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Oscar Wilde

(1854—1900)

Irish playwright. Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was born in Dublin, on October 16, 1854. Died Paris 30 November, 1900. Educated at Trinity College Dublin and at Magdalen College, Oxford, gained atthe latter the reputationof founder of an aesthetic cult, which was caricatured in Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera, Patience.

Stage Works

1. Vera, or The Nihilists. Drama, prologue and 4 acts. Written 1880. Published 1880. Produced New York, Union Square Theatre, Aug. 20, 1883.
   
   
2. The Duchess of Padua. Tragedy, 4 acts. Written 1883. Published 1883. Produced New York, Broadway Theatre, Jan. 26, 1891.
   
   
3. Lady Windermere's Fan. Play about a moral woman, 4 acts. Published 1893. Produced London, St. James's Theatre, Feb. 20, 1892.
   
   
4. A Woman of No Importance. Comedy, 4 acts. Published 1894. Produced London, Haymarket Theatre, Apr. 19, 1893.
   
   
5. Salomé. Drama, 1 act; in French. Published 1893, in French; 1894, in an English translation by Lord Alfred Douglas. Produced Paris, Théâtre de l'Oeuvre, Feb. 11, 1896; London, Bijou Theatre, May 10, 1905.
   
   
6. A Florentine Tragedy. Tragedy, 1 act; verse. Written 1894? Published 1908. Produced London, King's Hall, Covent Garden (Literary Theatre Society), June 10, 1906.
   
   
7. An Ideal Husband. Drama, 4 acts. Published 1899. Produced Lon-don, Haymarket Theatre, Jan. 3, 1895.
   
   
8. The Importance of Being Earnest. Comedy, 3 acts. Published 1899. Produced London, St. James's Theatre, Feb. 14, 1895.

Criticism

• A. Gide, Oscar Wilde: A Study, Oxford, 1905;
• A. Ransome, Oscar Wilde, London, 1912;
• C. Kemahan, In Good Company, New York, 1917;
• A. Douglas, Oscar Wilde: A Summing-up, London, 1940;
• F. Winwar, Oscar Wilde and the Yellow Nineties, New York, 1940;
• H. Pearson, Oscar Wilde: His Life and Wit, New York, 1946;
• J. E. Agate, Oscar Wilde and the Theatre, London, 1947;
• E. Roditi, Oscar Wilde, Norfolk, Conn., 1947;
• St. John Ervine, Oscar Wilde, New York, 1952;
• F. Harris, Oscar Wilde, reprint, New York, 1960;
• V. Holland, Oscar Wilde: A Pictorial Biography, New York, 1960;
• H. Montgomery Hyde, Famous Trials, Seventh Series:
• Oscar Wilde, new ed., Baltimore, 1962;
• G. Wilson Knight, The Christian Renaissance, rev. ed., London, 1962;
• The Letters of Oscar Wilde, ed. by R. Hart-Davis, New York, 1962;
• H. Montgomery Hyde, Oscar Wilde: The Aftermath, New York, 1963;
• M. MacLiammóir, The Importance of Being Oscar, Chester Springs, Pa., 1963;
• Wilde and the Nineties, ed. by C. Ryskamp, Princeton, N.J., 1966;
• L. Lewis and H. J. Smith, Oscar Wilde Discovers America, 1882, New York, 1967;
• E. San Juan, Jr., The Art of Oscar Wilde, Princeton, N.J., 1967;
• R. Ellmann, ed., Oscar Wilde: A Collection of Critical Essays, Englewood Cliffs, 1969;
• R. Shewan, Oscar Wilde: Art and Egotism, London, 1977.