“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”
Oscar Wilde
When Oscar Wilde was alive, he never would have imagined that his work would be considered one of the most treasured legacies of mankind. In his mind, his writings were simply a way to continue living in the bourgeoise style he so loved. Few people can walk in his footsteps and it is clear that this Irish writer holds a coveted place in the English canon. While other great authors slaved away perfecting the art of novel writing, Wilde found means of expression through different disciplines, from short stories and poems to plays and essays, and clearly, in each one, he was able to voice his passion. Even though he only wrote one novel, it is lauded as a masterpiece.
“I really don’t see anything romantic in proposing. It is very romantic to be in love. But there is nothing romantic about a definite proposal. Why, one may be accepted. One usually is, I believe. Then the excitement is all over. The very essence of romance is uncertainty. If ever I get married, I’ll certainly try to forget the fact.”
With his acerbic wit, endless passion, aphorisms, paradoxes, and ironies, Wilde changed the world forever. Irony has become the weapon of choice for many comedians and maybe, if it wasn’t for Wilde this may have never happened. We employ the same tools a man perfected in the nineteenth century, which is a testament to his absolute genius. It is to be expected that his texts are charged with irony and and intellectual edge that if you really wish to sumerge yourself in his work, you must have an open mind and be willing to understand every subtle nuance in his texts.
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The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890)
“Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming. This is a fault. Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated. For these there is hope. They are the elect to whom beautiful things mean only Beauty. There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.”
― Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
A man is beautifully portrayed on canvas and the perfection is such that he yearns to look that way forever. Enraged by the fact that he will never be as young and handsome as the man on the painting, he sells his soul for eternal youth. As the moral compass of Dorian Gray begins to stray, he remains beautiful, but the painting starts to change, showing his true essence.
This is Oscar Wilde’s only novel and each sentence luxuriates in the aesthetics. Paper is the canvas Wilde wields and each page of the novel is a work in itself. A novel that contemplates and reimagines the things we find beautiful in life. As he expresses in the work, “The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.”
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The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)
“The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what Fiction means.” ― Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest
Oscar Wilde’s most important play and the work that took him to the pinnacle of success. As he rose higher and higher, his fall from grace became greater. Despite the applause and recognition, his reputation was torn to pieces when it was discovered he was gay, and was forced to exile in France. Just as he led a double life, the play revolves around mistaken identities, secret engagements, and lovers entanglements. Behind the acerbic wit and comedy that are delivered with masterful one liners, “If you are not too long, I will wait for you all my life,” the play examines and critiques the establishment but above all the marriage institution, which Oscar Wilde seemed to truly abhor.
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The Canterville Ghost (1887)
“We have really everything in common with America nowadays, except, of course, language.” ― Oscar Wilde, The Canterville Ghost
Horror stories usually have mystery in abundance and terrifying parts that cover the body with goosebumps. Oscar Wilde was well aware of this style, which is why The Canterville Ghost is not your run of the mill ghost story, where the phantom frightens or attempts at every turn to massacre the new inhabitants of the haunted mansion. Instead, we see an American family move into a British mansion, much to the annoyance of a tired ghost. The tale, like many of Wilde’s, is rich with allusions, on the one hand, it is a commentary on British aristocracy, and on the other, it is a story that questions our reasons for living and what happens after we die. “Death must be so beautiful. To lie in the soft brown earth, with the grasses waving above one’s head, and listen to silence,” he expresses.
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De profundis (1897)
“The most terrible thing about it is not that it breaks one’s heart—hearts are made to be broken—but that it turns one’s heart to stone.”― Oscar Wilde, De Profundis
One of the most honest and poignant texts of the literary world. Wilde was condemned for sodomy and this epistolary text is dedicated to his lover, Lord Alfred Douglas. Wilde’s letter is sweet and contemplative. It invites you to think about the power and price of love and how it leads you to behave in a certain way. Even now, after hundreds of years, we feel protective and enraged on his behalf that he had to be punished for his personal decisions. Without a doubt, the trials and tribulations in life led him to create one of the most brilliant works of universal literature.
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The Nightingale and the Rose (1888)
“Love is wiser than Philosophy, though she is wise, and mightier than Power, though he is mighty. Flame-coloured are his wings, and coloured like flame is his body. His lips are sweet as honey, and his breath is like frankincense.”
The story of a young man painfully in love and who must provide his lover with a red rose to win her heart. A nightingale hears his plight and filled with sorrow decides to help him. She journeys through the night, seeking the perfect bush, but it has no roses to offer; however, there is one way to make a rose, and its consequences will be grave and heartbreaking. This heart wrenching story of love and Wilde’s cynical take on it will remain with you for a long time.
