OSCAR WILDE 1854-1900

1. OSCAR WILDE1854-1900 Noted Irish Poet, Playwright, and Novelist

2. Wilde, as photographed by Napoleon Sarony, 1882

3. Bon vivant “The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.” “I can resist anything but temptation.” “There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written or badly written.”

4. Wilde’s Early Life • Born in 1854 of professional and literary parents. • His mother was a revolutionary poet and authority on Celtic folklore. • His father was Ireland’s leading ear and eye surgeon, and also published various books on archaeology and folklore. • Attended Magdalen College, Oxford (1874-78), which awarded him a degree with honors. Won the prestigious Newdigate Prize in 1878 for poetry; kept college rooms decorated with art objects, celebrated ancient Greek ideals

5. Oscar Wilde at Oxford “Oh, would that I could live up to my blue china!”

6. The aesthetic movement • Wilde quickly established himself in social and artistic circles with his wit and flamboyance. • Disciple of Aestheticism in England: “Art for art’s sake” – Focus on beauty in art, life to be lived with style, pleasure, beauty, and intensity. “Burn always with [a] hard, gemlike flame.” Wilde was satirized and criticized for an “unmasculine” devotion to art (Punch Magazine, Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic opera Patience)

7. 1881 Punch caricature The caption reads: “O.W.”, “Oh I eel just as happy as a bright sunflower… …“Aesthete of Aesthetes/What’s in a name/The Poet is Wilde/But his poetry’s tame.”

8. Early Career • Lecture tour of the United States and Canada, 1882 – upon arriving at customs in New York City, announced that he had “nothing to declare but his genius.” (Spoke to a packed auditorium in San Antonio, Texas) • Married in London to Constance Lloyd (1884) • Two sons, Cyril (born 1885)and Vyvyan (born 1886) • London resident, wrote poetry and story collections

9. CELEBRATED Plays Witty society comedies and veiled satire aimed at Victorian mores; considered his greatest successes. Lady Windermere’s Fan A Woman of No Importance An Ideal Husband The Importance of being Earnest

10. The picture of dorian Gray(1891) “In many of [Wilde’s] works, exposure of a secret sin or indiscretion and consequent disgrace is a central design.” Dorian Gray was originally published in different, shorter form in Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine (1890) Reviewers and readers were scandalized and immediately criticized the novel's decadence and homosexual allusions; Wilde vigorously defended his work, but changed and omitted passages

11. Lord Alfred Douglas Wilde’s close and romantic relationship with Lord Alfred “Bosie” Douglas infuriated Douglas’s father, The Marquess of Queensberry.

12. The Crown vs. Wilde Accused of homosexuality by the Marquess of Queensbury, Wilde sued him for criminal libel. Evidence went against Wilde; he dropped the suit, but was arrested and ordered to stand trial. Found guilty and sentenced to two years at hard labor for “gross indecency” (1895)

13. Prison Term De Profundis, a 50,000-word letter to Lord Alfred Douglas filled with regret and accusations, was published posthumously (1905) Also published: The Ballad of Reading Gaol(1898), a poem decrying inhumanity of prison Wilde went into exile in France, bankrupt, ill, and socially scorned by all but a few. Reunited with Douglas briefly

14. Death • 1900 dies of cerebral meningitis • Converts to Roman Catholicism

15. Wilde’s epitaph is a verse from  The Ballad of Reading Gaol: And alien tears will fill for himPity's long-broken urn,For his mourners will be outcast men,And outcasts always mourn. “…an unconquerable gaiety of soul” - George Bernard Shaw