By Chris Larrew Mon, November 30, 2009, 12:01 am PST

Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde: "The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about" It’s fun to imagine Oscar Wilde at a university today. Dandified in a lavender jacket with a green carnation in the buttonhole, he might hang out with the Art History or English majors. He would surely be disdainful of any on-campus PC movements which emphasized political art over beauty, and he would certainly dismiss as ugly the confessional poetry with which such poets as Sylvia Plath garnered fame. Oscar Wilde believed in the supremacy of aesthetics in art, in concealing the artist, and in art free from heavy-handed morality. After all, he declared that "a little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal." Wilde wrote "The Importance of Being Earnest," "A Woman of No Importance," and "The Picture of Dorian Gray," in which he deployed a refined (and at times savage) wit to expose the contradictions and behavior of modern manners. He considered himself a living representation of beauty in art: "I put all my genius into my life; I put only my talent into my works." In the spirit of sensuality and outrageousness, he played the provocateur to society's so-called moral watchdogs. Stuffy Victorian England put up with him for a time, until he pissed off the wrong person in power. He had a scandalous affair with Lord Alfred "Bosie" Douglas, whose father, the Marquis of Queensbury, made sure that Wilde was brought to trial, defamed, and convicted on charges of "gross indecency." Oscar Wilde spent two years at hard labor in prison in Reading. After he was released, he spent the last three years of his life in Paris, where he tried to recapture his former decadent lifestyle, but incarceration had snuffed his artistic spirit. Despite a deathbed burst of wit ("My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One or the other of us has to go"), he died penniless on November 30, 1900, and was interred at Pere-Lachaise Cemetery. Suggested Sites... Oscar Wilde - official site of a genius of brevity and wit. Aesthetic Movement - an overview of the history and philosophy of a influential movement. Oscar Wilde Quotes - quotes from the master. An Introduction to Victorian England - what Wilde was up against. The Ballad of Reading Gaol - Wilde's poem about the effect prison had upon him.

Directory categories: Oscar Wilde, 19th Century People, British Artists, Aesthetics, Literary Fiction

Archived under: 19th Century, Anniversaries, Authors, Biographies, Celebrities, Dead Celebrities, England, Gay History, LGBT, Legal Cases, Men, Oscar Wilde, Prison, United Kingdom, Writers

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