Oscar Wilde: A Certain Genius [Hardcover]

Barbara Belford (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0747550271 | ISBN-13: 978-0747550273 | Publication Date: August 2000 | Edition: First Edition

After William Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde is the most quoted of writers. His epigrams turned conventions upside down and are part of our cultural inheritance. His personality defined an era. Wilde's rise to prominence as a playwright of high comedy, and his ego-driven fall from grace continue to fascinate. In this book, Barbara Belford has written a new life of Wilde for a new generation of readers. Her Wilde is not the tragic figure, the martyr or the self-destructive fop. She sees his life not in terms of its tragic end, but as largely successful and joyous, and celebrates his work from that more cheerful prospect.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Why, readers may ask, yet another book about Oscar Wilde? "Because his life is a continual allegory," the author tells us in her introduction, "and his social, political, and artistic views, which went right to the heart of Victorian society, are no less threatening today." In contrast to earlier biographers like Hesketh Pearson and Richard Ellmann, Belford emphasizes the cultural context in which Wilde (1854-1900) operated as both shrewd self-publicist and provocateur. Researching previous biographies of Violet Hunt and Bram Stoker, Belford immersed herself in the florid atmosphere of London during the 1890s, the decade of Wilde's greatest fame and infamy, and she uses this knowledge to deepen our understanding of the writer's relationship with his times. In particular, the West End theater district comes to life as the scene of Wilde's greatest triumphs as a playwright (from Lady Windermere's Fan to The Importance of Being Earnest) as well as of his introduction to "a homosocial world that had existed since Elizabethan times." Victorian society could not tolerate Wilde's relatively open homosexuality, however, and two 1895 trials ended with his conviction on charges of "gross indecency." He served two years in prison and died three years after his release, exiled, poor, and alone. Yet Belford stresses not Wilde's tragedy but his triumph. To the end, he was a gaily subversive writer whose works "demonstrate the value of graciousness, charm, and wit" even as they assert "the right of art and language to shock, to undermine, and to unsettle." --Wendy Smith --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Wilde died on November 30, 1900Dthus the timing of this centenary biographyDand media attention to this anniversary could send people in to purchase this new bio of the outrageous but likable dramatist and wit. The standard life is by Richard Ellmann, published posthumously in 1987 and nearly twice as long as this one by Belford, biographer of Violet Hunt and Bram Stoker. Belford's major quarrel with Ellmann is whether Wilde at his death was suffering from the final indignities of syphilis acquired in his youth, but that controversy is not enough to make a case for this new biography. Belford's strategic strengthDsince few if any can compete with a masterly stylist such as EllmannDis to exploit Wilde's words whenever possible. She sees Wilde as evading overt homosexual conduct while building a reputation as satirist and social critic, and even marrying for what seemed like love. Yet leading an imaginary life, however obviously precious, was, she says, a tiring role he rejected for a bolder deception. At first his guilty parallel life was craftily reinvented in his writings, becoming the fulcrum of his comedies. When it surfaced, as was inevitable, so did his "intractable nature," and he made a public caseDin courtDfor the absolute freedom of the artist. It cost him two years of hard labor, his health and his career. Out of prison and in exile in France, he insisted, "I must remake my maimed life on my own lines," but by then his life was all but over. His wife was dead, his two sons lived under new surnames, and his plays had been pulled from the stage. Cerebral meningitis, whatever its origin, did Wilde in two weeks after his 46th birthday. With a penchant for overstatement ("Christ had his cult, and Wilde had his"), Belford claims, "Ellman wrote the tragedy of Wilde, not the life." Still, there is more life in what remains the standard biography of Wilde than in what Belford offers. Illus. not seen by PW. (Oct.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 394 pages
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Pub Ltd; First Edition edition (August 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0747550271
• ISBN-13: 978-0747550273
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,615,555 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars OSCAR WILDE: A CERTAIN GENIUS, October 3, 2000

By 

Miles M. Merwin (New York, New York USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Oscar Wilde: A Certain Genius (Hardcover)

OSCAR WILDE; A CERTAIN GENIUS, is a great read. Barbara Belford does an excellent job explaining Wilde's success and his self-destruction. Her book is filled with anecdotes about and insights into Wilde's brilliance and his impact on Britain in the last decades of the nineteenth century. OSCAR WILDE should appeal to those readers who want Oscar plain (if that's possible) as opposed to a footnote driven academic study. Enjoy.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Oscar for our times..., October 10, 2000

By 

"puppypokey" (Northcountry) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Oscar Wilde: A Certain Genius (Hardcover)

Every ten to twenty years there should be a new biography of Oscar Wilde.

This book is a good look at Oscar Wilde as seen and, perhaps, judged, from our times. Unlike older biographies, his social life is brought out much more.

The book is a good addition to any Wilde fan's library. Some uncommon anecdotes will be found.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Read About A Compelling Subject and His Times, December 19, 2000

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Oscar Wilde: A Certain Genius (Hardcover)

I have always loved to read about the life and times of Oscar Wilde. This book is a great read as it is concise (312 pages, to the point, and does not romanticize or canonize its subject. Oscar is presented to us in the words of the author as being full of life and full of himself. He could be charming, witty, intelligent, generous and insightful and on the other hand he was also at times petty, conceited, inconsiderate and self centered. You could imagine him laying in bed at night trying to come up with some witty epigram or saying to charm the public. That he succeeded more often then not refelects well on his intellect. Most importantly the author debunks the theory espoused by Richard Ellman and others that Oscar Wilde contracted syphillis at Oxford and his early death at the age of 46 was a result. Oscar never exhibited signs of syphilis and he died of cerebral meningitis due to a fall he had in prison. The myth of Wilde's syphilis was most probably created by his freind and former lover Robbie Ross in order to romanticize him.

The story of Wilde's downfall with his lawsuit agains the Marquis of Queensberry (preceded by his relationship with Queensberry's unworthy son Lord Alfred "Bosie" Doublas) is well documented. The intolerance and cruelty of the British is truly horrifying. Macauley once commented on "the English in one of their periodic fits of morality." Wilde could have and should have fled to France but it seems to me that he saw himself as a character in one of his plays albeit a Greek tragedy. The author also delves into the whole Dorian Gray saga as well as the classic Wilde comedies.

I thoroughly recommend this book for anyone interested in Oscar Wilde in particular or in Victorian England in general or anyone such as myself who is in love with the "romance" of that era which includes swirling fogs, hansom cabs, gaslit lamps, Cafe Royal society, Sherlock Holmes, Jack the Ripper, etc.

As an aside anyone visiting London who is interested in WIlde and his times should take London Walks "Oscar Wilde's London" walk given every Saturday morning. It is well worth it!