Richard Ellmann
Paperback | Pages: 736 pages Rating: 4.24 | 3131 Users | 152 Reviews
Particularize Based On Books Oscar Wilde
| Title | : | Oscar Wilde |
| Author | : | Richard Ellmann |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | First Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 736 pages |
| Published | : | November 5th 1988 by Vintage (first published 1987) |
| Categories | : | Biography. Nonfiction. History. Biography Memoir. Classics. Literature. Criticism. Literary Criticism |
Narrative Conducive To Books Oscar Wilde
Wilde had to live his life twice over, first in slow motion, then at top speed. During the first period he was a scapegrace, during the second a scapegoat. Richard Ellmann’s superlative bio ranks alongside the finest in the genre, with his earlier James Joyce volume already firmly in the pantheon. From Wilde’s unhumble beginnings as the son of two reputable writers, to his college days in the thrall of Ruskin and Pater, to his flowerings as a poet and spokesman for aestheticism, Ellmann presents the working Wilde, a complex contrarian and sneak-tongued snark, as he slowly becomes Wilde the Myth and Wilde the Wit. Parodied and pilloried since he first dared to lecture in knee-breeches, Wilde was always swatting enemies away and poking their hypocrarses, and as his career picked up traction, the vultures suppurated on the sidelines until the blood-axe dropped on the sweaty mattress of boneheaded bastard Bosie. Ellmann writes powerfully about Wilde’s trial and incarceration. The particularity of detail is breathtaking and presented always as a coherent, flowing and utterly captivating narrative, and when Wilde emerges from Reading into the beautiful and disgusting world, into a life of humiliation, penury, skin problems, loneliness, and separation in exile, you would need a heart of stone not to laugh at the preposterous imbecilities of the society Wilde was spoofing. The harsh brainless stupidity of Victorian England collapsed, and Wilde is remembered rightly as an avatar for truth, kindness, and zingy one-liners for every occasion. This fabulously exhaustive and definitive bio has the last word on Wilde, and since no one is ever likely to top it, is essential reading for all Oscarites.Details Books Concering Oscar Wilde
| Original Title: | Oscar Wilde |
| ISBN: | 0394759842 (ISBN13: 9780394759845) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Characters: | Oscar Wilde |
| Literary Awards: | Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography (1989), National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography/Autobiography (1988) |
Rating Based On Books Oscar Wilde
Ratings: 4.24 From 3131 Users | 152 ReviewsCrit Based On Books Oscar Wilde
this is one of my dearest treasures for the year 2008.what i have is actually a hardcover, picked at my 'used books' store for the price of my normal dinner at my favourite 'fast foods'. i couldnt believe it!!it's a great story about a great person. here is the most important thing about it: it is written with a subjective, condemning tone. and i felt the author should have surpassed the shadows of his subject's sexuality and other personality weaknesses, to simply objectively tell us theLady Wilde almost runs away with the first half of this dense, beautifully written biography that won Ellmann a Pulitzer prize. I agree with reviewers who commented that perhaps there was a bit too much detail for entry-level readers. The sheer competency of this treatment of Oscar Wilde's brilliant, sad and troubled life means that we may never get the kind of definitive work I'd like.Ellmann, writing to midcentury literary tastes, treats Wilde's sexuality too obliquely for young audiences
A wonderful biography of Wilde's life and everything that was happening to him while he wrote his many great works, like The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Importance of Being Earnest, as well as his short stories, like my favorite, The Happy Prince. I knew some facts surrounding his arrest and imprisonment before reading this but didn't know a lot, like how it started with his libel suit against his lover's father, the Marquess of Queensberry, so that was of particular interest, as was Wilde's
A 4 for the level of research but probably a 3 in overall enjoyment, this is a densely written and researched book, at times a bit overwhelming. Having read Wilde's stories and plays (skipping the poetry), I was aware of the broad outlines of his life but not much more (besides having stayed in a charming little hotel in Halifax, NS, where he had once stayed).It was difficult to keep track of the many friends and aquaintances as they appeared and reappeared through the book, but with such a
Better Book Title: "Dude, you really need to break up with that asshole."I've been an Oscar Wilde fan for many decades now, but I was always afraid to read this because it's THE DEFINITIVE BIG GIANT SCARY BIOGRAPHY on him. These kind of books always intimidate me, and until very recently I don't think I had the attention span it takes to take this one on. However, now that the world is spinning down a black hole of dystopian carnage, this book served as a welcome distraction! Instead of checking
Richard Ellman won the Pulitzer for his work on Oscar Wilde, and with good reason: it's not only the definitive look at the Irish poet, playwright, critic, and martyr, but it's also a ripping good read. Wilde was a movie star in a time before movies, a tabloid staple, and a constant bestseller, and Ellmann makes him -- and his work -- come alive. Following Wilde's rise to literary and theatrical fame, a series of colossally bad decisions lead to his imprisonment and disgrace -- another ending we
I am not, as I once claimed, Oscar Wilde. I lost the green coatthe one I wore to America, with tufts of fur falling out of the collar, with shapely cuffs. I lost the books (their dedications), shoes (the tipped ones, the ones you lace right up to your britches), and the shape of my wifes mouth when she said it, when she called my name, even that, even when I didnt come.And because I am not Oscar Wilde, because someones body is thinning in the dirt, I can still say this. Say, through this blue
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.