Oscar Wilde 1854 - 1900

Oscar Wilde 1854 - 1900

Wilde was born in Dublin, the son of an important surgeon in the city, and of a minor local poet, he was educated at an exclusive school and then went to Trinity College, Dublin before winning a scholarship to Magdalen College, Oxford.

At Oxford he was immediately attracted to the Aesthetic Movement, as it was elaborated by Walter Pater. The other major influence on him was the art historian and writer John Ruskin, one of his teachers at the university. Wilde quickly won a reputation as a brilliant conversationalist, affected dandy and an aesthete. The kind of insolent, extravagant wit that he cultivated at Oxford later characterised his style as a writer.

After graduating, Wilde moved to London. He assumed extravagant habits, in cloths and behaviour, in contrast with the Victorian background. In 1883 he married Constance Lloyd, who bore him two children, in 1885 and 1886; however, he soon tired of his marriage.

Wilde's first literary success came in 1890 with a novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, which was both an exhibition of extreme decadentism and a mystery story (as well as an autobiographical work). From 1890 to 1895 Wild embarked on a highly successful career as a writer if light comedies,

Wilde's social and literary success came to an abrupt end in 1895, when he was arrested and sent to prison with hard labour in Reading because of his homosexual relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas. His period in prison gave him the inspiration for two of his greatest works; The Ballad of Reading Gaol, on the way prison changes a man, and De Profundis, a long autobiographical letter reflecting on his change of fortunes and the ironies of life and art.

When Wilde left prison in 1897 went to France under the assumed name of Sebastian Melmoth. In Paris Wilde lived a miserable existence and died alone in a small hotel. He's buried in the same cemetery as Charles Baudelaire.

Texts:

● The Picture of Dorian Gray: The Preface

VICTORIAN ISSUES: ART AND SOCIAL CRITICISM

The central issue of the age was whether society was to be considered as a spiritual or a mechanical entity. Machines were felt to have changed not only the ways of production but also the ways of life. So many men of culture began to criticize industrialization and its changes.

The most formidable weapon against industrialization was thought to be art, and so it was used to ht the worse aspects of society. Victorian writers and thinkers made the art the ultimate test of all human activity. This was an extension of the Romantic concept of art as the sum of all human experience.