Oscar Wilde
![Wilde in 1882](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/44/Oscar_Wilde_by_Napoleon_Sarony._Three-quarter-length_photograph%2C_seated.jpg/150px-Oscar_Wilde_by_Napoleon_Sarony._Three-quarter-length_photograph%2C_seated.jpg)
Wilde's parents were Anglo-Irish intellectuals in Dublin. In his youth, Wilde learned to speak fluent French and German. At university, he read Greats; he demonstrated himself to be an exceptional classicist, first at Trinity College Dublin, then at Magdalen College, Oxford. He became associated with the emerging philosophy of aestheticism, led by two of his tutors, Walter Pater and John Ruskin. After university, Wilde moved to London into fashionable cultural and social circles.
He tried his hand at various literary activities: he wrote a play, published a book of poems, lectured in the United States and Canada on the new "English Renaissance in Art" and interior decoration, and then returned to London where he lectured on his American travels and wrote reviews for various periodicals. Known for his biting wit, flamboyant dress and glittering conversational skill, Wilde became one of the best-known personalities of his day. At the turn of the 1890s, he refined his ideas about the supremacy of art in a series of dialogues and essays, and incorporated themes of decadence, duplicity, and beauty into what would be his only novel, ''The Picture of Dorian Gray'' (1890). Wilde returned to drama, writing ''Salome'' (1891) in French while in Paris, but it was refused a licence for England due to an absolute prohibition on the portrayal of Biblical subjects on the English stage. Undiscouraged, Wilde produced four society comedies in the early 1890s, which made him one of the most successful playwrights of late-Victorian London.
At the height of his fame and success, while ''An Ideal Husband'' (1895) and ''The Importance of Being Earnest'' (1895) were still being performed in London, Wilde issued a civil writ against John Sholto Douglas, the 9th Marquess of Queensberry for criminal libel. The Marquess was the father of Wilde's lover, Lord Alfred Douglas. The libel hearings unearthed evidence that caused Wilde to drop his charges and led to his own arrest and criminal prosecution for gross indecency with other males. The jury was unable to reach a verdict and so a retrial was ordered. In the second trial Wilde was convicted and sentenced to two years' hard labour, the maximum penalty, and was jailed from 1895 to 1897. During his last year in prison he wrote ''De Profundis'' (published posthumously in abridged form in 1905), a long letter that discusses his spiritual journey through his trials and is a dark counterpoint to his earlier philosophy of pleasure. On the day of his release, he caught the overnight steamer to France, never to return to Britain or Ireland. In France and Italy, he wrote his last work, ''The Ballad of Reading Gaol'' (1898), a long poem commemorating the harsh rhythms of prison life. Provided by Wikipedia
Showing 1 - 20 results of 96 for search 'Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900', query time: 0.06s
Refine Results
-
1
Lady Windermere's fan ; Salome ; A woman of no importance ; An ideal husband ; The importance of being earnest / Oscar Wilde ; edited with an introduction and notes by Peter Raby. by Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900
Published 2008Call Number: Loading…
Located: Loading…Book Loading… -
2
Salome / Oscar Wilde ; foreword by Ben Power ; introduction by Trevor R. Griffiths. by Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900
Published 2010Call Number: Loading…
Located: Loading…Book Loading… -
3
Lady Windermere's fan. by Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900
Published 1985Call Number: Loading…Streaming video (Emerson users only)
Located: Loading…
Electronic Video -
4
A Florentine tragedy / Oscar Wilde. by Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900
Published 2013Contributors: “…Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900…”
Call Number: Loading…Full text (Emerson users only)
Located: Loading…
Electronic eBook -
5
A woman of no importance / Oscar Wilde. by Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900
Published 2004Call Number: Loading…Full text (Emerson users only)
Located: Loading…
Electronic eBook -
6
Lady Windermere's fan / Oscar Wilde ; edited by Ian Small. by Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900
Published 2002Call Number: Loading…Full text (Emerson users only)
Located: Loading…
Electronic eBook -
7
La sainte courtisane / Oscar Wilde. by Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900
Published 2013Contributors: “…Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900…”
Call Number: Loading…Full text (Emerson users only)
Located: Loading…
Electronic eBook -
8
Salomé / Oscar Wilde. by Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900
Published 2013Contributors: “…Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900…”
Call Number: Loading…Full text (Emerson users only)
Located: Loading…
Electronic eBook -
9
The Duchess of Padua / Oscar Wilde. by Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900
Published 2013Contributors: “…Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900…”
Call Number: Loading…Full text (Emerson users only)
Located: Loading…
Electronic eBook -
10
The importance of being earnest / Oscar Wilde ; edited by Russell Jackson. by Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900
Published 2013Call Number: Loading…Full text (Emerson users only)
Located: Loading…
Electronic eBook -
11
Vera, or, The nihilists / Oscar Wilde. by Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900
Published 2013Contributors: “…Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900…”
Call Number: Loading…Full text (Emerson users only)
Located: Loading…
Electronic eBook -
12
The rise of historical criticism. by Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900
Published 1969Call Number: Loading…
Located: Loading…Book Loading… -
13
Monologues from Oscar Wilde / edited by Ian Michaels. by Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900
Published 1989Contributors: “…Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900…”
Call Number: Loading…
Located: Loading…Book Loading… -
14
The importance of being earnest and four other plays / Oscar Wilde ; with an introduction and notes by Kenneth Krauss. by Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900
Published 2003Call Number: Loading…
Located: Loading…Book Loading… -
15
Importance of being earnest / Oscar Wilde ; critical material selected and introduced by Henry Popkin. by Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900
Published 1965Call Number: Loading…
Located: Loading…Book Loading… -
16
The picture of Dorian Gray and three stories / Oscar Wilde ; with an introduction by Gary Schmidgall ; and a new afterword by Peter Raby. by Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900
Published 2007Call Number: Loading…
Located: Loading…Book Loading… -
17
The importance of being earnest : authoritative text, backgrounds, criticism / Oscar Wilde ; edited by Michael Patrick Gillespie. by Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900
Published 2006Call Number: Loading…
Located: Loading…Book Loading… -
18
The happy prince and other stories / by Oscar Wilde ; illustrated in colour and black and white by Charles Robinson. by Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900
Published 1991Call Number: Loading…
Located: Loading…Book Loading… -
19
The works of Oscar Wilde : including the poems, novels, plays, essays, fairy tales and dialogues. by Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900
Published 1927Call Number: Loading…
Located: Loading…Book Loading… -
20
The nightingale and the rose / Oscar Wilde ; illustrated by Freire Wright and Michael Foreman. by Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900
Published 1981Call Number: Loading…
Located: Loading…Book Loading…
Search Tools:
Related Subjects
Drama
English drama
English literature
Conduct of life
Portraits
Fairy tales
Foundlings
Identity (Psychology)
Social life and customs
Aristocracy (Social class)
Families
Ghost plays
Haunted castles
Man-woman relationships
Teenage girls
Authors, Irish
fairy tales
American drama
American drama (Comedy)
Comedy
English drama (Comedy)
Feature films
History
History and criticism
Literature
Marriage
Mothers and daughters
Operas
Scandals
Theater