Oscar Wilde : A Certain Genius

by Barbara Belford

After William Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) is the most quoted of writers. His epigrams turned conventions upside down and are part of our cultural inheritance. His personality defined an era. His popularity as a wit, a dramatist and an icon continues to grow. One hundred years after Wilde's death, he remains entertaining and outlandish, talking about everything and nothing. Wilde's rise to prominence as an unparalleled playwright of high comedy, and his ego-driven fall from grace continue to fascinate. His life, famous trial and his death were played out in the full glare of the public's gaze. Barbara Belford's Wilde is for a new generation of readers: not the tragic figure, the martyr, the self-destructive fop. Instead Belford explores his sexuality in a more relaxed manner than previous biographers, she opens up the gaps between the facts to portray Oscar Wilde in all his complexity, genius and humanity.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, LGBT, History, Biography Memoir

Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Juliana · Rating 5 out of 5]

i holed up in my room reading this and everything oscar wilde had ever written...and then rereading.

[Kara Jorgensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really fantastic view into the life of Oscar Wilde, but what I love about it is that Belford focuses on those in his circle as well. At times, the biggest influences are the satellites in orbit around the main body. Seeing Wilde out of the usual vacuum deepened my understanding of his life, personality, and choices. A key feature of Belford's narrative is her unflinching view of his homosexual/bisexual life. Many past biographers refused to delve into something that shaped him so deeply, and perhaps it is merely due to the times but I'm grateful for her willingness to see the human side of Wilde instead of viewing his behavior as merely vice. My only issue was that it was hard to keep track of when things happened simultaneously in his life. The book is not written chronologically (thankfully), but I almost wish there was a timeline for easy reference that laid out his literary works, historical events, and major social/biographical events.
If you're looking for a very, very well researched biography on Oscar Wilde that delves into multiple facets and views of his life, this one is for you.

[Rozonda · Rating 5 out of 5]

To me it is THE BIOGRAPHY. Serious, well documented and very deep and readable at the same time, I have yet to read a better biography of Wilde.

[montserrat · Rating 2 out of 5]

This dragged on forever. I mean, yeah I wanted to know a little more about Oscar Wilde, but I couldn't care less whether or not there was a bloody fig tree in the courtyard of that hotel he stayed in that one time.

[Kristine Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inspiratsiooni lugemiseks sain Iirimaa sellesuviselt kirjandusreisilt. Wilde koos James Joyce’i ja William Butler Yeatsiga kuulub iiri kirjanduse kuldsesse kolmikusse. Dublinis nägime Wilde’i monumenti Merrion Square’il, mille ääres asub maja, kus ta veetis oma lapsepõlve. Biograafia oli põhjalik, aga üsna raskesti loetav, kuna fakte ja nimesid oli nii tihedalt. Faktiderohkus kippus varjutama Wilde’i inimesena. Nii elegantse ja särava isiksuse elulugu oleks võinud olla ka natuke säravamalt kirja pandud. Palju oli tsitaate Wilde’i kaasaegsete kirjadest, samuti Wilde’i teostest, kuid mida Wilde ise mõtles, mida tundis, see pool jäi minu jaoks mõistatuseks. Hoopis rohkem meeldis mulle film “Õnnelik prints” Wilde’i viimastest eluaastatest pärast vanglat paguluses. Filmis oli Wilde’i kujutatud suure sümpaatia ja kaasaelamisega.

[P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-written biography that manages to capture the 'genius' of Wilde. As an author Wilde has always intrigued me. His stories for children are wonderfully rich in both morals and strangeness. Belford takes us through the different and often unique moments of his life that made him the writer that he was.

The most interesting parts would have to be his extraordinary romantic life. Belford paints the portrait of a very brave man with a rare gift for exquisite witticisms. She manages to capture the flamboyancy of Wilde, as well as his more domestic moments with his children.

[Marsha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it!! Highly recommended.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

she borrowed a lot from richard ellman, so if you dont have time to read him, this is a good one. so basically, richard ellman cliff notes. but pretty well written anyway. but there was just one small annoyance with me. she took quotes from letters, etc. and used them out of context, to fit her own ideas and theories. and....she quotes constance wilde saying she wanted OW to take her back to hear the mockingbirds sing. WHAT??? totally screwed the quote and the context. mockingbirds?? she's talking about sex, you moron! (steps off soapbox)

[Rosecasanova · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned a lot about Oscar Wilde through this reading. I feel like this book gave me some perspective about the man, his choices and his writings. I thoroughly enjoyed Belford's analysis and her passion that seemed to permeate from the pages. I have a new and very different respect for Oscar Wilde. If he were alive today, he would be the king of social media, oh wait, he is the king of social media!

[J-bats · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a great biography though much of that is not due to the writing of Barbara Belford. The book is pretty long and at points definitly felt long and also contained alot of unoriginal material about Wilde's life. Familiar ground was simply retracked by Belford, the book gets three stars simply because the ground retracked has such an astonishing, iconic personality.

[Evan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written and exceedingly interesting. What a biography should be. What a fascinating ego.

[Kimberly Farr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oscar Wilde, I love anything and everything about him, so naturally this book is pretty great!

[Brendan · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️ This book felt--to quote another review--"clunky" at times. Interestingly Belford begins the book criticizing previous works on Wilde's life for skirting meaningful discussion of his sexuality. However, with phrases describing Wilde and those within his circle as "practicing homosexuals," one comes away feeling Belford is no more comfortable than her predecessors in this realm. The book goes to great lengths to discuss Wilde's artistic contemporaries. However, for someone new to Wilde and the arts scene of the late 1800s, it comes across as name-dropping, without greater context. Lastly, and most unfortunate in my opinion, the book lacked the measure of a truly great biography, in that I came away feeling I had no better idea of what drove Wilde and made him tick, than I did going into the book. With this said, I did learn about Wilde, and found Belford's book more approachable than Ellman's tome.

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to find THE Wilde biography, but I'm not sure I did, and may never do so since I learned as much about him as I want at this point. Was he really a "genius?" Hard to say, and with one novel and two/three really great plays and lots of funny aphorisms, I'm not sure why he is known as such. Certainly, he was a "celebrity" of his time, and seemed to put much effort into cultivating that image. Certainly he was an intellectual, and seemingly a terrific conversationalist. But I finished this bio concluding that he was actually a very unhappy and pathetic man, tragically born before his time. The author does a terrific job of describing just how difficult it was to be a homosexual in Britain during that time. His life was so sad.

[Kitty Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid rote facts, but I had some extremely strong reactions to some of the author's literary interpretations (the fact that she badly misquotes an early passage of "The Picture of Dorian Gray" 17 pages into her book set me off on a bad foot, I think) as well as her discussions of queer culture in the 19th century. However, her emphatic, evidence-supported rebuttal of Ellmann's syphilis obsession (a running theme in his "gold standard" biography) was a welcome change.

[Line · Rating 3 out of 5]

so this book more than proves that i'm not made for non-fiction, i think. but I did learn some things from it, namely gay culture has not changed much, "back in the day" there were just as many gay people as today, and, Oscar Wilde is totally not who I previously thought he was, but somehow i like this version better?

[Paul Cool · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oscar Wilde was a complex and captivating fellow. Highly educated, even more intelligent, he wrote poetry, essays, dramatic and comedic plays, prose fiction, fairy tales, and it seems a good hunk of Bartlett's Quotations. He possessed "a certain genius" for observing and capturing with extraordinary literary talent the foibles of society. A giving, charitable man known for raking others over the coals in good humored fashion. Unfortunately for himself and for our desire for a lengthier, less incomplete literary career, he had immense flaws. Not the least of these was self-destructiveness, exhibited in his inability to shake off Bosie, his carelessness with his wife and sons, and a determined hedonism that would not wash in Victorian London. I don't know that any biographer can completely capture the enigma of Oscar. Belford does a good job of tying together his life, his relationships and his apparent sexuality with the themes of his literary output and his aphorisms. A good read of a fascinating life. Belongs on the same shelf with Ellman.

[Todd Stockslager · Rating 3 out of 5]

Certainly Wilde, but I'm not so sure about the genius part. Can you make a career of aphorisms such as the one I just coined, and a flamboyantly public homosexual lifestyle? Wilde did, with a thin body of respected writing (The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Importance of Being Earnest) veneered over the celebrity of the personality.

In fact, Wilde's enduring work may be his creation of the celebrity culture, where one can become famous and known merely for their existence.

Reviewing Belford's biography on its merits, it appears to be honest, although a subject like this is so subject to careful editing and editorializing to steer it in a desired direction that judging factuality is difficult, and is passably well written.

[Terri Durling · Rating 3 out of 5]

He was ahead of his time and paid a heavy price for it living in a time that did not accept homosexuality. He was flamboyant and unconventional but so interesting that people sought his company. The book does a good job of telling the story of his life from beginning to end and all that happens in between. I skimmed over a good part of it but only because I have so many other books on the go. I wish I had had more time to read it slowly to get a better picture of what made him tick.

[Suzy Ruskin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay I only really skimmed this title, but Oscar Wilde's life is fascinating stuff.

[Mechi Margalot · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gran biografia de OW