What do you think?
Rate this book
Oscariana. Wilde secondo Wilde
Questa non è una qualunque raccolta di aforismi.
Pubblicata per la prima volta nel 1895 da Arthur Humphreys – direttore della storica libreria londinese Hatchards e amico di Oscar Wilde –, è l’unica di mano dello scrittore. Una prima selezione era stata concepita da Constance, la moglie di Wilde, ma quest’ultimo, non del tutto soddisfatto, decise di rivederla per intero. Il risultato è una autobiografia intellettuale sui generis in cui citazioni provenienti dal Ritratto di Dorian Gray, dai testi teatrali e dai saggi ci restituiscono il genio, l’ironia e l’intelligenza mordace dell’autore irlandese.
«Mi piacciono le persone più dei principi,
e mi piacciono le persone senza principi
più di qualsiasi altra cosa al mondo»
Pubblicata per la prima volta nel 1895 da Arthur Humphreys – direttore della storica libreria londinese Hatchards e amico di Oscar Wilde –, è l’unica di mano dello scrittore. Una prima selezione era stata concepita da Constance, la moglie di Wilde, ma quest’ultimo, non del tutto soddisfatto, decise di rivederla per intero. Il risultato è una autobiografia intellettuale sui generis in cui citazioni provenienti dal Ritratto di Dorian Gray, dai testi teatrali e dai saggi ci restituiscono il genio, l’ironia e l’intelligenza mordace dell’autore irlandese.
«Mi piacciono le persone più dei principi,
e mi piacciono le persone senza principi
più di qualsiasi altra cosa al mondo»
- GenresNonfiction
82 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1895
About the author
Oscar Wilde
5,869 books40k followersOscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is best remembered for his epigrams and plays, his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, and his criminal conviction for gross indecency for homosexual acts.
Wilde's parents were Anglo-Irish intellectuals in Dublin. In his youth, Wilde learned to speak fluent French and German. At university, he read Greats; he demonstrated himself to be an exceptional classicist, first at Trinity College Dublin, then at Magdalen College, Oxford. He became associated with the emerging philosophy of aestheticism, led by two of his tutors, Walter Pater and John Ruskin. After university, Wilde moved to London into fashionable cultural and social circles.
Wilde tried his hand at various literary activities: he wrote a play, published a book of poems, lectured in the United States and Canada on "The English Renaissance" in art and interior decoration, and then returned to London where he lectured on his American travels and wrote reviews for various periodicals. Known for his biting wit, flamboyant dress and glittering conversational skill, Wilde became one of the best-known personalities of his day. At the turn of the 1890s, he refined his ideas about the supremacy of art in a series of dialogues and essays, and incorporated themes of decadence, duplicity, and beauty into what would be his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890). Wilde returned to drama, writing Salome (1891) in French while in Paris, but it was refused a licence for England due to an absolute prohibition on the portrayal of Biblical subjects on the English stage. Undiscouraged, Wilde produced four society comedies in the early 1890s, which made him one of the most successful playwrights of late-Victorian London.
At the height of his fame and success, while An Ideal Husband (1895) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) were still being performed in London, Wilde issued a civil writ against John Sholto Douglas, the 9th Marquess of Queensberry for criminal libel. The Marquess was the father of Wilde's lover, Lord Alfred Douglas. The libel hearings unearthed evidence that caused Wilde to drop his charges and led to his own arrest and criminal prosecution for gross indecency with other males. The jury was unable to reach a verdict and so a retrial was ordered. In the second trial Wilde was convicted and sentenced to two years' hard labour, the maximum penalty, and was jailed from 1895 to 1897. During his last year in prison he wrote De Profundis (published posthumously in abridged form in 1905), a long letter that discusses his spiritual journey through his trials and is a dark counterpoint to his earlier philosophy of pleasure. On the day of his release, he caught the overnight steamer to France, never to return to Britain or Ireland. In France and Italy, he wrote his last work, The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898), a long poem commemorating the harsh rhythms of prison life.
Wilde's parents were Anglo-Irish intellectuals in Dublin. In his youth, Wilde learned to speak fluent French and German. At university, he read Greats; he demonstrated himself to be an exceptional classicist, first at Trinity College Dublin, then at Magdalen College, Oxford. He became associated with the emerging philosophy of aestheticism, led by two of his tutors, Walter Pater and John Ruskin. After university, Wilde moved to London into fashionable cultural and social circles.
Wilde tried his hand at various literary activities: he wrote a play, published a book of poems, lectured in the United States and Canada on "The English Renaissance" in art and interior decoration, and then returned to London where he lectured on his American travels and wrote reviews for various periodicals. Known for his biting wit, flamboyant dress and glittering conversational skill, Wilde became one of the best-known personalities of his day. At the turn of the 1890s, he refined his ideas about the supremacy of art in a series of dialogues and essays, and incorporated themes of decadence, duplicity, and beauty into what would be his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890). Wilde returned to drama, writing Salome (1891) in French while in Paris, but it was refused a licence for England due to an absolute prohibition on the portrayal of Biblical subjects on the English stage. Undiscouraged, Wilde produced four society comedies in the early 1890s, which made him one of the most successful playwrights of late-Victorian London.
At the height of his fame and success, while An Ideal Husband (1895) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) were still being performed in London, Wilde issued a civil writ against John Sholto Douglas, the 9th Marquess of Queensberry for criminal libel. The Marquess was the father of Wilde's lover, Lord Alfred Douglas. The libel hearings unearthed evidence that caused Wilde to drop his charges and led to his own arrest and criminal prosecution for gross indecency with other males. The jury was unable to reach a verdict and so a retrial was ordered. In the second trial Wilde was convicted and sentenced to two years' hard labour, the maximum penalty, and was jailed from 1895 to 1897. During his last year in prison he wrote De Profundis (published posthumously in abridged form in 1905), a long letter that discusses his spiritual journey through his trials and is a dark counterpoint to his earlier philosophy of pleasure. On the day of his release, he caught the overnight steamer to France, never to return to Britain or Ireland. In France and Italy, he wrote his last work, The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898), a long poem commemorating the harsh rhythms of prison life.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 30, 2010
The quotes in this book are arranged by source, such as "The Importance of Being Ernest" or a particular essay. While Wilde's quotes are readily available on internet lists and elsewhere, this slim volume has some quotes that I hadn't run across before. There's no padding whatsoever -- no introductory essay or response to the quotes, simply the quotes themselves.
Read
July 31, 2019Love my socialist buddy
December 28, 2021
Very interesting (and challenging) quotes. Very well written! Although I don't agree with all of them as they appear, I do believe that in order to better understand them, you might need to read the whole texts. All in all, I had a feeling of satisfaction while I was reading it and I will surely go back to it again.
April 30, 2026
Made me lol
May 18, 2016
This little collection shows that Oscar Wilde was far more serious than people like to remember him. It presents many gems condensed into a line or two out of his books and plays. Yet those gems still need context to fully be appreciated, and so it is really an introduction to the greater works of a man who placed himself both in the centre of things and at the cutting, in the most intellectual way possible, edge.
January 21, 2013
This book has just become my favorite! Everyone should read it, though not everyone would understand its sheer brilliance.
December 27, 2019
Oscar Wilde is kind of a dirtbag, which I appreciated.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews