Oscar WIlde

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), Irish dramatist, poet, and author wrote the darkly sardonic Faustian themed The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891);

Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was born in Dublin on 16 October 1854. His father was a successful surgeon and his mother a writer and literary hostess. Wilde was educated at Trinity College, Dublin and Magdalen College, Oxford. While at Oxford, Wilde became involved in the aesthetic movement. After he graduated, he moved to London to pursue a literary career. His output was diverse. A first volume of his poetry was published in 1881 but as well as composing verse, he contributed to publications such as the 'Pall Mall Gazette', wrote fairy stories and published a novel 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' (1891). His greatest talent was for writing plays, and he produced a string of extremely popular comedies including 'Lady Windermere's Fan' (1892), 'An Ideal Husband (1895)' and 'The Importance of Being Earnest' (1895). 'Salomé' was performed in Paris in 1896. Drama and tragedy marred Wilde's private life. He married Constance Lloyd in 1884 and they had two sons, but in 1891 Wilde began an affair with Lord Alfred Douglas, nicknamed 'Bosie'. In April 1895, Wilde sued Bosie's father, the Marquis of Queensberry, for libel, after the Marquis has accused him of being homosexual. He spent the rest of his life in Europe, publishing 'The Ballad of Reading Gaol' in 1898. He died in Paris on 30 November 1900.

Works:The Canterville Ghost (1887)
The Happy Prince and Other Stories (1888, fairy tales) [6]
The Decay Of Lying (First published in 1889, republished in Intentions 1891)
Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories (1891)
Intentions (1891, critical dialogues and essays, comprising The Critic as Artist, The Decay of Lying, Pen, Pencil and Poison and The Truth of Masks)
The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891, Wilde's only novel)
A House of Pomegranates (1891, fairy tales)
The Soul of Man under Socialism (First published in the Pall Mall Gazette, 1891, first book publication 1904)
Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young (First published in the Oxford student magazine The Chameleon, December, 1894)
De Profundis (1905)
The Rise of Historical Criticism (published in incomplete form 1905 and completed form in 1908)
The Letters of Oscar Wilde (1960) Re-released in 2000, with letters uncovered since 1960, and new, detailed, footnotes by Merlin Holland.
Teleny or The Reverse of the Medal (Paris, 1893) has been attributed to Wilde, but was more likely a combined effort by a several of Wilde's friends, which he may have edited.