Oscar Wilde: The Importance of Being Irish

by Davis Coakley, Martin Holland

Book by Coakley, Davis, Holland, Martin

Genres: Biography, History

246 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1996

Reviews

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the few years of studying Oscar Wilde I have come to think of him as a kaleidoscope the canon of literature. It has been over a hundred years since his death, and he is as sought after as he was in the prime of his life. It is ironic considering the dire circumstances in which he was left at the time of his death. Today however his legacy lives on in literature, movies, plays, and even the courtroom. With so many different ways of looking at Wilde, Coakley has picked the one few remember, and that is Wilde's irishness. Wilde's infamous lifestyle and fame in London has molded his legacy into an Anglo, and not Irish one. Cokley diffuses the angolizing of Wilde and presents Him as a true Irishmen. Throughout his whole life Wilde never lost sight of his irishness. Not only did he come from two famous Irish parents- his mother was a famous Irish poet and revolutionary and his father a famous ear and eye surgeon and writer of Irish folklore- but his work was perfumed with an Irish subtext that chipped away at the deep seeded traditions of the British upper classes. By looking at Wilde's life through an Irish lens, Coakley gets to the heart of an Oscar Wilde few have seen before. Coakley's research is impressive, and his biography never waivers. While Ellman's work has become the standard Wilde biography, Coakley's is just as impressive and important in understanding the many layers of this fascinating Victorian dandy.