Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde entered the world on the 16th of October 1854 at 21 Westland Row in Dublin. His mother Jane, née Elgee, wrote poetry under the pseudonym Speranza for the revolutionary Young Irelanders in 1848. She read these poems to her sons Oscar and Willie, instilling a love of verse that would shape his early years. Sir William Wilde served as Ireland's leading ear and eye surgeon while also writing books about Irish archaeology and peasant folklore. The family home became a unique medical and cultural milieu filled with guests like Sheridan Le Fanu and George Petrie. Wilde attended Portora Royal School from 1864 to 1871 where he impressed peers with humorous school stories. He ranked fourth in classics in 1869 and won multiple prizes including the Carpenter Prize for Greek Testament. One of only three students to win a Royal School scholarship to Trinity College Dublin, he arrived there in 1871 at age seventeen. At Trinity he came first in his class during his first year before winning the Berkeley Gold Medal in Greek. Professor J.P. Mahaffy inspired his interest in Greek literature and called him his best teacher despite later reservations.
Richard D'Oyly Carte invited Wilde to make a lecture tour of North America starting on the 2nd of January 1882 when he arrived aboard the SS Arizona. Originally planned to last four months the tour continued for almost a year owing to its commercial success. Wilde sought to transpose beauty seen in art into daily life through lectures on interior design. The Springfield Republican commented on his behavior suggesting it was more a bid for notoriety than devotion to beauty. T.W. Higginson wrote in Unmanly Manhood that Wilde whose only distinction was writing thin volume of very mediocre verse would improperly influence men and women. Harper's Weekly put a sunflower-worshipping monkey dressed as Wilde on the front of their January 1882 issue. The San Francisco Chronicle reported the city divided into two camps regarding whether he was engaging speaker or pretentious fraud. Despite hostile press reception Wilde claimed to have drunk whiskey with miners in Leadville Colorado while being feted at fashionable salons across many cities. His earnings plus expected income from The Duchess of Padua allowed him to move to Paris between February and mid-May 1883 where he met Robert Sherard whom he entertained constantly.
In mid-1887 Wilde became editor of The Lady's World magazine renaming it The Woman's World and raising its tone. He added serious articles on parenting culture and politics while keeping discussions of fashion and arts. Two pieces of fiction were usually included one to be read to children and another for adult readers. Sales remained low at the relatively high price of one shilling leading publishers to express concern about circulation. By October 1889 Wilde had finally found his voice in prose leaving The Woman's World which outlasted him by only a year. In January 1889 The Decay of Lying: A Dialogue appeared in The Nineteenth Century followed by Pen Pencil and Poison in The Fortnightly Review edited by Frank Harris. His essay The Soul of Man Under Socialism argued private property should be abolished and cooperation substituted for competition. George Orwell summarized that the world would be populated by artists each striving after perfection in way that seemed best to him. This point of view did not align with Fabians who advocated using state apparatus to change social conditions nor did it endear him to monied classes. Intentions packaged revisions of four essays including The Truth of Masks first published in 1885 and The Critic as Artist in two parts.
The first version of The Picture of Dorian Gray was published as lead story in July 1890 edition of Lippincott's Monthly Magazine along with five others. When Gray sees finished portrait he breaks down distraught that beauty will fade while painted image stays beautiful. He inadvertently makes Faustian bargain allowing only painted image to grow old while he remains young. Reviewers immediately criticized novel's decadence and homosexual subtext calling it unclean poisonous and heavy with mephitic odours of moral and spiritual putrefaction. The Daily Chronicle wrote these words while Wilde vigorously responded writing to editor of Scots Observer clarifying stance on ethics and aesthetics in art. He revised it extensively for book publication in 1891 adding six new chapters while excising some overtly decadent passages and homo-eroticism. A preface consisting of twenty-two epigrams such as Books are well written or badly written That is all appeared alongside the text. Contemporary reviewers and modern critics have postulated numerous possible sources though Jershua McCormack argues search is futile because Wilde tapped root of Western folklore so deep and ubiquitous that story escaped origins returning to oral tradition. Robert McCrum lists it among 100 best novels ever written in English calling it arresting and slightly camp exercise in late-Victorian gothic.
Lady Windermere's Fan was first performed on the 20th of February 1892 at St James's Theatre packed with cream of society. Though surface witty comedy there is subtle subversion underneath concluding with collusive concealment rather than collective disclosure. Play was enormously popular touring country for months but largely trashed by conservative critics. Success saw Wilde earn £7,000 in first year alone. His first hit play followed by A Woman of No Importance in 1893 another Victorian comedy revolving around spectre of illegitimate births mistaken identities and late revelations. An Ideal Husband written in 1894 followed in January 1895 while The Importance of Being Earnest rapidly written in artistic maturity in late 1894. First performed on the 14th of February 1895 at St James's Theatre it became his fourth West End hit in three years. Allan Aynesworth who played Algernon recalled in fifty-three years of acting never remembering greater triumph than that first night. H.G. Wells wrote in Pall Mall Gazette review More humorous dealing with theatrical conventions difficult to imagine. Mr Oscar Wilde has decorated humour that is Gilbertian with innumerable spangles of wit all his own. Queensberry planned insult Wilde publicly by throwing bouquet rotting vegetables onto stage but Wilde tipped off had him barred from entering theatre.
In mid-1891 Lionel Johnson introduced Wilde to Lord Alfred Douglas undergraduate at Oxford known as Bosie. Intimate friendship sprang up between them and by 1893 Wilde infatuated with Douglas consorting together regularly in tempestuous affair. Douglas reckless in public while Wilde relatively indiscreet flamboyant way acted. Wilde earning up to £100 a week from plays indulged Douglas every whim material artistic or sexual. Douglas initiated Wilde into Victorian underground of gay prostitution introducing series young working-class male prostitutes from 1892 onwards by Alfred Taylor. These infrequent rendezvous usually took same form: Wilde would meet boy offer gifts dine privately then take hotel room. Unlike Wilde's idealized relations with Ross John Gray and Douglas these consorts uneducated knew nothing literature. Soon public and private lives sharply divided; in De Profundis he wrote to Douglas It was like feasting with panthers danger half excitement. He did not know when they were to strike at me it was to be at another's piping and at another's pay. Douglas and some Oxford friends founded journal The Chameleon to which Wilde sent page paradoxes originally destined for Saturday Review. Phrases and Philosophies for Use of Young came under attack six months later at Wilde's trial where forced defend magazine.
On the 18th of February 1895 Marquess of Queensberry left calling card at Wilde's club Albemarle inscribed For Oscar Wilde posing somdomite. Wilde encouraged by Douglas against advice friends initiated private prosecution against Queensberry for defamatory libel since note amounted public accusation that Wilde committed crime sodomy. Under Libel Act 1843 Queensberry could avoid conviction only demonstrating accusation fact true furthermore some public benefit making accusation openly. Queensberry lawyers hired private detectives find evidence Wilde's homosexual liaisons. Frank Harris warned him they going prove sodomy against you advised flee France. Wilde preliminary hearing took place Bow Street Magistrates' Court before trial opening Old Bailey central London on the 3rd of April 1895 before Mr Justice Richard Henn Collins amid scenes near hysteria both press and public galleries. Extent evidence massed against Wilde forced declare meekly I am prosecutor this case. Carson cross-examined Wilde how perceived moral content works. Wilde replied characteristic wit flippancy claiming works art not capable being moral or immoral but only well poorly made. Carson pressed each topic every angle squeezing nuances meaning removing aesthetic context portraying evasive decadent. While won most laughs scored most legal points. Carson drew witness admission capacity posing demonstrating lied age under oath. Returned topic throughout cross-examination quoting from novel The Picture of Dorian Gray referring particular scene second chapter Lord Henry Wotton explains decadent philosophy innocent young man.
On the 25th of May 1895 Wilde Alfred Taylor convicted gross indecency sentenced two years hard labour maximum penalty allowed. Judge described sentence totally inadequate for case such this worst case ever tried. Wilde response And I? May I say nothing my Lord drowned cries Shame courtroom. Incarcerated from the 25th of May 1895 to the 18th of May 1897 first entered Newgate Prison London processing then moved Pentonville where hard labour consisted many hours walking treadmill picking oakum separating fibres scraps old navy ropes. A few months later moved Wandsworth Prison inmates followed regimen hard labour hard fare hard bed wore harshly delicate health. November collapsed chapel illness hunger right ear drum ruptured fall injury later contributed death. Spent two months infirmary Richard B. Haldane Liberal MP reformer visited had transferred November Reading Gaol west London on the 23rd of November 1895. Transfer lowest point incarceration crowd jeered spat platform Clapham Junction railway station. Spent remainder sentence Reading addressed identified only C.3.3 occupant third cell third floor C ward. On day release caught overnight steamer France never return Britain Ireland. In France Italy wrote last work The Ballad of Reading Gaol 1898 long poem commemorating harsh rhythms prison life.
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Common questions
When and where was Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde born?
Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde entered the world on the 16th of October 1854 at 21 Westland Row in Dublin. His mother Jane Elgee wrote poetry under the pseudonym Speranza for the revolutionary Young Irelanders in 1848.
What happened during Oscar Wilde's North America lecture tour starting in January 1882?
Richard D'Oyly Carte invited Oscar Wilde to make a lecture tour of North America starting on the 2nd of January 1882 when he arrived aboard the SS Arizona. The tour originally planned to last four months continued for almost a year owing to its commercial success despite hostile press reception from publications like Harper's Weekly.
Why did Oscar Wilde face legal prosecution in April 1895?
On the 18th of February 1895 Marquess of Queensberry left calling card at Oscar Wilde's club Albemarle inscribed For Oscar Wilde posing somdomite which led to private prosecution against Queensberry for defamatory libel. Under Libel Act 1843 Queensberry could avoid conviction only demonstrating accusation fact true furthermore some public benefit making accusation openly.
How long was Oscar Wilde incarcerated and what were his prison conditions?
Oscar Wilde remained incarcerated from the 25th of May 1895 to the 18th of May 1897 after being convicted of gross indecency with Alfred Taylor. He spent time in Newgate Prison London then Pentonville where hard labour consisted many hours walking treadmill picking oakum separating fibres scraps old navy ropes before moving to Wandsworth Prison and Reading Gaol.
What major literary works did Oscar Wilde publish between 1890 and 1898?
The first version of The Picture of Dorian Gray was published as lead story in July 1890 edition of Lippincott's Monthly Magazine along with five others while Lady Windermere's Fan was first performed on the 20th of February 1892 at St James's Theatre packed with cream of society. In France Italy Oscar Wilde wrote last work The Ballad of Reading Gaol 1898 long poem commemorating harsh rhythms prison life.