Oscar Wilde A Life in Quotes Author:Barry Day The collected wit and wisdom of Oscar Wilde, linked to form a portrait of his life. — Oscar Wilde -- to many the greatest wit in the English language -- died in impoverished exile in Paris one hundred years ago. He died unsure whether his reputation as a genius -- the one thing that really mattered to him -- would survive his disgrace. ... more »; Yet today, he is possibly even more famous and admired than he was in his own lifetime -- in many ways, he remains an astonishingly modern figure.
Barry Day's affectionate tribute to Wilde tells the story of his life largely through his own scintillating words -- the progress from the brillant, youthful aesthete who mesmerised audiences, to the tragic outcast, destroyed by his own vanity and arrogance. The words of Wilde are derived from his published work, the more than one thousand letters that have survived, and from many reminiscences of Wilde. As Barry Day writes: 'In A Life in Quotes you will find the public Wilde polishing the verbal jewels that brought him fame but you will also hear the private Wilde struggling with words to make sense of a less than perfect world. The man who emerges is no less impressive as a literary figure but a whole lot more likeable as a human being than one had expected.« less