The Picture of Dorian Gray

Oscar Wilde was born on October 16, 1854, in Dublin. His mother was a writer, his father a surgeon. Wilde studied classical philology in Dublin and Oxford. Already as a student he was enthusiastic about the ideals of Aestheticism, religiously putting into practice the extension of the cult of beauty to all aspects of life. He acquired a reputation for his eccentric looks, sporting long hair and exquisite clothes. In 1879, he moved to London, taught aesthetics there and quickly moved up the ranks into high society. In 1884, he married the wealthy and well-educated Constance Lloyd, who gave birth to their sons Cyril and Vyvyan in 1885 and 1886. Around this time, he began to actively pursue his homosexuality. After writing poetry, essays and fairy tales, he published his only novel in 1891, the scandalous The Picture of Dorian Gray. With the theater play Lady Windermere’s Fan, he established himself as an acclaimed author of sparkling wit and sharp intellect, in spite of Victorian reservations about his “immorality.” Wilde consolidated his reputation in the years following with the plays A Woman of No Importance, An Ideal Husband, and The Importance of Being Earnest. Then he was undone by his long-term relationship with the young snob Lord Alfred Douglas. Wilde was sentenced to a two-year prison term on the grounds of sodomy and gross indecency. While in jail he wrote De Profundis, a two-part letter to Douglas about their relationship and its aftereffects. He lived his last years in relative poverty on the European continent, supported by friends. Before his death in Paris on November 30, 1900, he published only The Ballad of Reading Gaol, a long poem about the experience of his imprisonment.