Oscar Wilde

Oscar Fingal O’ Flahertie Will Wilde was born in October 16th 1854 in Dublin, Ireland. Since his parents were both authors, he soon came into contact with writing. Sir William Wilde, his father and Ireland’s leading ear and eye surgeon, wrote books on archaeology and folklore. Wilde’s mother, Jane Francesca Elgee, worked as a translator, writing for the Young Ireland movement of the 1840s, under the name "Speranza". After Portora Royal School (1864-1871) Wilde attended the Trinity College in Dublin (1871-1874) and the Magdalen College in Oxford (1874-1878). Wilde’s thirst for poetry was first appreciated in 1878 when he won the coveted Newdigate Prize for his poem Ravenna. Wilde’s interests did not only lie in writing, but also in art. He was deeply impressed by the English writers John Ruskin and Walter Pater who taught about the central importance of art in life. Oscar Wilde soon became an advocate of Aestheticism and supported the movement’s basic principle Art for Art’s Sake (L’art pour l’art). In 1879 Wilde started to teach Aestethic values in London. Later he lectured in the United States and in Canada where he was torn apart by the critics. The Wasp, a San Francisco newspaper, published a cartoon ridiculing Wilde and Aestheticism. After this bad experience Oscar Wilde left the United States and returned to Great Britain where he worked as a reviewer for the “Paul Mall Gazette” in the years 1887-1889. Afterwards he became the editor of “Woman’s World”. During this time he published his most famous Fairy Tale The Happy Prince and Other Tales (1888). Three years later his only novel The Picture of Dorian Gray was published. Critics often claimed that there existed parallels between Wilde’s and the protagonist’s life. Wilde’s favourite genres were the Society Comedy and the Play. From 1892 on, almost every year a new work of Oscar Wilde was published. The most famous ones are Lady Windermere’s Fan (1892), An Ideal Husband (1895) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895). Latter became Wilde’s masterpiece in which he satirized the upper-class. In 1891 Wilde met Lord Alfred Douglas, the son of the eighth Marquess of Queensbury. Even though he was fond of Douglas and vice versa, Wilde married Constance Lloyd in 1894. Soon afterwards their two sons, Cyril and Vyvyan, were born. Douglas father was livid over his son’s relationship and wanted to bring Wilde down. He accused him of being a sodomite. As a result, Wilde took legal action and sued the Marquess of Queensbury for libel. But the court decided in favour of the marquess. Oscar Wilde was arrested and jailed. During his time in prison, Wilde wrote a 30,000 word letter to Douglas, which was published after his death with the title De Profundis. After being released in May 18th 1897, Oscar Wilde left the country and travelled around Europe for the last three years of his life. In 1900, at the age of 46, Oscar Wilde died of cerebral meningitis in Paris. Shortly before his death he converted to the Roman Catholic Church, which he had long admired.