Who was Oscar Wilde?
Author Joseph Pearce will let you know! Most people are familiar with the brilliant Oscar Wilde in some way or another. His novels and plays such as The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Importance of Being Earnest are as popular today as when they were first published. Wilde’s wit and humor still entertain-but what of the man himself? For years Wilde has been a symbol for the gay rights movement. A flamboyant member of the late 19th century artistic society, he raised the ire of Victorian England. Eventually prosecuted for “gross indecency”, Wilde was jailed and forced into hard labor. Upon release he continued his writing in France and, on his deathbed, the ever-unpredictable Wilde converted to Catholicism and was baptized. Author Joseph Pearce maintains that Wilde’s conversion was the result of a lifelong attraction to the Catholic Church. In his new biography, The Unmasking of Oscar Wilde, Pearce documents the “wild” and fascinating story of a man who presented a bizarre façade to the
Have you read any of Oscar Wilde’s work? Did it make you want to know more about the author? Here is a brief biography to clue you in to the times he lived behind the laughs. Born in Dublin in 1854, Oscar Wilde was one of history’s most scandalous and controversial writers. Best known for his play, “The Importance of Being Earnest,”(1895), he had originally set out to be a great poet. Coming from a literary family, both of Wilde’s parents were writers, he attended Trinity College in Dublin from 1871-1874, and found early success as a poet. Later, at Oxford, he won the prestigious Newdigate Prize, in 1878, for his poem, “Ravenna.” While there his deepest influences came from John Ruskin and Walter Pater. Living in London, Wilde soon became the leader of a cult, preaching the gospel of “beauty.” This brought him the opportunity to travel throughout England and the Continent,lecturing. In 1882, he traveled to the U.S. for a tour, speaking about his “Esthetic Philosophy,” which encompasses
