Oscar Wilde He was born in Dublin on October 16, 1854, into a cultured and liberal family. His mother, Jane elgee, he translated Dumas and wrote verses; his father was a prominent ophthalmologist, fond of literature and famous for his adventures.
At age 20, Oscar win the Berkeley Gold Medal for his work in Greek on Greek poets and receives a five-year scholarship to study at the Magdalen College from Oxford. Also outstanding student of the Trinty College in his native Dublin, Wilde he finished his studies at Oxford. At age 24 he obtained the title of Bachelor of Arts.
Long before he made himself known as a writer, Oscar Wilde he had achieved great notoriety. In his youth he attracted attention for his refined personality and his elaborate clothing; for his brilliant and aggressive conversation; and for his intellectual agility, with which he puzzled, and even ridiculed, those around him.
From 1879 he decided to settle permanently in London and it was there where he began to produce his first successful works, such as “The happy Prince“, a volume of short stories, and his two best known novels:”The Crime of Lord Arthur Saville” Y “The Picture of Dorian Gray“works (especially the latter) that aroused the interest of critics and the public.
He also wrote for the theater, “Lady Windermer’s fan“(1892),”Salome“(1894) -which was censored for portraying biblical characters-, or”The importance of being called Ernesto“(1895), an amusing comedy that has been made into a movie on several occasions, the last of which was in the 2002 film of the same name (The importance of being called Ernesto), starring Colin firth Y Reese witherspoon.
His essays (“The decay of the lie“,”The truth of the masks“,”Pen, pencil and poison” Y “The artist critic“) and articles (like”Yankee impressions“,”The american invasion“,”Models in London” Y “Other radical ideas about costume reform“) were published in magazines in London, Dublin, New York and Paris and the plays were so successful that they were performed in theaters across Europe.
In 1882 Wilde settles in Paris. In the French capital, as in London, he became one of the great personalities of artistic and literary circles. This is where his first dramas ends: “Vera or the Nihilists“(1880) and”The Duchess of Padua“(1883). Again in England, he married in 1884 with Constance Lloyd. The union would be ephemeral since with the first pregnancy, the poet tires of his wife. Still, the couple had a second child.
1895 is a crucial year in the biography of Wilde, since it premieres “An ideal husband” Y “The Importance of being Ernesto“It is also then that he portrays it. Toulouse- Lautrec and when will you hear the last applause.
Towards the end of the same year, his career and his life as he knew it collapsed. Accused of sodomy by the father of a close friend of his, Wilde he is sentenced to two years of forced labor. During his stay in prison he would write a long letter entitled “By Profundis“, which would not be published in full until 1909, already posthumously.
Recovered his freedom, despised by English society, he settled in Berneval (France) until the death of his wife in 1898. From then on and under the name of Sebastian melmoth, traveled through Europe to end up settling in Paris, where he became ill with meningitis and died on November 30, 1900, accompanied by a few friends and in poverty.
Before dying, and in full use of his mental faculties, he entered the Catholic faith, receiving the baptismal waters.