Lately it seems I'm never happy with the length and level of detail of biographies. This one was a bit too long and detailed for me. I was curious about Wilde, but not to the degree that I wanted to read the letters he wrote his mother. I think I'd have enjoyed it more at 400 pages than 600. But this quibble is more about me than the book.

I didn't know much about Wilde. I hadn't read any of his poems and wasn't familiar with his plays and his other work. I probably learned what I knew about him from Monty Python skits. The book interested me enough to seek out a few of his plays.

My main take-away from the book is that love isn't just blind, it's stupid as well. Wilde was arguably a genius, but he allowed his love to destroy him utterly.

Wilde had to live his life twice over, first in slow motion, then at top speed. During the first period he was a scapegrace, during the second a scapegoat. Richard Ellmann’s superlative bio ranks alongside the finest in the genre, with his earlier James Joyce volume already firmly in the pantheon. From Wilde’s unhumble beginnings as the son of two reputable writers, to his college days in the thrall of Ruskin and Pater, to his flowerings as a poet and spokesman for aestheticism, Ellmann presents the working Wilde, a complex contrarian and sneak-tongued snark, as he slowly becomes Wilde the Myth and Wilde the Wit. Parodied and pilloried since he first dared to lecture in knee-breeches, Wilde was always swatting enemies away and poking their hypocrarses, and as his career picked up traction, the vultures suppurated on the sidelines until the blood-axe dropped on the sweaty mattress of boneheaded bastard Bosie. Ellmann writes powerfully about Wilde’s trial and incarceration. The particularity of detail is breathtaking and presented always as a coherent, flowing and utterly captivating narrative, and when Wilde emerges from Reading into the beautiful and disgusting world, into a life of humiliation, penury, skin problems, loneliness, and separation in exile, you would need a heart of stone not to laugh at the preposterous imbecilities of the society Wilde was spoofing. The harsh brainless stupidity of Victorian England collapsed, and Wilde is remembered rightly as an avatar for truth, kindness, and zingy one-liners for every occasion. This fabulously exhaustive and definitive bio has the last word on Wilde, and since no one is ever likely to top it, is essential reading for all Oscarites.

9.3 (456人评价) Oscar Wilde / Wordsworth Editions Ltd / 1999
在线阅读本书 De Profundis is Wilde's eloquent and bitter reproach from prison to his lover, Lord Alfred Douglas. He contrasts his behaviour with that of h...

Richard Ellmann's James Joyce is the greatest literary biography I've read. His Yeats bio is fine, also. And so is this. Though I knew the outlines of the story I was unprepared for how wild, how strange, and how tragic Wilde was. Ellmann's closing epilogue almost brought a tear to my eye.

A 4 for the level of research but probably a 3 in overall enjoyment, this is a densely written and researched book, at times a bit overwhelming. Having read Wilde's stories and plays (skipping the poetry), I was aware of the broad outlines of his life but not much more (besides having stayed in a charming little hotel in Halifax, NS, where he had once stayed).

It was difficult to keep track of the many friends and aquaintances as they appeared and reappeared through the book, but with such a busy, infamous and crowded life, that should only be expected. More importantly though, these people provided additional observations through their own letters and diaries that added veracity and perspective to various details throughout the book.

The author spent quite a bit of time, in the earlier parts of the book, discussing Wilde's aesthete philosophy which seemed to be somewhat malleable over time, but that could easily be my inability to completely grasp it, beyond thinking that much of it was tosh and impressed one could make a living spouting it. It seemed to be as much a fanciful creation as the stories scattered throughout the book that Wilde could seemingly create at a moment's notice.

About 1/2-way through the book I started googling "Oscar Wilde psychology" as it seemed that, beyond his brilliance, there seemed to be some serious trends and wondered if anyone had done any kind of assessment. And, while the author repeatedly mentioned Wilde's generosity etc., it seemed less driven by real affection and more tied to his desire to be admired/loved or to impress (less so his wife and children) although having a certain sentimentalism (a not uncommon Victorian trait). Shallow, egocentric, destructive, thoughtless, careless, irresponsible (to name only a few)- maybe some of these things were a part of the carefully constructed persona, maybe Wilde was the first genuine performance artist. If so, he paid dearly for it. I am tempted to read this book: http://www.sussex-academic.com/sa/tit...

Much of the destruction of Wilde he brought upon himself, living dangerously with his finances, with his choice of the people he associated with (the young panthers for example - one would have to be willfully blind to ignore the predatoriness) and, frankly, on whom he loved - the loathsome, and obviously mentally unstable, manipulative and abusive, Lord Alfred Douglas. This was a kind of Victorian "Sid and Nancy", and even without the imprisonment I can't see things ending well.

People make much of how many of his "friends" treated him during his imprisonment and after, certainly a tragedy and hypocritical in many cases, and yet, Wilde's need to be the centre of attention and applauded, suggests that many of these people were probably not really friends but the audience for which he played and sought approval. The fact that not a few of his close friends had become estranged some time before Wilde's incarceration (barring Whistler who was somewhat crazed himself) would suggest one of two things - either Wilde alienated his intimates through his behaviour/shallowness or even in the early days he gravitated to people who were shallow and ungrateful themselves.

A sad end and a sad ending, a waste and a tragedy.

Now seems a good time to go back and re-read the plays and stories to see if I can actually see the apparent underlying messages... and here I thought the Happy Prince was just another sentimental victorian story (I much prefer Saki's short stories, btw).

Wonderful detailed biography,

This is a very thorough biography, with lots of pictures, notes, etc. It definitely suited my purpose, which was to understand London during the 1890's, since Wilde is considered the person who defined the period. I understand from others that this is not the best biography of Wilde; there is one by Joseph Pearce that addresses the problems with Ellmann's take on Wilde.

Oscar Wilde is one of those literary figures from the past that always seems like he'd be more at home in a more modern era than the one that he lived in (in no small part because he was persecuted for his homosexuality, but also because his wit would work well in the TikTok era for sure). I'd read "The Picture of Dorian Gray" in college almost fifteen years ago and had caught The Smiths' allusion to him in "Cemetery Gates" ("Keats and Yeats are on your side/but Wilde is on mine") years earlier, when I got a copy of "The Queen Is Dead." But I didn't know a whole hell of a lot about him.

"Oscar Wilde" by Richard Ellmann fits the term "exhaustive biography" to a T, beginning with his origins and continuing up to his imprisonment, release from jail, and final sad years as an exile from England. In between, Wilde goes to college (the section on his activities at Oxford was enough to stop me reading for a few days because of how much was devoted to it; it's not that interesting, I think), becomes famous for being famous (or for personifying aestheticism), tours America, begins writing poetry and plays, and eventually has his big period of success as a playwright and novelist. But he has some profound demons due in no small part to his same-sex tendencies, at a time when such things were not just frowned upon but actually considered illegal (no matter if both participants were consensual). His relationship with Alfred Douglas, a spoiled son of royalty, is the catalyst for his ruin, as he challenges Douglas' father for libel and ultimately finds himself on trial for "gross and indecent acts." He serves a term in jail, and emerges as something of a broken man. His death in Paris in 1900, at the age of forty-six, cements his legend as a tragic martyr, but as Ellmann makes clear, there was always more to Wilde than that.

It's easy to look at the facile witticisms that Wilde became known for and dismiss his literary output, but Ellmann makes a compelling case that Wilde captured the hypocrisy of the late Victorian era and held up a mirror to his time that rendered much of the morality of those in charge as false. So, in many ways, he might have been of his time more than he'd be in ours, I suppose. But Wilde paid a huge price for his lifestyle, and because of that he earns our sympathies because, as Ellmann's writing continues on through the book, Wilde emerges as a complicated figure. Behind the poses that have, for so long, defined him, Wilde is actually a perceptive, kind man, undone by his passion for Douglas (truly an unworthy love for anyone as kind as Wilde) and his inability to conform to society's expectations.

Oscar Wilde gets a fantastic warts-and-all treatment here, showing that the warts are merely beauty marks in some ways; the man was more than just a good source of quotes (though he was that). This was a fun, fulfilling read.

Realized pretty soon after starting this that I didn't need to know everything about Oscar Wilde.

Wild life, didn't love it... Wouldn't want to hang out w him tbh...

Richard Ellman won the Pulitzer for his work on Oscar Wilde, and with good reason: it's not only the definitive look at the Irish poet, playwright, critic, and martyr, but it's also a ripping good read. Wilde was a movie star in a time before movies, a tabloid staple, and a constant bestseller, and Ellmann makes him -- and his work -- come alive.

Following Wilde's rise to literary and theatrical fame, a series of colossally bad decisions lead to his imprisonment and disgrace -- another ending we know is coming and want desperately for our subject to avoid. In Ellmann's capable hands -- especially as he traces the poet's final frustrating years -- Wilde emerges not so much a victim of Victorian morals but rather of his own ego and genius. And we're more than ready to forgive him for it.

(Reprinted from my website at brianjayjones.blogspot.com)

Quite good.

Literary biographer Richard Ellmann wrote the definitive account of the life of Oscar Wilde. Wilde was London’s bon vivant in the 1880’s and early 90’s more social commentator and dandy than accomplished artist. The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Importance of Being Earnest cemented him as a serious playwright. He had a genius for aphorisms and press coverage in both America and Great Britain, much of it supercilious to 21st century sensibilities. But his life took a tragic turn in a defamation suit that revealed his homosexual affair with Arthur Douglas whose father pursued Wilde relentlessly in court resulting in Wilde’s conviction of indecent behavior and two years of prison at hard labor. It broke Wilde utterly. Except for a prison essay De Profundis he never wrote again, becoming an ostracized nomad, destitute and depressed. His life served as an allegory for 19th c British hypocrisy in its mores, morals and harsh justice. He died a broken man in 1900.