Here are ten interesting facts about Oscar Wilde:
1. Wilde was born with three middle names. His full name is “Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde” born in Dublin in 1854.
2.
His mother, Jane Wilde was a successful poet and Irish nationalist
whose pen name was “Sperenza." His father was also an author but more
well known for his work as an oto-ophthalmologic and being knighted for
his work as an assistant commissioner to the censuses of Ireland.
3.
Wilde is an impressive linguist. Home schooled, he was taught French
and German and also had working knowledge of Italian and Ancient Greek.
4.
Wilde, adding “lecturer” to his array of talents, embarked on a tour of
America in 1882 and held talks on a wide variety of subjects from “The
English Renaissance” to “Decorative Art.”
5.
Wilde married Constance Lloyd on May 29, 1884 and had two sons, Cyril
and Vyvyan. Cyril fought and died in World War I in the Battle of
Festubert in France where he is buried. Vyvyav changed his last name to
Holland, like his mother, after his father’s imprisonment and went on to
become a translator for the BBC and author of the autobiography 'Son of
Oscar Wilde' (1954). Vyvyans son and Wilde’s grandson, Merlin Holland,
published the Oscar Wilde biography 'A Portrait of Oscar Wilde' (2008).
6. Though thought of as an author, he only published one novel, The Portait of Dorian Gray (1891).
7.
He was an advocate of socialism and in his only political essay 'The
Soul of Man under Socialism' (1891) Wilde expounds an anarchist
philosophy.
8. Before his death due to cerebral meningitis he was conditionally baptized in the Catholic Church.
9. Oscar Wilde’s last words were “My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One or other of us has got to go.”
10.
His famous tomb was designed by Sir Jacob Epstein, whose ashes were
placed alongside Wilde in the structure in 1950 per his request. The
Angel statue adorning the tomb was originally installed with male
genitalia which has since been vandalized.
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