Oscar Wilde

About this book

The book is a scholarly appreciation of Oscar Wilde, assembled by Robert Harborough Sherard and presented in a richly illustrated third edition. It opens with a meticulous note on textual emendations, hyphens, accent marks, and a few typographical fixes, followed by a formal frontispiece and a detailed contents list that divides Wilde’s oeuvre into eight parts, ranging from his early plays and “modern playwright” period to his poetry, fairy tales, and the philosophy of beauty. The first substantive chapter, “Oscar Wilde: The Man,” sets a tone of critical biography, tracing Wilde’s rise from aesthetic provocateur to celebrated dramatist, while acknowledging the shifting public perception after his downfall. The author promises a balanced view, drawing on contemporary commentary and personal analysis, and positions the work as a bridge between pure biography and literary criticism.

Written in the measured, formal prose of the early twentieth‑century, the text reflects the era’s reverence for scholarly rigor and its penchant for exhaustive footnotes and literary allusion. Its voice is that of an educated, slightly detached commentator who interweaves biographical detail with aesthetic theory. Readers who enjoy comprehensive studies of literary figures, particularly those interested in Victorian culture, the aesthetic movement, and the complex interplay between an artist’s life and work, will find this volume rewarding. It appeals to scholars, students of literary history, and general readers who appreciate a thorough, historically grounded portrait of Wilde without the sensationalism of modern biographies.