Reading the Classics #13: Oscar Wilde

Recently I saw an article on the news. It was saying that a "temple" had just been built for Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), an early writer and homosexual. The temple was commemorating his life and was filled with statues of him and stained-glass paintings and also celebrated the LGBTQ+ movement. This is just another example of why it's good to know these classics; that way, you know who Oscar Wilde was. That's why this blog post is about him.

To start off, here's what I've read of his works. They're The Picture of Dorian Grey, The Importance of Being Earnest, and Lord Arthur Savile's Crime.

1. The Picture of Dorian Grey

2. Lord Arthur Savile's Crime

3. The Importance of Being Earnest

The Picture of Dorian Grey is a startling look at the human heart (metaphorically, not physically), and I found the combination of philosophy and story absolutely great. By the far the best of Oscar Wilde (Or at least based off of his works that I've read). The story is rather dark, just warning you. I don't know why, but I seem to really enjoy dark stories. Weird.

Anyway, Lord Arthur Savile's Crime is, as you can deduct, about a crime. It's a short story, and it is also dark (Me and these dark stories). It was worth reading, especially since it's short enough that you can easily finish it in half an hour.

The Importance of Being Earnest was written as a play, and it was ok. It is funny, and not at all dark (Probably why I didn't like it as much as the others 😉). In short, it's a good read. 

Now, let's talk a bit about Oscar Wilde himself. He was an interesting guy. He was Irish and grew up in Dublin. He wrote many poems besides novels and short stories. He also had a secret homosexual affair with Lord Alfred Douglas, but when he decided for some reason to have Douglas's father tried for homosexuality (It was a crime back in the 1800s), the plan backfired and Wilde was himself arrested on the same charges. He spent two years in jail, during which he wrote his famous letter De Profundis, and died shortly after he was released. I literally just noticed that that's also a dark story.

Well thank you for reading. I hope you enjoy it and are able to read these great stories soon.

1726- Gulliver's Travels

1729- A Modest Proposal

1811- Sense and Sensibility

1813- Pride and Prejudice

1814- Mansfield Park

1815- Emma

1817- Sanditon

1818- Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, Frankenstein

1819- Rip van Winkle

1820- The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

1836-1837- The Pickwick Papers

1837- Oliver Twist

1843- A Christmas Carol

1849-David Copperfield

1854- Hard Times

1855- Little Dorrit

1859- A Tale of Two Cities

1864- Great Expectations

1887- A Study in Scarlet

1891- Lord Arthur Savile's Crime, The Picture of Dorian Grey

1895- The Importance of Being Earnest

1897- Dracula

1902- The Hound of the Baskervilles

1904- Peter Pan

1905- The Scarlet Pimpernel 

1906- Sir Nigel

1910- The Phantom of the Opera

1945- Animal Farm

1949- 1984

1957- The Cat in the Hat