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Oscar Wilde Collection

COLLECTION DESCRIPTION | COLLECTION HISTORY | MAJOR SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

The words spoken by Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) just after his graduation from Oxford University were to be even more prophetic than even he could have imagined. Within his short but brilliant career, the Anglo-Irish writer managed to establish himself as a recognized lecturer on the aesthetic movement, as a journalist and social critic, and as the successful editor of Woman's World, a London periodical. In all he did, Wilde's personality as a wit and dandy bubbled to the surface and drew attention to himself, his work and his ideas.

It was for his poetry that Wilde first achieved critical acclaim. While at Oxford, his poem "Ravenna" won the Newdigate Prize for poetry. After graduation, Wilde continued to publish in literary periodicals. A collection entitled simply Poems was published in 1881. The Sphinx (1894) and The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898) were the major poetry titles to be published during his lifetime. In 1882 he turned his attention to spreading the word on the merits of aestheticism, as expounded by Walter Pater and John Ruskin. After a successful lecture tour through North America, Wilde returned to London and Paris literary circles and to living the "aesthetic" life.

To support his young family, Wilde took on the editorship of Woman's World in 1887 and held the post for two years. During this period he also began to write and publish short fiction. The Happy Prince and Other Stories (1888) was his first collection. In 1890, his novella The Picture of Dorian Gray was serialized. An expanded version of the powerful work was published in book form the following year. Indeed 1891 was a very productive year as Wilde also published another volume of short stories, Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Tales; a volume of criticism, Intentions; and his controversial polemic, The Soul of Man Under Socialism. He also wrote a poetic drama, Salome, which caught the attention of the censors and was banned before it could be performed.

It was in writing plays that Wilde found the most successful vehicle for his creative energies and flair. In the next four years Wilde wrote four extremely popular and successful plays: Lady Windermere's Fan (1892); A Woman of No Importance (1893); An Ideal Husband (1895); and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895). At the height of his fame, Wilde's career came crashing down when he was brought to trial for sodomy, found guilty, and sentenced to two years in prison. In prison he wrote "The Ballad of Reading Gaol," which appeared in an abbreviated form in 1898 and served to close the notorious phase of his life. It also was the end of a brief but brilliant writing career. On his release from prison, Wilde fled to Paris where he died in 1900.