellmann (1988:259)
  48. ^ Mendelsohn, Daniel; The Two Oscar Wildes, New York Review of Books, Volume 49, Number 15 · 10 October 2002
  49. ^ Ellmann (1988:289)
  50. ^ Ellmann (1988:247–248)
  51. ^ Mason (1914:219)
  52. ^ Ellmann (1988:276)
  53. ^ a b Mason (1914:202
  54. ^ Letter to Arthur Fish; Holland/Hart-Davis (2000:404)
  55. ^ Letter to Wemyss Reid, Holland/Hart-Davis (2000:413)
  56. ^ Mason, S. (1914:69)
  57. ^ Mason, S. (1914:71)
  58. ^ Mason (1914:355)
  59. ^ Raby (1997:98)
  60. ^ Mason (1914:360–362)
  61. ^ (Vol. CXLVI, No. 885, July 1889); see Mason (1914:6)
  62. ^ Lezard, Nicholas (29 March 2003). "Oscar Wilde's other portrait". Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2003/mar/29/classics.oscarwilde. Retrieved 14 April 2010. 
  63. ^ Raby (1997:109)
  64. ^ a b Ellmann (1998:280)
  65. ^ Mason (1914:105)
  66. ^ Mason (1914:341)
  67. ^ Raby (1997:111)
  68. ^ "Preface". The Picture of Dorian Gray. From Project Gutenberg transcription. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/174/174-h/174-h.htm. 
  69. ^ McKie, Robin The Guardian 25 January 2009 Classics Corner:The Picture of Dorian Gray
  70. ^ "Registrar General Records". Wilde, Oscar O'Flahertie Wills (1856–1900), author. National Archives. http://yourarchives.nationalarchives.gov.uk/index.php?title=Wilde%2C_Oscar_O%27Flahertie_Wills_%281856-1900%29%2C_author. Retrieved 12 March 2010. 
  71. ^ Ellmann (1988:322)
  72. ^ Ellmann (1988:316)
  73. ^ Ellmann (1988:323)
  74. ^ Ellmann (1988:326)
  75. ^ Mason (1914:371)
  76. ^ Mason (1914:369)
  77. ^ Ellmann (1988:344)
  78. ^ Ellmann (1988:347)
  79. ^ Ellmann (1988:344–345)
  80. ^ Ellmann (1980:360)
  81. ^ Wilde, Oscar. An ideal husband. Act III : London : typescript with extensive autograph revisions, 1894. OCLC 270589204. 
  82. ^ Ellmann (1988:404)
  83. ^ Raby (1997:146)
  84. ^ a b Bristow, Joseph (2009). Oscar Wilde and Modern Culture: The Making of a Legend. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press. p. xli. ISBN 9780821418376. 
  85. ^ De Profundis, Holland/Hart-Davis (2000)
  86. ^ De Profundis, Holland/Hart-Davis (2000:702)
  87. ^ De Profundis, Holland/Hart-Davis (2000:703)
  88. ^ Ellmann (1988:421)
  89. ^ De Profundis, Holland/Hart-Davis (2000:699–700)
  90. ^ a b Ellmann (1988:396)
  91. ^ a b c Mendelshon, Daniel; The Two Oscar Wildes, New York Review of Books, Volume 49, Number 15 · 10 October 2002
  92. ^ Jackson, R. "The Importance of Being Earnest" in Raby, P. (Ed.) (1997:166-7)
  93. ^ Ellmann (1988:398)
  94. ^ Jackson, R. "The Importance of Being Earnest" in Raby, P. (Ed.) (1997:161)
  95. ^ Pearson (1946:257)
  96. ^ a b Wheatcroft, G. "Not Green, Not Red, Not Pink" The Atlantic Monthly, May 2003.
  97. ^ Jackson, R. "The Importance of Being Earnest" in Raby, P. (Ed.) (1997:165)
  98. ^ Morley (1976:102)
  99. ^ Holland (2004:300)
  100. ^ Ellmann (1988:415)
  101. ^ Ellmann (1988:418)
  102. ^ a b c d e f g "Testimony of Oscar Wilde on Direct Examination". 3 April 1895. http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/wilde/Wildelibeltranowdirect.html. Retrieved 14 April 2010.  Transcript from Wilde's Trial. Wilde was questioned on direct examination by his attorney, Sir Edward Clarke.
  103. ^ The Importance of Being Wilde, Queensland Bar News, May 2003.
  104. ^ Irish Peacock & Scarlet Marquis, Merlin Holland
  105. ^ Harris (1916)
  106. ^ See Offences Against the Person Act 1861, ss 61, 62
  107. ^ Hyde (1948:5)
  108. ^ Ellmann (1988:429)
  109. ^ Transcript of Wilde's trial, published online by University of Missouri-Kansas City Law School; See also Ellmann (1988:435)
  110. ^ Oscar Fingal O'Fflahartie Wills Wilde, Alfred Taylor, Sexual Offences > sodomy, 22nd April 1895". Old Bailey Proceedings Online. Retrieved 22 April 2010.
  111. ^ Holland (2003) – Introduction by Sir Travers Humphrey QC
  112. ^ Ellmann (1988:435)
  113. ^ Oscar Fingal O'Fflahartie Wills Wilde, Alfred Waterhouse Somerset Taylor, Sexual Offences > sodomy, 20th May 1895". Old Bailey Proceedings Online. Retrieved 22 April 2010.
  114. ^ Hyde (1948:144)
  115. ^ Sentencing Statement of Justice Wills. Criminal Trial Transcript Page, University of Missouri-Kansas Law School. Retrieved 22 April 2010.
  116. ^ Ellmann (1988:474)
  117. ^ a b c Ellmann (1988:465)
  118. ^ Holland/Hart-Davis (2000:735)
  119. ^ Ellmann (1988:456)
  120. ^ Ellmann (1988:475)
  121. ^ Ellmann (1988:477–478)
  122. ^ Holland/Hart-Davis (2000:683)
  123. ^ De Profundis, Holland/Hart-Davis (2000:700)
  124. ^ De Profundis, Holland/Hart-Davis, (2000:739)
  125. ^ Holland/Hart-Davis (2000:841–2)
  126. ^ Holland/Hart-Davis (2000:842)
  127. ^ Letter to the Editor of the Daily Chronicle, Holland/Hart-Davis (2000:847–855). See also: Oscar Wilde Fan Club Website
  128. ^ Page in Sandelescu (1994:308)
  129. ^ Page in Sandelescu (1994:310)
  130. ^ Kiberd (2000:336)
  131. ^ Mason (1914:408–10)
  132. ^ Ellmann (1988:526)
  133. ^ Hyde (1948:308)
  134. ^ Letter to Leonard Smithers, Holland/Hart-Davis (2000:1092)
  135. ^ Ellmann (1988:527)
  136. ^ Ellmann (1988:528)
  137. ^ Ellmann (1988:546)
  138. ^ Holland/Hart-Davis (2000:1119)
  139. ^ M. Beerbohm (1946) "Mainly on the Air"
  140. ^ Letter of Robert Ross to More Adey, Holland/Hart-Davis (2000:1213)
  141. ^ Holland/Hart-Davis (2000:1224)
  142. ^ Holland/Hart-Davis (2000:1223)
  143. ^ Pearce, Joseph The Picture of Dorian Gray (Introduction), p. X, Ignatius Press, 2008
  144. ^ Ellmann (1988:92)
  145. ^ Ellmann (1988:582)
  146. ^ Holland/Hart-Davis (2000:1230)
  147. ^ Johnson, Leon (2000). "(Re)membering Wilde". http://www.leonjohnson.org/projects/wilde.html. Retrieved 14 April 2010. 
  148. ^ Ellmann (1988:553)
  149. ^ De Profundis, Holland/Hart-Davis (2000:737–738)
  150. ^ Kiberd (2000:329–330)
  151. ^ Ellmann (1988:132–133)
  152. ^ Kiberd (2000:330)
  153. ^ a b c d Wilde, Oscar, "The Soul of Man Under Socialism", The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde, Collins.
  154. ^ Orwell, George The Observer 8 May 1948
  155. ^ Kiberd (1996) Ch.2
  156. ^ De Profundis, Holland/Hart-Davis, (2000:754)
  157. ^ a b George Woodcock Anarchism: A History of Libertarian Ideas and Movements. 1962:447)
  158. ^ "We must kill the christian philosophy in the most radical sense of the word. How much mostly goes sneaking inside the democratic civilization (this most cynically ferocious form of christian depravity) and it goes more towards the categorical negation of human individuality. “Democracy! By now we have comprised it that it means all that says Oscar Wilde Democracy is the people who govern the people with blows of the club for love of the people”." "Towards the Hurricane" by Renzo Novatore
  159. ^ "When Oscar Wilde's plea for penal reform, The Ballad of Reading Gaol, was widely criticized, Tucker enthusiastically endorsed the poem, urging all of his subscribers to read it. Tucker, in fact, published an American edition. From its early championing of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass to a series of short stories by Francis du Bosque in its last issues, Liberty was a vehicle of controversial, avant-garde literature.""Benjamin Tucker, Individualism, & Liberty: Not the Daughter but the Mother of Order" by Wendy McElroy
  160. ^ Raby (1997:6,10)
  161. ^ Raby (1997:9)
  162. ^ Raby (1997:8)
  163. ^ "Great Britain: A Life of Concealment". Time. 27 September 1954. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,820321-1,00.html. Retrieved 22 February 2010. 
  164. ^ "All Past National Book Critics Circle Award Winners and Finalists". National Book Critics Circle. http://bookcritics.org/awards/past_awards/. Retrieved 22 February 2010. 
  165. ^ "Autobiography or Biography". The Pulitzer Prizes. http://www.pulitzer.org/bycat/Biography-or-Autobiography. Retrieved 22 February 2010. 
  166. ^ Ebert, Roger (12 June 1998). "Wilde". Chicago Sun-Times. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19980612/REVIEWS/806120305/1023. Retrieved 2 April 2010. 
  167. ^ Bedell, Geraldine (26 October 2003). "It was all Greek to Oscar". Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2003/oct/26/biography.stage1. Retrieved 22 February 2010. 
  168. ^ Parker, Peter (26 October 2003). "The Secret Life of Oscar". London: The Times. http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article998029.ece. Retrieved 22 February 2010. 
  169. ^ Dugdale, John (26 September 2009). "Oscar's Books by Thomas Wright". Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/sep/26/thomas-wright-oscars-books. Retrieved 22 February 2010. 
  170. ^ Letter of Robert Ross to Adela Schuster, (Holland/Hart-Davis (2000:1229)
  171. ^ Gide, André (1905). In Memoriam, Oscar Wilde. Paris: Editions Mercure De France. 
  172. ^ Louis, Thomas. L’esprit d’Oscar Wilde. Collection Anglia (4 ed.). Paris: G. Crès & Cie. OCLC 3243250. 
  173. ^ Jullian, Philippe (6 April 2000). Oscar Wilde. Paris: Editions Christian de Bartillat. ISBN 2-84100-220-9. 
  174. ^ Vallet, Odon (1995). L'affaire Oscar Wilde ou Du danger de laisser la justice mettre le nez dans nos draps. Paris: Editions Albin Michel. ISBN 2226079521. 

Bibliography

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sftheaterpub
Stuart Bousel on Oscar Wilde « San Francisco Theater Pub
Oscar Wilde- brilliant, egotistical, tragic- is one of those historical/literary figures whose interest and appeal never seems to fade- something Wilde himself would have been happy to know, considering his penchant for extravagant ...
Mo
Fresh eyes on London: Conversation with Oscar Wilde
Conversation with Oscar Wilde. Wonder what he'd think of mobile phones. Posted by Mo at 09:23 · Bookmark and Share. Labels: leicester square, statue. 0 comments: Post a Comment · Older Post Home. Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom) ...
Edit Team
Sarah Machinak wins Gival Press Oscar Wilde Award — Lambda Literary
Gival Press announced that Sarah Machinak is the latest winner of the 9th Annual Oscar Wilde Award (2010) for “the best previously unpublished original poem written in English that relates GLBT life.” ...
nobody@flickr.com (Goodle)
"I can resist anything but temptation." - Oscar Wilde | Flickr ...
I had a fantastic weekend! Went to my bf's 21st and the day before just lounged with my friend in our pyjamas till 4pm! hahah :D Anyway, outfit ; Cut out maxi dress ; Valleygirl. Cropped sweatshirt ; Kmart Studded Sandals ;Shoe ...
agathabarc
Nostalgia Tripping: Oscar Wilde Visits Toronto
Two years ago, I took an English course at U of T about Victorian literature. One of the texts that the professor assigned was Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray. I really enjoyed that course and it partly stemmed from the fact ...
unknown
Oscar Wilde's Influence on Gay Identity: Wilde's Impact on 19th ...
After his 1895 trial for gross indecency, Oscar Wilde's name became a byword for immorality. But in the 20th century, gay men embraced Wilde as an icon of gay history.
Camille La Frere
Oscar Wilde's Love Child: I need a job and craigslist just offed ...
Oscar Wilde's Love Child. my life as a work of art. Wednesday, September 8, 2010. I need a job and craigslist just offed "adult services". You see why I call it a pickle that I'm in? Will someone please pay me to do this. ...
unknown
Oscar Wilde's Trial – The Crime of Homosexuality: The Picture of ...
It is that deep, spiritual affection that is as pure as it is perfect. […] It is beautiful, it is fine, it is the noblest form of affection. There is nothing unnatural about it. It is intellectual…” (“Testimony of Oscar Wilde”). ...
unknown
Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde's Only Novel: Debauchery ...
Penguin has taken the opportunity of a new film adaptation of A Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde to revamp their Penguin Classics edition. The film starring Ben Barnes, Colin Firth and Emilia Fox was released September 2009. ...
unknown
A Woman of No Importance, by Oscar Wilde
How much did Wilde's secret life inform the writing of A Woman of No Importance? This drama about a society scandal veils a message of sexual tolerance.
unknown
An Ideal Husband, by Oscar Wilde
Wilde's third successful play in a row, after Lady Windermere's Fan and A Woman of No Importance. Despite commercial success, the play has many problems.
unknown
The Picture of Dorian Gray: Oscar Wilde's Only Novel
In The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde examines the prospect of eternal youth and finds it wanting.
unknown
Overview -- The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde: Wilde's Ghost ...
Given the immense popularity of ghost stories and the Gothic novel in the 19th century, Wilde had a receptive audience for this comic short story.
unknown
Oscar Wilde Quotes
7 Quotes by Oscar Wilde: Always forgive your enemies - nothing annoys them so much.
unknown
Analysis – "Impression du Matin" by Oscar Wilde
19th century Irish writer Oscar Wilde explores the idea of being emotionally.
unknown
The Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde
The Importance of Being Earnest is Oscar Wilde's surreal masterpiece that emphasises the irrational power and supremacy of personality over reality.
admin
Oscar Wilde Quote - We Are All in the Gutter
The Famous Oscar Wilde Quote - We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars. Love it.
gregjonesorg
Quote: From Oscar Wilde « The Greg Jones Blog
Quote: From Oscar Wilde. By gregjonesorg. I heard this one in a presentation the other day: “There is only one thing worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.” (en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Talk:Oscar_Wilde) ...
unknown
Oscar Wilde's To My Wife: A Pretty Note
Oscar Wilde is noted more for his plays than for his poems. He was a proponent of.
unknown
'The Most Celebrated Homosexual Since Oscar Wilde' and ...
'The Most Celebrated Homosexual Since Oscar Wilde' and How He Changed Ballet "[This] gay Pygmalion was most galvanized when he could turn these male Galateas" - Nijinsky, Massine, Lifar - "into artists the world would worship. ...
admin
Hey Oscar Wilde! It's Clobberin' Time!!! » J.G. Jones – Kenneth ...
Further information on J.G.Jones: jgjones.com. Further information on Kenneth Robeson: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Robeson. THIS WEBSITE, NOW IN ITS TENTH INCARNATION SINCE BEING LAUNCHED IN 06.1998, IS AN EXTENSION OF A PERSONAL ART ...
Eva
April: Oscar Wilde's classic in No. 1 Spot « PLR
The influence of Dublin City Library's 'Dublin: One City, One Book' initiative is reflected in their 2010 selection of Oscar Wilde's classic 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' placed in the No. 1 spot. Two heavyweights of the contemporary ...
Paul
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
I've been wanting to read this book for quite some time, and I am glad I finally got to it. Oscar Wilde's prose is a treat, and his characters and dialogue are fascinating. I very much enjoyed reading this, which is amazing because ...
Raquel Laneri
Paper Dolls, Dandies And Oscar Wilde - Booked - Reading unbound ...
Oscar Wilde—one of literature's greatest wits and its most beloved dandy—is now a paper doll. The New York Times Style Magazine blog, T, reports that the writer and playwright is one of the four famous fops featured in Paper Studio ...
unknown
The Picture of Dorian Gray Book Review: Playwright Oscar Wilde's ...
First published in 1890, The Picture of Dorian Gray is an enduring tale of classic horror and a social and political satire. Wilde's worldly criticisms stay true today.
unknown
New Picture of Dorian Gray Film for 2009: Oscar Wilde's Classic ...
The only published novel of Oscar Wilde, the popular story of Dorian Gray has inspired another film adaptation. How does it compare to the novel and previous adaptations?
Edit Team
Gival Press Oscar Wilde Award, Winners Announced
Gival Press announced that Sarah Machinak is the latest winner of the 9th Annual Oscar Wilde Award (2010) for the best poem that relates GLBT life. Her poem “LBA” was chosen by last year's winner, Chino Mayrina. ...
lay kim
Hilarious Quotes By Oscar Wilde And Mark Twain
hilarious quotes by oscar wilde and mark twain I love hilarious quotes from both Irish writer-poet Oscar Wilde and American author-cum-humorist Mark Twain. Both of their witty and thought-provoking quotes are still popularly quoted by ...
nobody@flickr.com (Scootzsx)
Oscar Wilde sculpture | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
I have been meaning to get a shot of this rather unusual sculpture in memory of Oscar Wilde for a while, but on previous trips I was thwarted by tourists using the sculpture as a bench.
unknown
Five Historic London Pubs
London pubs have been frequented by literary giants like Dr. Samuel Johnson, Charles Dickens, Voltaire, and Oscar Wilde. You should visit them too!
Carla
Just Another Mani Monday: Strangebeautiful Cinder & Oscar Wilde ...
I was torn between two shades for this week's Mani Monday and the winner was Strangebeautiful's Color Connector Nail Polish duo in Cinder and Oscar Wilde. I've wanted to try a Strangebeautiful polish ever since Michelle at All Lacquered ...
jessieabloom
The Picture of Dorian Gray « Book Lion
As it is, I recently started working in a children's book store and am on a fantastic rediscovery of all the books I missed as a kid, and the novel by Oscar Wilde, however good it may be, simply does not fit into that picture. ...
unknown
Oscar Wilde quotes
Oscar Wilde quotes,Oscar, Wilde, author, authors, writer, writers, people, famous people.
Gretchen Rubin
“Nature, Which Makes Nothing Durable, Always Repeats Itself So ...
“Nature, Which Makes Nothing Durable, Always Repeats Itself So That Nothing Which It Makes May Be Lost.” A Quote From Oscar Wilde. Published on August 30, 2010. Related Links. Casual Cruelty Towards Children (Which Doesn't Stop There) ...
unknown
Oscar Wilde Quotes
203 quotes and quotations by Oscar Wilde.
Zoe J. Griffiths
Thursday Theatre News: Legally Blonde, Bedlam, Oscar Wilde, and ...
Thursday Theatre News: Legally Blonde, Bedlam, Oscar Wilde, and More Kids Week. Posted by Zoe J. Griffiths in Theatre. First of all, I'm thrilled to tell you the original London cast of Legally Blonde are releasing a recording of the ...
karterharrisons
▷▷▷▷▷ The Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus 16 Ton ...
Violations of something called the "Strange Sketch Act" are the least of the troupe's offenses, as witness the Oscar Wilde Sketch, the Dirty Vicar Sketch, and the Most Awful Family in Britain Sketch, all of which achieve "the really ...
More Than Words Typographic Designs
MoreThanWords Typographic Talk: success; nothing annoys them so much.
Today a Twitter followers tweeted one of Oscar Wilde's famous quotes, "Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much." Well, we do love good quote but I beg to differ on this one. I'll end the day with a MTW HQ take on this, ...
Paulo Coelho
Character of the week: Oscar Wilde « Paulo Coelho's Blog
In my library there is a treasured book, from our Irish friends, Betty and Gerry O'Malley: 'The complete Illustrated Stories, Plays & Poems of Oscar Wilde' and as it is written, 'in this volume his complete stories, plays and poems are ...
Hollywood Outbreak
SISTER WIVES - HOW STUPID CAN YOU GET? HOW STUPID DO YOU WANT ...
Kody, who is no Oscar Wilde, said: “I felt like the secretiveness of the society has been a little bit dangerous for the society, as well as the public. This is part of our reason for essentially coming out.” How do you top this? ...
Irena @ This Miss Loves to Read
A Woman of No Importance by Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde's audacious drama of social scandal centres around the revelation of Mrs Arbuthnot's long-concealed secret. A house party is in full swing at Lady Hunstanton's country home, when it is announced that Gerald Arbuthnot has ...
unknown
Oscar Wilde's Foray into Civil Rights: In 1882, Wilde Defended a ...
In 1882, Oscar Wilde toured America. One story from his journey indicates that the flippant 19th century superstar had more than one modern view of the world.
Will
Secure Immaturity » Five Deserving Films That Didn't Get One Oscar ...
Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest is one of my favorite plays and a marvelously faithful movie adaptation. But one thing that stuck out, and this is for someone who doesn't usually care a lick about costumes, ...
unknown
The London of Oscar Wilde: Guided Walk Round Mayfair
Relive the drama of Oscar Wilde's life in London with a guided walk hosted by Alan, an extremely knowledgeable and entertaining tour guide.
switchedtips@gmail.com (Amar Toor)
Apple Censors Oscar Wilde Comic Over Gay Kiss, Realizes How Dumb ...
A word of advice: If you're submitting a comic adaptation of a classic literary work to the iPad App Store, you'd better prepare for a.
Hythe Eye
Oscar Wilde Above the Fishing Boats - Cherbourg | Flickr - Photo ...
Oscar Wilde Above the Fishing Boats - Cherbourg. ... Cherbourg · Ocar Wilde · Brittany Ferries · Fishing Boats · Harbour. Show machine tags (0) Hide machine tags (0). License. All Rights Reserved. Privacy. Easy privacy controls ...
Kayla
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde « Caught Between the Pages
by Kayla in classic, fiction, horror Tags: author, book, book review, classic, death, Fantasy, fiction, novel, oscar wilde, quote, rating, read, review, romance, sad, science fiction, summary, the picture of dorian gray ...
ENNYMAN
Oscar Wilde, Epigram King
Yesterday I began listening to Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband, one of Wilde's several plays written to critique British society at the end of the nineteenth century. The story is immensely relevant today, and his pointed observations ...
unknown
Statues of Oscar Wilde - Why Are There So Few?: Epstein, Hambling ...
His tombstone apart, it took nearly a century before Oscar Wilde was publicly celebrated in a statue - and then like buses, three came along at once!
Nicole Martinelli
Apple Censors Joyce, Oscar Wilde iPad Comics? | Cult of Mac
When the art panel edits of the “Ulysses Seen” app and the graphic novel adaptation of Oscar Wilde's “Importance of Being Earnest” app were brought to our attention, we offered the developers the opportunity to resubmit their original ...
webmaster@phx.com(CAROLYN CLAY)
Review: Wicked; The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee; The ...
"Nothing succeeds like excess," Oscar Wilde famously opined. SPIDER MAN | August 15, 2010. Dreams and portents loom large in Richard III . So it seems fitting that John Douglas Thompson's dynamic Dick Crookback should deliver the play's ...
Melanie
Melanie's Book Addiction: Interview & Giveaway with Author HP Mallory
I was an English major in school so I have lots—Oscar Wilde, Austen, Bronte Sisters, Shakespeare, Nathaniel West, newer stuff—love the Sookie Stackhouse series and the Anita Blake series. What can we expect to see from you in the future ...
Frédérick Jézégou
"It often happens that the real tragedies of life occur in such an ...
It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious. Oscar Wilde It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious.People, OtherQuotations by Oscar Wilde. ...
John Phillips
Wilde on Jobs | The Word on Employment Law with John Phillips
If there's one thing we've heard plenty about lately, it's jobs. We're likely to keep hearing about the subject for some time into the future. Playwright Oscar Wilde said something in the 19th century that hits home quite clearly today. ...
Kevin Kelleher
It Gets Worse: Apple Censors a Gay Kiss in Oscar Wilde Comic | The ...
When the art panel edits of the Ulysses Seen app and the graphic novel adaptation of Oscar Wilde's Importance of Being Earnest app were brought to our attention, we offered the developers the opportunity to resubmit their original ...
Michael Levy
Karl Marx Writes Like Oscar Wilde: The Inanity of I Write Like ...
Sweeping the Web this week is a little tool called I Write Like, which of course purports to tell aspiring writers, based on your latest blog post, journal entry, comment, chapter of your unfinished book, etc. what famous writer you ...
Rutland Resident
Martin Brookes: Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde Statue by Maggi Hambling. On November 30, 1998,. the statue by Maggi Hambling was at last unveiled. in Adelaide Street, near Trafalgar Square. the coffin is also a bench. the bronze cigarette is often stolen! ...
sups
The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde
The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde. PPF Primary Picture Fiction. Suggested Reading Early Years & KS1.
Louise
A Strong Belief in Wicker: Top Ten Books I Can't Believe I've ...
Speaking of Being Earnest, I do think that Oscar Wilde was possibly the best wit who has ever lived (or at least the best one I've come across thus far). I'm always in awe of his work, but still have much to read, fairytales included, ...
admin
Oscar Wilde On Nostradamus Prediction About Antichrist Movie ...
FERGIE IN GUATEMALATop Youtube music, video, movies,videos,hits,music Watch here online videos. pv arashi wish, ★ nostradamus predictions the secret code part 23 . el yeti esquiando, ★ oscar wilde bio 1, ★ monkey men part 3 .. alien ...
Joy
What's Joy reading?: Beautiful Duet
Oscar Wilde's Grave. Oscar Wilde\ Paris. British police. British police. London. Fountain in the Garden. Fountain in the Garden Versailles. Rhododendrons in the park. Rhododendrons in the park. Amsterdam. Trafalger Square ...
Douglas Todd
Jesus: One of the greatest psychotherapists - The Search
Yes it would and I reckon Oscar Wilde might therefore label you 'stupid' and incapable of handling or even wanting to handle some new concept or idea. Your loss.(The dump trunk, you mean truck, is the blood of Jesus that redeems all ...
Heather
Positive Thinking Day Quotes & Quotations | Top Positive Thinking ...
Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere's Fan, 1893. Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed. Attributed to both Jonathan Swift and Benjamin Franklin. To be upset over what you don't have is to waste what you do have. ...
unknown
Stephen Fry Presents a Selection of Oscar Wilde's Short Stories ...
Stephen Fry Presents a Selection of Oscar Wilde's Short Stories (Unabridged) - Download Audio Books - Audible.co.uk: Oscar Wilde,Stephen Fry.
unknown
Oscar Wilde - Dedicated Follower of Fashion?: His 19th ...
Oscar Wilde toured the United States and Britain, talking on a subject dear to his heart - fashion. His wardrobe condemned as being unmanly, he nevertheless triumphed.
Parmy Olson
Yes, That IS Stephen Fry On iTunes Ping - Parmy Olson - London ...
My inability to recognize one of Britain's national treasures on Ping was probably because Fry used an image taken from his book, “Oscar Wilde's Stories for All Ages,” for his profile. The book published last October shows Fry after he ...
editor@boiseweekly.com (Deanna Darr)
Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband At Idaho Shakespeare Festival ...
It's hard not to be impressed by the fact that even after more than 100 years since the play's debut in London in 1895, the sentiment still rings so true that it isn't challenging for a modern audience to get the joke.
unknown
James Whistler- Impressionism's American Counterpart
James Whistler was a contemporary of such French Impressionists as Manet, Monet, Seurat, and joined the Aesthetic movement with writer, Oscar Wilde.
NitrousG35
Best way to ship packages - 8th Generation Honda Civic Forum
Some cause happiness wherever they go: others whenever they go. -Oscar Wilde. NitrousG35 is offline ... Some cause happiness wherever they go: others whenever they go. -Oscar Wilde. NitrousG35 is offline ...
unknown
On DVD: 9 Movie Spies MacGruber Should Have Studied | Movieline
Though absurd and cheesy, it looks like Oscar Wilde compared to the other '60s genre satires. Spies Like Us (1985) Remember when Chevy Chase and Dan Ackroyd were comedy geniuses? Me neither. True Lies (1994) James Cameron had a filament ...
100swallows
Oscar Wilde's Grave | The Best Artists
You are a sculptor and Oscar Wilde's friend Robert Ross asks you to make a monument for his grave. You remember Oscar's wit as you heard it in his play The Importance of Being Ernest, and a story you read in school about Dorian Grey, ...
chigoja
Huge Puppets - RGB Picture
As Oscar Wilde wrote, “There are many advantages in puppets. They never argue. They have no crude views about art. They have no private lives”. David Currell has said ” A puppet is not an actor and a puppet theatre is not human theatre ...
duewar
Due West » Blog Archive » Paris And How To Get Away From The Norm
Three examples of such famous people who have been buried here are Edith Piaf, Jim Morrison from the Doors and Oscar Wilde. The area where this graveyard is situated is very pleasant so it is not all as morbid as it sounds. ...
unknown
Constant Performance in Wilde's Life and Art: Conversation and ...
The preface to Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray claims that “To reveal art and conceal the artist is art's aim.” Roland Barthes echoes this idea in his 1968 essay “The Death of the Author,” arguing against the consideration of ...
unknown
When Oscar Wilde came to Norfolk - Norwich Theatre - Going Out ...
Nearly 120 years ago flamboyant playwright Oscar Wilde came to Norfolk. Now his tale is to be told here through a one man show. ABIGAIL SALTMARSH reports.
unknown
Oscar Wilde: Biography from Answers.com
Oscar Wilde , Writer Born: 16 October 1854 Birthplace: Dublin, Ireland Died: 30 November 1900 Best Known As: The author of The Importance of Being.
admin
Actress Christine Ebersole's Story of Nazi Style Pat-Down by TSA ...
Business is Business. Why R people PAYING to be assaulted, molested and RAPED? How stupid! WoodlandRavah says: September 9, 2010 at 11:38 am. “Discontent is the first step in the progress of a man or a nation.” Oscar Wilde ...
sacredcalf
A Random Digression « But I digress…
Apt Adages. Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not, and a sense of humor was provided to console him for what he is. - Oscar Wilde. Tags. annoyed art Aunt Bee aventura blogs books cable tv cartoon cats ...
trish
The Handmaid's Tale, Sections IX – X, Discussion 2 « Classic Reads ...
October - December 2010. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde Schedule TBD. Past Books. April - June 2010. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. January - March 2010. East of Eden by John Steinbeck. Calendar. September 2010 ...
Fiasco da Gama
Oscar Wilde's Voice | MetaFilter
Edison staff may have recorded Oscar Wilde reciting a portion of the Ballad of Reading Gaol at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1900. Or was it forged in the 1960s for a radio programme hosted by Casper Citron? ...
bigmsi
change user name - 8th Generation Honda Civic Forum
Some cause happiness wherever they go: others whenever they go. -Oscar Wilde. NitrousG35 is offline. Thread Tools. Posting Rules. You may not post new threads. You may not post replies. You may not post attachments ...
admin
FALL 2010 LONDON SEASON PREVIEW: Fela!, Les Miz, Passion ...
... and Roy Hudd (Garrick Theatre from Oct. 19); and Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband, with Alexander Hanson, fresh from his stint in Broadway's A little Night Music, joining his real-life wife Samantha Bond (Vaudeville Theatre from Nov. ...
Kathryn
The essence of the rivalry « MOTY Notes
... November 2009 (1), August 2009 (1), July 2009 (1), June 2009 (1), April 2009 (1). P.S.. "Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about." - Oscar Wilde. Blog at WordPress.com. Theme: Notepad by N. Design.
tiffany
The Chinese Horoscope Tiger: Sign Of Greatness « Tug McGraw Jersey
A few famous tigers include Oscar Wilde, Marco Polo, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Marilyn Monroe. As far as compatibility, the tiger should look for happiness with a rabbit, dragon, horse, dog, puma running shoes or pig. ...
RSSreader
Open Question: Why do feminists insist anti-feminism is misogyny?
all men by nature desire to know-aristotle. Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.-oscar wilde my blog http://riseofthezetamale.blogspot.com ...
Thighmaster
We Plead The Fifth On Our Annual Thighs Wide Fooball Pee View: NFC ...
This West is truly wild, like Jack Wild or that awesome old game show Joker's Wild or Oscar Wilde riding Mr Toad's Wild Ride while getting a mustache ride on Rollie Fingers' forkball. THAT'S RIGHT Y'ALLLLL!!!!! The 49ers (6-10) seem to ...
Trent
I'm A 'Disco-Dancing, Oscar Wilde-Reading, Streisand Ticket ...
Yesterday was a pretty damn fun day for me ... after the FedEx man made my day early yesterday morning with the delivery of my shiny, new iPhone 4 (which.
self improvement
It's All About Balance - Self Improvement
Oscar Wilde understood ”All clothes all the rage moderation, plus moderation.” He was right. in attendance are era at what time you hardship headed for draw outdated entirely the stops headed for progress a impel fulfilled as a ...
virginiaadmin
Choose Your Best Romantic Paris Hotel | virginiawerewolf.com ...
They simply love the themed rooms that are beautiful and luxurious. The hotel is located in the vibrant and artistic left bank of the Saint Germain des Pres, he boasted in the past as guests such as Oscar Wilde and other writers. ...
unknown
Oscar Wilde - The Soul Of Man Under Socialism. - Vikspiration
Oscar Wilde - The Soul Of Man Under Socialism. Edit · Delete; Autopost. Donating a pair of shoes to a poor boy will allow him to walk more comfortably in the same situations under which he suffers . Teaching the boy how to make shoes ...
Cosmic Life Coach
Patricia's Astrology Horoscope September 8, 2010: Suspicion's Back ...
Oscar Wilde COSMIC WEATHER: A New Moon in Refining Virgo (6:31 am EDT). We're mastering our craft. Perfecting our skills. Some of us are also augmenting and or redefining our eyebrows. Praying to the Almighty that [...] ...
Scott Christ
"I've had so many wars I forget some of them." Doug Fischer has an ...
I love that he refuses to give Barrera credit. Work is the scourge of the drinking classes.-Oscar Wilde. by Dash Williams on Sep 8, 2010 2:49 PM EDT reply actions. What a top dude. TE RRI BLE!!! by Phill on Sep 8, 2010 3:27 PM EDT via ...
husseinrammal
performance upgrade - 8th Generation Honda Civic Forum
Quite frankly, take the easy route and get a S/C like a Comptech or Jackson Racing. BTW, there is no "chip" for this engine LOL. Some cause happiness wherever they go: others whenever they go. -Oscar Wilde. NitrousG35 is offline ...
Julie
Live, Laugh, Love: Oh, Dolly!
~Marjorie Pay Hinckley. "JOY is what happens to us when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are." ~ Marianne Williamson. "Be yourself. Everybody else is already taken." ~ Oscar Wilde ...
Paul
Cynical - CosmoBC.com Quotes
Oscar Wilde, "Phrases and Philosophies for ... Philosophy "Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence ... Cynical "Everything of importance has been said before by somebody who . ...
AC Childers
Pocket Review: What Alice Knew by Paula Marantz Cohen | Like Fire
often ham-handed period details (at one point Henry attends a dinner at which Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde, John Singer Sargent, and Robert Browning are also present, each quipping away like they'd memorized their own section of Bartlett's), ...
chamblee54
International Literacy Day « Chamblee54
~Voltaire There is no such thing as a moral or immoral book; books are well written or badly written. ~Oscar Wilde, Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891 Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. ~Richard Steele, Tatler, 1710 ...
Gladstone
The 6 Best College Majors (For Filling You With Regret) | Cracked.com
For the most part you're dealing with frizzy-haired, acne-laden girls who first learned about Oscar Wilde from The Smiths. Oh, but maybe you can put your degree to good use writing for the Internet? Lord knows I never could have earned ...
Brooklyn Beat
Deep In the Heart of Brooklyn: Days of Awe: Wrestling with the ...
First Civilizations; Oscar Wilde -Andrea Maurois; The Beats - Harvey Pekar, et al; SDS - Harvey Pekar, et al; The Unfinished Animal - Theodore Roszak; Friends of Eddy Coyle; Brooklands -Emily Barton; Abraham Lincoln - Vampire Hunter ...
lissa
the memory of rain: float
0 comments: Post a Comment. "I love talking about nothing. It is the only thing I know anything about." - Oscar Wilde. Older Post Home. Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom). "I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious." ...
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