Oscar Wilde
One of the great ‘stars’ of the world of literature
“Somehow or other I’ll be famous, and if not famous, I’ll be notorious” declared the young Oscar Wilde. He proved to be both!
From a childhood in an eminent Protestant Dublin family, then time as a flamboyant student at Oxford, and his arrival on the London scene, Oscar Wilde was a larger-than-life figure in his time. He was a playwright, wit, advisor on home decoration, novelist, and poet. Wilde’s genius as a raconteur and coiner of epigrams made him the most quoted man in London. He translated his genius into stories, plays, poems and a novel and gained a place amongst the great Victorian writers.
Oscar Wilde has gone down as one of history’s most versatile authors. He wrote essays, brilliant letters, plays that have been regularly performed around the world, moving fairy tales, one controversial novel, and some superb poems. He once stated that he had put only his talent into his works but had put his genius into his life.
“There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is NOT being talked about.”
― Oscar Wilde
A great place to start your Oscar Wilde discovery journey is with my video talk The Importance of Being Oscar: The Life and Works of Oscar Wilde. In this fully illustrated 60 minute video talk, I discuss Oscar Wilde’s life and work. Purchase it to watch any time.
Oscar Wilde was a deliberate debunker of Victorian gravity and solemnity, and was a closely aligned with the Aesthetic Movement that he helped to create. The Aesthetic Movement stressed the importance of beauty and aestheticism in literature, art, house decoration etc, in preference to a stress on social and political ideas. For Wilde and his fellow Aesthetes, there simply was no other choice: life is the greatest of all works of art, they believed, and the goal of the Aesthete is to savor the experience of beauty. He always loved colour – vermillion, deep purples and rich golds and works such as The Birthday of the Infanta and The Happy Prince are full of references to different vivid hues.
In April 1895 London was fascinated and shocked by the trial where Oscar Wilde sued the Marquess of Queensberry (father of Bosie, Oscar’s lover) for libel. But there was so much evidence against him that Wilde had to drop the prosecution and the Marquess was acquitted. Oscar had to pay the expenses, which left him bankrupt, but more importantly he was in danger of arrest. In fact, as he left the court, a warrant for his arrest was applied for on charges of sodomy and gross indecency.
Wilde did have time to catch the boat train to France, where he could have lived out his life comfortably and safely. However, the man who had accepted all the good that society could give him, now felt he also had to accept the bad. He went to the Cadogan Hotel and dithered there with his friend Robert Ross. Soon police arrived, he was arrested, and of course, after another trial he was sentenced.
Poor Oscar did two years’ hard labour in three different prisons – his health was destroyed, and apart from The Ballad of Reading Gaol, which was published under his prison number C.3.3., he never wrote another word.
Oscar Wilde uttered the best known literary last words, saying “My wallpaper and I have been fighting a duel to the death. One or the other of us has got to go”. A true wit until his last breath.
If you’re keen to find materials to learn more, you’ve come to the right place. Locate all articles on this website by searching here.
Scroll down to where I list many of the books, movies, and resources available – about Oscar Wilde’s life, times, characters, style, and influence. It’s a compilation of items that I have referenced over many years and is by no means exhaustive, rather, just a starting point for your own Oscar Wilde discovery.
Here is where to buy Oscar Wilde’s books in print, ebook or audio. Find books about him that I can recommend, watch a movie version, enjoy related videos, websites, and much more.
WORKS BY OSCAR WILDE
Chiefly remembered today as a playwright, Oscar Wilde’s body of work includes criticism, poetry, children’s fiction, and a large selection of reviews, lectures and journalism. His private correspondence has also been published. Here are links to some of his works, for a full bibliography, please look here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Wilde_bibliography
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
The Happy Prince & Other Tales by Oscar Wilde
A House of Pomegranates by Oscar Wilde
Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime and Other Stories by Oscar Wilde
The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde: Stories, Plays, Poems & Essays by Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde Collection by Oscar Wilde
WORKS BY OSCAR WILDE – FREE DOWNLOAD
Some free versions are better than others, please feel free to try these, but I cannot guarantee the quality.
Books by Oscar Wilde at Project Gutenberg Free downloadable versions in various formats including Kindle, epub, pdf and others.
If you are unsure of how to add these files to your ereader, look here.
Audio versions of books by Oscar Wilde at Librivox
BOOKS ABOUT OSCAR WILDE
Oscar Wilde by Richard Ellmann
Oscar: A Life by Matthew Sturgis
Oscar’s Books: A Journey Around the Library of Oscar Wilde by Thomas Wright
The Fall of the House of Wilde: Oscar Wilde and His Family by Emer O’Sullivan
Bosie: a Biography of Lord Alfred Douglas by Douglas Murray
MOVIES & VIDEOS
Susannah Fullerton: The Importance of Being Oscar video talk
Streaming Guide from JustWatch Australia: Movie adaptations of Oscar Wilde’s work or about his life
Some versions are better than others, please feel free to try these, but I cannot guarantee the quality.
A playlist for Oscar Wilde