Oscar Wilde

Born

in Dublin, Ireland

October 16, 1854

Died

November 30, 1900

Website

http://www.cmgww.com/historic/wilde/

Genre

Theatre, Poetry, Fiction

Influences

Balzac, Walter Pater, Edgar Allan Poe, John Ruskin, Peter Kropotkin, L ...more

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Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish playwright, poet, and author of numerous short stories, and one novel. Known for his biting wit, and a plentitude of aphorisms, he became one of the most successful playwrights of the late Victorian era in London, and one of the greatest celebrities of his day. Several of his plays continue to be widely performed, especially The Importance of Being Earnest.

As the result of a widely covered series of trials, Wilde suffered a dramatic downfall and was imprisoned for two years hard labour after being convicted of "gross indecency" with other men. After Wilde was released from prison he set sail for Dieppe by the night ferry. He never returned to Ireland or Britain, and died in poverty.

Combine Editions
Oscar Wilde’s books

Average rating: 4.09 · 1,502,048 ratings · 49,424 reviews · 2,121 distinct works ? Similar authors

	The Picture of Dorian Gray 4.07 avg rating — 837,815 ratings — published 1890 — 3999 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Importance of Being Earnest 4.17 avg rating — 279,426 ratings — published 1895 — 1525 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Picture of Dorian Gray: A Graphic Novel by Oscar Wilde, Ian Edginton (Adaptor) , I.N.J. Culbard (Illustrator) 4.14 avg rating — 46,383 ratings — published 2009 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays by Oscar Wilde, Richard Allen Cave (Commentary) 4.25 avg rating — 45,595 ratings — published 1898 — 67 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	An Ideal Husband 4.04 avg rating — 34,548 ratings — published 1893 — 243 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde, Inga Moore (Illustrator) 3.89 avg rating — 36,901 ratings — published 1887 — 1141 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Happy Prince 4.22 avg rating — 24,075 ratings — published 1888 — 241 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Lady Windermere's Fan 3.91 avg rating — 17,312 ratings — published 1893 — 159 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Complete Works of Oscar Wilde by Oscar Wilde, Merlin Holland (Introduction) 4.45 avg rating — 19,182 ratings — published 1908 — 288 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Complete Fairy Tales 4.33 avg rating — 10,599 ratings — published 1891 — 20 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Oscar Wilde…

Jacqueline Woodson seems to have been born to be a writer. Even as a young child, she would write constantly.

Quotes by Oscar Wilde

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”
― Oscar Wilde

tags: attributed-no-source, be-yourself, honesty, inspirational, misattributed-oscar-wilde

146216 likes

“Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.”
― Oscar Wilde

tags: attributed-no-source, enemies, forgiveness, strategy

74818 likes

“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.”
― Oscar Wilde

tags: life

72770 likes

See all Oscar Wilde's quotes »

Polls

March 2016 Revisit the Shelf Reread Poll

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey, 325 pages, 1962

25 votes, 11.5%

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, 331 pages, 1911

21 votes, 9.6%

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, 277 pages, 1951

19 votes, 8.7%

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, 277 pages, 1953

17 votes, 7.8%

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, 254 pages, 1890

17 votes, 7.8%

1984 by George Orwell, 268 pages, 1949

15 votes, 6.9%

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, 200 pages, 1899

15 votes, 6.9%

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson, 146 pages, 1962

15 votes, 6.9%

Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier, 320 pages. 1935

14 votes, 6.4%

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, 453 pages, 1961

13 votes, 6.0%

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, 672 pages, 1960

11 votes, 5.0%

The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera, 320 pages, 1984

10 votes, 4.6%

The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, 786 pages, 1844

8 votes, 3.7%

Despair by Vladimir Nabokov, 212 pages, 1934

7 votes, 3.2%

Out of Africa by Karen Blixen, 399 pages, 1937

6 votes, 2.8%

Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne, 240 pages, 1984

5 votes, 2.3%

218 total votes

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