Fun Facts Friday: Oscar Wilde

October 16, 2020

Oscar Wilde ((16, October 1854 – 30, November 1900) was an Irish poet, social activist, and playwright, famous for his writings as he was lifestyle.

Fun Facts: Oscar Wilde
Books by Oscar Wilde*

  1. Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde was born in Dublin, Ireland. His place of birth now belongs to Trinity College Dublin and is known as the Oscar Wilde Centre of Trinity College.
  2. William Wilde, the author’s father was a leading surgeon and philanthropist, he was eventually knighted for his accomplishments. Jane Wilde, the author’s mother, came from a literary family and was a published poet, as well as an Irish nationalist.
  3. Mr. Wilde graduated from Trinity College, Dublin, and Magdalen College, Oxford.
  4. Even though we all think of Oscar Wilde as a writer, he only wrote one novel – The Picture of Dorian Gray. Despite being considered a classic today, when it was published The Picture of Dorian Gray recieved scathing reviews and accused Wilde of presenting a disgusting portrayal of high society, and slipping homoerotic themes
  5. The author had two children with his lifelong wife, Constance Lloyd, an accomplished writer herself. He was an accomplished and popular writer of children’s books.
  6. Mr. Wilde spoke many languages including Greek, English, German, French and Italian. Ironically, he couldn’t speak a word of Gaelic.
  7. At the age of 45 Mr. Wilde was convicted for sodomy and sent to Pentonville Prison, doing hard labor. The charges against him were brought on by Sir Alfred Douglas, father of John, his lover. In prison Mr. Wilde contracted meningitis which had a hand in his death.
  8. At the trial the jury couldn’t decide if Mr. Wilde was guilty or not and wanted to drop the case. The Solicitor General Frank Lockwood declined because he felt the case was overly politicized.
  9. Despite never being divorced, Constance changed her and their sons’ last name form Wilde to Holland to avoid scandals.
  10. Both of Mr. & Mrs. Wilde’s sons severed in World War I, Cyril, became a Captain in the Royal Field Artillery and died from the bullet of a German sniper. Vyvyan survived the war and become an author and translator.

Books by Oscar Wilde*

Zohar – Man of la Book
*Ama­zon links point to an affil­i­ate account

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