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.
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
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.
Mr. Wilde spoke many languages including Greek, English, German, French and Italian. Ironically, he couldn’t speak a word of Gaelic.
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.
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.
Despite never being divorced, Constance changed her and their sons’ last name form Wilde to Holland to avoid scandals.
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.
Zohar – Man of la Book
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Man of la Book
A father, husband, avid reader, blogger, software engineer & wood worker who is known the world over as a man of many interests and to his wife as “an idiot”.