Oscar Wilde (1987)

by Richard Ellmann

Richard Ellman's fascinating biography follows Wilde from his beginnings as a brilliant student to his tragic end, when he haunted European locales that had delighted him in better times like a living ghost.

 

Richard Ellmann

The early part of the book is the least interesting.

 

Wilde was one of the first useless celebrities--figures who gain notoriety simply because something odd or appealing about them keeps them in the public eye apart from any actual talent (although Wilde was, by all accounts, an excellent speaker).

 

Ellman's analysis of Wilde's aestheticism is, I suppose, essential to a complete understanding of the man, but since the matters to which Wilde devoted so much of his energy were so frivolous and trivial, it doesn't make for a very good read.

 

"Oscar Wilde" (French)

Later, though, Wilde demonstrates his talent with the publication of "The Picture of Dorian Gray" and his successful plays, and the biography picks up as well.

 

"Oscar Wilde" (Italian)

Wilde becomes a truly tragic figure by the end, ruined by his love for Lord Alfred Douglas, hounded by Douglas's father the Marquis of Queensberry, imprisoned, and finally betrayed and forgotten by most of his former friends.

 

"Oscar Wilde" (Greek)

For all his wit and insight, Wilde emerges as a curiously naïve character and basically a good man, kind and trusting to a fault.

"Oscar Wilde" (Russian)