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"I'll be a poet, a writer, a dramatist. Somehow or
other I'll be famous, and if not famous, I'll be notorious." As it turned out, both fame and infamy befriended Oscar Wilde from the second he flirted with fashionable Victorian society. This Irishman, who was adopted by the English, was at first fêted solely for his overt, flamboyant nature and the scintillating, quick banter with which he regaled his audience – leaving the writer beneath the frills and gaiety too often forgotten. His genius as a raconteur and coiner of epigrams alternately rocked and shocked London's literary luminaries, long before he found success as a poet and writer. Then, at the peak of his career, Wilde's private life came under intense scrutiny, and the society that had adored and courted this remarkable man, tragically, turned against him. Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde began his life in Dublin on 16th October, 1854. He was the second of three children born to Sir William Ralph Wills Wilde, a prominent eye surgeon, scholar and noted archaeologist; and Lady Jane Wilde (neé Elgee), celebrated contributor of fiery nationalistic articles for the radical newspaper, The Nation, hostess of an influential Dublin salon and an ardent feminist. Oscar was blessed by a happy, laid-back childhood. Pampered and loved by both his talented, albeit eccentric, parents, it was his mother whom he worshipped and who was to nurture his creativity as he grew into adulthood. Educated in Portora Royal, a public school near Enniskillen, Oscar had a natural affinity for the classics and excelled in his Greek studies. He went on to earn himself the Berkeley Gold Medal for Greek at Trinity College, Dublin, and he won a scholarship to Magdalen College in Oxford shortly after his twentieth birthday. Wilde declared "I was the happiest man in the world when I entered Magdalen for the first time." It was throughout his four year idyll at Oxford that Oscar took his first sips from the cup of notoriety, as word spread rapidly from don to don that in their midst stood a gifted conversationalist but an eccentric dresser. Wilde left Oxford in 1878 boasting a double first and the coveted Newdigate Prize for English poetry, for his poem Ravenna. London was calling and so this brilliant young scholar and dandy wasted no time in flinging himself unashamedly into its limelight. Oscar became the most quoted man in London and quickly earned himself a reputation amongst the literati for his ascerbic wit, intellect and audacity. Wilde was not renowned for being a handsome man, rather he was bulky and overgrown in stature at six feet, three inches. Indeed, one Lady Colin Campbell, who despised him, referred to him rather unkindly as "the great white caterpillar." Variously described as slack-jowled, thick-lipped and colourless with his hair either lank or coiffed into an excessive mass of curls atop his head, perhaps this explained Oscar's penchant for dressing to shock. He donned "frothy" clothes unbefitting a Victorian gentleman's wardrobe – Byronesque shirts, rich velvet coats and knee-breeches, stockings, floppy neckties and buckled shoes. This fascinating man gained social acclaim in record time, receiving countless invitations from the most influential members of society. His epigrams and mannerisms soon became the subject of savage satire in Punch magazine and a play entitled The Colonel, but it was through Gilbert and Sullivan's comic operetta, Patience, that Oscar was most derisively characterised. Wilde, though, remained impassive, in fact his ego was boosted even further by the widespread notoriety he gained. Luckily for Wilde, the play's success saved him from penury, and when the producers chose to take the production across the Atlantic, Oscar was invited to explain The Principles of Aestheticism to the American classes. On Christmas Eve 1881, he duly set sail for the New World. On his arrival on 2nd January, 1882, a customs official asked Oscar, "Have you anything to declare?" "I have nothing to declare except my genius!" was Wilde's prompt riposte. It was this quick wit which netted Oscar a great deal of publicity, turning the lecture tour into a phenomenal success. Over fifty personal appearances and twelve months later, Wilde had become both a household name across the United States and financially secure. Oscar returned to London for a short time before moving to Paris – his first love and third home – where he wrote his commissioned play, The Duchess of Padua. When the American actress Mary Anderson turned it down, Wilde joked to his friend Robert Sherard, "Pity, my dear Robert, we shan't be dining with the Duchess tonight!" This unsuccessful play was one of just a few works penned by Wilde in Paris. Whilst the city did nothing to inspire a prolific writing spree, it did help Oscar forge important acquaintances with Parisian Bohemians such as Victor Hugo, André Gide, Edgar Degas and Emile Zola. Back in London in May 1883, Wilde's poor finances once again forced him, begrudgingly, to continue his lecture tour. For five and a half months he preached to the English about The House Beautiful, The Value of Art in Modern Life, and Personal Impressions of America, endearing his audience with his unsurpassed humour. November in Dublin is where Oscar met and fell for the stunning Constance Mary Lloyd who attended his lectures frequently. They married on 29th May, 1884, had two sons, Cyril and Vyvyan, and set up home in Tite Street, in Chelsea, in a house known as "The House Beautiful" filled with exquisite works of art. Once more, Wilde's financial situation forced him to tour and thereafter to become the book reviewer for the Pall Mall Gazette. In June of 1887, Oscar became the editor of The Lady's World, retitling the publication The Woman's World. Soon bored with his new post, he retired in 1889. He became irked, too, by family life and disillusioned with marriage. Wilde's reputation as a prominent writer is due to the wide-ranging works he produced around this era, between 1888 and 1895. They included The Happy Prince, one of many enchanting fairy tales, his only novel – the shocking and satirical The Picture of Dorian Gray, and the theatrical masterpiece, The Importance of Being Earnest. By 1895, Oscar saw two of his plays running in the West End of London and his bank balance increasing with dramatic effect. He had reached the pinnacle of his career. Unfortunately for Oscar, misfortune lurked just around the corner. His close relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas, or "Bosie" as he was affectionately known, led to his ruin in the Wilde versus Queensberry case and subsequent two-year imprisonment in Pentonville and Reading Jails. The horror and depravity of life behind bars broke Oscar's spirit and spurred him to write a personal and intensely moving letter, De Profundis ("from the depths"), to Lord Alfred; laying the blame of his downfall on his "dear boy". Upon his release from Reading Jail a century ago on 19th May, 1897, Wilde sailed for Dieppe, France, never to return to his adopted homeland. He lived out the remainder of his life in exile, sick, broken-hearted and ruined. Even Constance wanted nothing more to do with him; she had divorced him, changed her name and refused him access to his sons. Ironically, it was whilst he was in France that Oscar wrote his last and finest poem, The Ballad of Reading Gaol. But heavy drinking and crippling illness soon got the better of him. "I put all my genius into my life", he had once quipped, "I only put my talent into my writings." Similarly, to the paper on the wall of his bedroom in a little hotel in the Rue des Beaux-Arts, he delivered his final epigram, "It is killing me. One of us has to go." And go he did, dying from cerebral meningitis on 30th November, 1900, aged forty six. He is buried at Bagneux in France. Love him or loathe him, beneath his many guises Oscar Wilde was undoubtedly a brilliant raconteur, a storehouse of repartee and a literary genius whose notoriety, he'd be pleased to learn, will be making lasting impressions on future generations for a long time to come. The Published Works of Oscar Wilde
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