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| 2/14/1895 |
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Wilde, Earnest, Disaster
On this day in 1895 Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest opened in London. Wilde called his play a "Trivial Comedy for Serious People," and the opening night reviewers concurred: "There is no discordant note of seriousness. It is of nonsense all compact, and better nonsense, I think, our stage has not seen." For Wilde himself, it was the beginning of the end. |
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| 4/24/1891 |
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Oscar Wilde and Dorian Gray
On this day in 1891 Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray was published. The novel caused an uproar for "its effeminate frivolity, its studied insincerity, its theatrical cynicism, its tawdry mysticism, its flippant philosophizing, its contaminating trail of garish vulgarity, "but it sold well, making Wilde the focus of even more debate and finger-pointing. |
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| 10/16/1854 |
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Wilde, Mother & Son
On this day in 1854 Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin, and by all accounts, including Oscar's, cut from his mother's cloth: "How ridiculous of you to suppose that anyone, least of all my dear mother, would christen me 'plain Oscar'.... I started as Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde. All but two of the five names have already been thrown overboard. Soon I shall discard another and be known simply as 'The Wilde' or 'The Oscar.'" |
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| 11/30/1900 |
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Oscar Wilde
Even at Oxford Oscar Wilde was a legend -- for his white lilies, his lavish Sunday entertainments, his line, "I am finding it harder and harder to live up to my blue china." The levity and self-mockery in the remark are hard to miss, but not impossible: from the pulpit, a local Anglican minister declared Wilde "a form of heathenism which it is our bounden duty to fight against and crush out, if possible." |
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| 12/24/1881 |
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Wilde in America read it now!
On this day in 1881 Oscar Wilde embarked for America and a year-long lecture tour on such topics as "The House Beautiful." He may or may not have told passengers that "the roaring ocean does not roar," or told a customs agent that "I have nothing to declare except my genius," though the captain apparently did express regret at not having had Wilde "lashed to the bowsprit on the windward side." But this was just the beginning.... |
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Neurotic Poets - Oscar Wilde
This biographical essay examines Wilde's rise to fame as a wit, poet, and expert on art and aesthetics, his lecture tour of the United States, and the increasing flamboyance which would ultimately lead to his downfall. Also explored is the role of the Marquis of Queensbury (and his son, Lord Alfred Douglas) in Wilde's imprisonment on charges of homosexual conduct. |  | The Oscar Wilde Collection
Find electronic texts in HTML and downloadable PDF format of short stories, prose and poetry, and plays. Available works include The Selfish Giant, The Ballad of Reading Gaol, The Portrait of Dorian Gray, The Importance of Being Earnest, Salomé, and A Florentine Tragedy. | | The Oscar Wilde Homepage
Offers a short biography and chronological timeline of life achievements, bibliography, selected quotations, and photographs. | |
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The TinL masthead features photography by
Natasha D'Schommer
, and the book art featured is by Jim Rosenau.
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