The Fall of the House of Wilde Oscar Wilde and His Family

Emer O'Sullivan

eBook - 2016

The first biography of Oscar Wilde that places him within the context of his family and social and historical milieu—a compelling volume that finally tells the whole story.It's widely known that Oscar Wilde was precociously intellectual, flamboyant, and hedonistic—but lesser so that he owed these characteristics to his parents. Oscar's mother, Lady Jane Wilde, rose to prominence as a political journalist, advocating a rebellion against colonialism in 1848. Proud, involved, and challenging, she opened a salon and was known as the most scintillating hostess of her day. She passed on her infectious delight in the art of living to Oscar, who drank it in greedily. His father, Sir William Wilde, was acutely conscious of injustices o...f the social order. He laid the foundations for the Celtic cultural renaissance in the belief that culture would establish a common ground between the privileged and the poor, Protestant and Catholic. But Sir William was also... more