He put all his genius into his life, and only put his talents into his works. Oscar Wilde.
J'ai mis tout mon genie dans ma vie; je n'ai mis que mon talent dans mes oeuvres. :)

Wilde was full of moral paradoxes, none better than The Importance of Being Earnest.
Way ahead of his time and unafraid and unabashed, Wilde was completely on another level.

A huge literary figure during Victorian times, Wilde was flamboyant exploring themes such as morality, beauty, social hypocrisy and even perhaps homosexuality.

I love his sharp wit. Love Wilde, yes i do.

Watched the movie with Stephen Fry about "the trial" and was intrigued to find out more. I was told this book is more suitable as a reference text than a biography to be read from cover to cover, but stuck with it through the early chapters which are heavy on "the classics" and " aestheticism" which went right over my realist head. Hence 4 out of 5 for my rating. I was not disappointed, however, as the book is jam packed full of quotes, anecdotes and encounters which truly brought to life the iconic character of Wilde. Meanwhile, I read The Picture of Dorian Gray, some short stories, poems, letters and essays to complement what I can fondly describe as "my Oscar Wilde season". It took me that long to read this massive, thorough book! High points of interest were Oscar's tour of the States, his relationship with "Bosie", "the trial", Oscar's incarceration, his ostracisation from high society, and his demise and death. I was almost disappointed to reach the end, as by the time I read of his end, it was like I had lost an old friend, or at least a character I would love to hate being charmed by. Whatever opinion one might have of his "guilt" or otherwise, Wilde's story represents a relevant chronicle of Victorian attitudes, the beginnings of gay pride and prison reform. His is truly a story of our time. If you have more than a passing interest in Wilde, detailed biography or Victorian society, and have the time to commit to this book, I would recommend it. Be warned, it is certainly not light reading. Oh, and I had a slight advantage and got even more pleasure out of it because I could read the french quotes, although most are translated in footnotes.

So beautifully written and what a poignant and nuanced portrait of the man himself

This is such an impressive and well-researched biography and a beautiful account of Wilde’s life, but unfortunately it just got a bit too detailed at times which made it difficult to follow

‘I have lived. Yes, I have lived. I drank the sweet, I drank the bitter, and I found the bitterness in the sweetness and the sweetness in the bitterness.’

Se amate questo scrittore, non potete assolutissimamente perdervi questa biografia. Sappiate che quando avrete voltato l'ultima pagina, saprete quasi quante volte andava in bagno Mr. Wilde. Il lavoro svolto da Ellmann, infatti, è certosino e accurato, oltre ad aver coperto quasi un ventennio della sua vita.

Detto questo, sappiate che ho impiegato due settimane circa per costringermi a continuare la lettura dal momento che ho letto Lord Douglas. Voi vi chiederete che bisogno ne avessi mai, visto che anche le pietre conoscono per sommi capi le vicende della vita di Wilde. Be', credetemi, non sono mai stata tanto felice di essermi presa del tempo prima di proseguire una lettura. Il fatto è che passa un oceano tra “sapere la biografia per sommi capi” e “conoscere lo strazio che è stato inflitto a quest'uomo”. E dire che ho anche letto il De Profundis. Non si può dire che non fossi preparata (e, infatti, ho optato per prendere fiato prima di sapere).

Il punto è che è difficile oggi non percepire come orribilmente ingiusta la pena inflitta a Wilde, con tutto ciò che ne è seguito. Come per il massacro degli indios nelle Americhe o per la persecuzione dei cristiani nell'antica Roma, la nostra mente ha ben chiaro quanto sia stato sbagliato (o almeno lo è per quelle menti lontane da una particolare forma di stupidità). Questo, infatti, induce Ellmann a commentare, a chiusa della biografia, che Oscar Wilde è più un uomo del nostro tempo che dell'epoca vittoriana.

He belongs to our world more than to Victoria’s. Now, beyond the reach of scandal, his best writings validated by time, he comes before us still, a towering figure, laughing and weeping, with parables and paradoxes, so generous, so amusing, and so right.

Oggi non troveremmo niente di sbagliato nel pretendere che la società ci accetti per come siamo e si vergogni della propria ipocrisia, e anche Wilde era di questo avviso.

He asked it to tolerate aberrations from the norm, such as homosexuality, to give up its hypocrisy both by recognizing social facts and by acknowledging that its principles were based upon hatred rather than love, leading to privation of personality as of art.

Ma la società vittoriana inglese non aveva nessuna intenzione di cedere alla richiesta di Wilde, e sappiamo come è andata a finire. È davvero straziante leggerlo nero su bianco, sia i terribili anni della prigionia (quando malattia e malnutrizione erano scambiati per pigrizia e riluttanza al dovere), sia l'esilio (che a Wilde in alcuni momenti sembrò peggiore dello stesso carcere, quando molti che erano stati suoi amici si voltavano dall'altra parte se lo incrociavano per strada).

His stubbornness, his courage, and his gallantry also kept him there. He had always met adversity head on, to face hostile journalists, moralistic reviewers, and canting, ranting fathers. A man so concerned with his image disdained to think of himself as a fugitive, skulking in dark corners instead of lording it in the limelight. He preferred to be a great figure, doomed by fate and the unjust laws of a foreign country.

The move took place on 21 November, and proved to be the single most humiliating experience of Wilde’s prison life. Handcuffed and in prison clothing, he had to wait on the platform at Clapham Junction from two to half past two on a rainy afternoon. A crowd formed, first laughing and then jeering at him. One man recognized that this was Oscar Wilde, and spat at him. ‘For a year after that was done to me,’ Wilde wrote in De Profundis, ‘I wept every day at the same hour and for the same space of time.’

One warder was assigned to cut his hair, which at Wandsworth had been allowed to grow out a little. ‘Must it be cut?’ asked Wilde, with tears in his eyes; ‘you don’t know what it means to me.’ It was cut.

‘Why do you not write now?’ she asked. ‘Because I have written all there was to write. I wrote when I did not know life, now that I know the meaning of life, I have no more to write.’ Then, less penitently, he said, ‘I have found my soul. I was happy in prison because I found my soul.’ Anna de Brémont felt close to tears, but they had reached the pier, and he said, ‘Contessa, don’t sorrow for me,’ and left her.

A pretty good bio on Wilde. I don't know an insane amount on Wilde's personal life, so I can't state how accurate it is in regards to timeline, but I am going to assume that it is pretty accurate considering his substantial research.

WAS LONG BUT LIKE WHAT BIO ISNT.

No doubt that Oscar Wilde was a tortured genius, but he was also a narcissist and egotist, and in the end that may have contributed to his spectacular downfall. Well, that and Lord Alfred Douglas. This book is sympathetic to Wilde without pandering or making him to be grossly misunderstood. Worthwhile.

A laborious read. I couldn’t finish it. The author sucks all the interest out of Wilde’s life. He mucks up his story with over-reaching, unnecessary words. I’m sorry I bought this.

This biography is like, "Hey, so you enjoy Oscar Wilde - I bet you want to know all about his family, college pals and minute details of his life before he did anything you know him for!" Not really: snooze. Did not finish

I finally finished it and although it took me a year to read it, I finally did it. Now, this comment is representative of the fact that it is slow-going, but that mustn't deter any future readers and fans of Oscar Wilde. It took me so long because I was reading a hard copy and these days I find Ebooks much easier to navigate. Oscar Wilde by Richard Ellmann is a very detailed biography which brings out Wilde's enormous generosity and his boundless intellect. Wilde lived a life of tremendous fame and he was a phenomenon before he had produced anything significant. The end, however, is riddled with black infamy. The years in prison, the disgrace that followed, the exile in Paris broke the man. The people he had made, those he had befriended now evaded him like the plague. Certain incidents where Wilde is outright ignored left me very sorrowful. Wilde, the film, has brought out the generosity of his spirit but failed to do justice to his intellect. The years in prison were tough, involving hard labour, a life marred by disease, but it was life to come, one of impecuniosity, and without friends which tears at you. Wilde lived by his principles, and although he could've avoided the lawsuit which was his ruin, he didn't. Then he could've escaped to France and avoided prison but he faced it head on. He was a work of art fully deserving of the adoration he receives today. His life is one of sensation but it doesn't detract from his contribution to aestheticism. A life well written, this, and a must read for Wilde fans.

He was a great man and wrote great stories (The Picture of Dorian Grey, The Happy Prince) and great poetry (The Ballad of Reading Gaol). He was grossly mistreated by his generation, even imprisoned, because of his gay preferences, a persecution GK Chesterton condemned. Yet his faith in a hearted Jesus far outshone the heartless and punitive faith of his persecutors.

I am Ellen. Do you want to take a look into one of the greatest English writer’s life? Then read “Oscar Wilde” by Richard Ellmann. It is a biography. This book not just includes every detail an outsider can think about Wilde’s life but also information and stories of his family members and friends. There is so much information to a point that I wonder Wilde himself won’t be able to remember this much. I personally enjoyed reading this book because Wilde did live an interesting life, though the length of it may be a bit annoying. So if you are interested in Oscar Wilde or need to do a project on him like I did then I will recommend this book to you.