Author Biography

Oscar Wilde, or Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde, was born on 16th October 1854. He was the son of William Wilde (later knighted), a surgeon, and Jane Francesca Elgee, a writer who used the pseudonym Speranza. Wilde attended both Trinity College in Dublin and Oxford University, and later settled in London. He was an Irish poet and dramatist.

Wilde wrote many plays including, according to many critics, the best comedy play of the nineteenth century, the farce The Importance of Being Earnest. Wilde also wrote fairy stories, short stories and one novel.

Wilde was born in Dublin, but went to Oxford University, where he proved to be brilliant academically and gained a reputation for wit and flamboyance.  He visited Paris in 1883 and returned to the States for the opening of his first play.

Oscar Wilde got married in 1884 and had two sons, Cyril and Vyvyan Holland ,who were possibly, the inspiration for his first fairy tales.

Wilde was not afraid to shock society, which eventually had its revenge. He was imprisoned in 1895 for indecent behavior. While in prison, he was declared bankrupt and died shortly after his release, on 30th November 1900, most likely of meningitis.