by Oscar Wilde

Born in Dublin in 1854, Oscar Wilde was the son of the distinguished surgeon Sir William Wilde and of Jane Francesca Elgee, a feminist and ardent proponent of Irish nationalism. After studying classics at Trinity College, Dublin, Wilde won a scholarship to Oxford University, where he earned a reputation as a brilliant scholar. After his graduation in 1878, Wilde took up residence in London, where he soon established himself as a writer and leader of a new aesthetic movement that championed “art for art’s sake” and promoted the works of contemporary French poets and critics. Witty, outspoken, and flamboyant, Wilde enjoyed great success as a spokesman for aestheticism in both England and America; he also attracted considerable notoriety—in 1881, Sir William Schwenk Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan poked fun at Wilde and aestheticism in their comic opera, Patience...