The Exquisite Life of Oscar Wilde [Paperback]

Stephen Calloway (Author), David Colvin (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Welcome Rain (August 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 156649074X
• ISBN-13: 978-1566490740
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 9.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,407,013 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful book about the life of England's greatest author., August 7, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Atlanta, Georgia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Exquisite Life of Oscar Wilde (Paperback)

The book itself is nicely done. It has a lot of interestingpictures and facts. It is a must for anybody who is even mildlyinterested in Wilde. A wonderful account of his life, complete with quotes and photos.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars OSCAR WILDE'S LIFE IN PHOTOS & ILLUSTRATIONS, January 2, 2007

By 

Possum-Bread (Pasadena, California) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The exquisite life of Oscar Wilde (Hardcover)

Oscar Wilde was a frequently photographed celebrity in the Victorian era and this book makes use of both his famous photos as well as previously unpublished photos. Illustrations include contemporary drawings, editorial cartoons and photocopies of records from Wilde's lifetime. The book includes a concise 112 page narrative that provides interesting details from Wilde's successful writing career, private life, tragic fall, trial, imprisonment and exile.

Celebrated first as a gifted poet and writer, he was also a perceptive critic and political thinker. Today, however, his fame rests mainly on his novel of decadence, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and the popular play The Importance of Being Earnest. From his first notoriety in the 1880s when he carried the message of the aesthetic movement to America, and through to the height of his fame as a wit raconteur in the dizzy social whirl of London in the early 1890s, he had the world at his feet. But then it all went tragically wrong: following his love-affair with 'Bosie', the young and aristocratic Lord Alfred Douglas, Wilde was persecuted by Douglas's, father, the Marquess of Queensberry, was put on trial for homosexual offenses, and sentenced to two years imprisonment in Reading Gaol. He spent the last, tragic years of his life in France, supported by a handful of loyal friends, but shunned by those who had courted him in the days of his glory.

I recommend this book for fans of Oscar Wilde's poetry and prose. It is a great alternative to the stuffy 1,000 page-plus biographies currently in print. The book is over-sized with a tasteful layout. The photos and illustrations alone are worth the price of the book. Although it is now out of print, you can still obtain beautiful used hardcover copies from Amazon and other online vendors.

3 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A nice book about an interesting, superficial man, November 26, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Exquisite Life of Oscar Wilde (Paperback)

This book is nicely done - lots of pictures and illustrations, with a narrative that moves well, and is plenty comprehensive - Wilde was an in interesting man, but - like Truman Capote - a superficial thing. One doesn't need more detail than this book offers.