Oscar Wilde
"Un po' di sincerità è pericolosa, ma molta
è assolutamente fatale."
"La coerenza è l'ultimo rifugio delle persone
prive d'immaginazione."
"Un uomo è alla
fine se stesso quando parla in prima persona. Datemi una maschera,
e vi dirò la verità."
Oscar Wilde
Dublino
1854 - Parigi 1900
"Every good man nowadays has
his disciples, and it is always Judas who writes
the biography" ("The Critic as Artist", Intentions
(1891))
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie
Wills Wilde was born in Dublin in 1845,
in a very important family. He studied at the
Trinity College. In Oxford he was immediately
attracted by the Aesthetic Movement; it was there
that he established his reputation of anticonformist,
wonderful entertainer and brilliant talker.
Then he moved to London in 1878 where he soon
became a familiar name in the literary world,
as much for his conversational skills as for his
writing. His first collection, Poems, was published
in 1881 shortly before he embarked on a one-year
lecture tour of North America. In 1884 he married
Constance Lloyd and they had two children; in
1891 he grew in importance and fame thanks to
his Picture of Dorian Gray.
After 1890 Wilde
had an inceasing success on stage with his comedies,
Lady Windermere’s Fan (1892), A
Woman of No Importance (1893), An Ideal
Husband (1895) and his masterpiece, The
Importance of Being Ernest.
When he was at the peak of his carrier he met
the Marquis of Queensbury, who had accused him
of a homosexual relationship with his son, Lord
Alfred Douglas. Wilde was arrested, tried and
sentenced to two years of hard labour. His financial
ruin was complete. His period in prison gave him
the inspiration for two of his greatest works,
which inevitably reflect a new more somber view
of life: The Ballad of Reading Gaol,
on the way prison changes man, and De
Profundis, a long autobiographical
letter reflecting on his change of fortunes and
the ironies of life and art.
After that he settled in France, adopting the
name of Sebastan Melmoth and in 1900
he died of meningitis.
