Editing Oscar Wilde (section)

== Biographies ==
{{Main|Biographies of Oscar Wilde}}
[[File:A Conversation With Oscar Wilde - London - 240404.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=A low rectangular public monument, with a bust of Wilde's face built into one raised end, at the other at seat that one straddles to experience being in conversation with Wilde.|''[[A Conversation with Oscar Wilde]]''&nbsp;– a civic monument to Wilde by [[Maggi Hambling]], on Adelaide Street, near [[Trafalgar Square]], London. It contains the inscription, "We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars".<ref>{{cite web |date=30 November 1998 |title=London's Wilde tribute |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/224663.stm |access-date=24 November 2020 |publisher=[[BBC News]] |archive-date=21 May 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180521030832/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/224663.stm |url-status=live}}</ref>]]

Wilde's life has been the subject of numerous biographies since his death. The earliest were memoirs by those who knew him: often they are personal or impressionistic accounts which can be good character sketches but are sometimes factually unreliable.{{sfn|Raby|1997|pp=6, 10}} [[Frank Harris]], his friend and editor, wrote a biography, ''Oscar Wilde: His Life and Confessions'' (1916); though prone to exaggeration and sometimes factually inaccurate, it offers a good literary portrait of Wilde.{{sfn|Raby|1997|p=9}} [[Lord Alfred Douglas]] wrote two books about his relationship with Wilde. ''Oscar Wilde and Myself'' (1914), largely ghost-written by [[T. W. H. Crosland]], vindictively reacted to Douglas's discovery that ''De Profundis'' was addressed to him and defensively tried to distance him from Wilde's scandalous reputation. Both authors later regretted their work.{{sfn|Raby|1997|p=8}} Later, in ''Oscar Wilde: A Summing Up'' (1939) and his ''Autobiography'', Douglas was more sympathetic to Wilde. Of Wilde's other close friends, [[Robert Sherard]]; [[Robbie Ross|Robert Ross]], his literary executor; and [[Charles Ricketts]] variously published biographies, reminiscences or correspondence. The first more or less objective biography of Wilde came about when [[Hesketh Pearson]] wrote ''Oscar Wilde: His Life and Wit'' (1946).{{sfn|Raby|1997|p=5}} In 1954 Wilde's son [[Vyvyan Holland]] published his memoir ''Son of Oscar Wilde'', which recounts the difficulties Wilde's wife and children faced after his imprisonment.<ref>{{cite magazine |date=27 September 1954 |title=Great Britain: A Life of Concealment |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,820321-1,00.html |url-status=dead |magazine=Time |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090212185348/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,820321-1,00.html |archive-date=12 February 2009 |access-date=22 February 2010}}</ref> It was revised and updated by [[Merlin Holland]] in 1989.

{{quote|Later on, I think everyone will recognise his achievements; his plays and essays will endure. Of course, you may think with others that his personality and conversation were far more wonderful than anything he wrote, so that his written works give only a pale reflection of his power. Perhaps that is so, and of course, it will be impossible to reproduce what is gone forever.|Robert Ross, 23 December 1900{{sfn|Holland|Hart-Davis|2000|p=1229}}}}

[[File:Oscar Wilde Statue (4503030408).jpg|thumb|''[[Oscar Wilde Memorial Sculpture]]'' in [[Merrion Square]], Dublin]]
''Oscar Wilde: A Critical Study'' by [[Arthur Ransome]] was published in 1912. The book only briefly mentioned Wilde's life, but subsequently, Ransome (and The Times Book Club) were sued for libel by Lord Alfred Douglas. At the [[High Court of Justice|High Court]] in London in April 1913, Douglas lost the libel action after a reading of ''[[De Profundis (letter)|De Profundis]]'' refuted his claims.<ref>''The Autobiography of Arthur Ransome'', pp.&nbsp;146–154 (1976, Jonathan Cape, London) {{ISBN|0-224-01245-2}}.</ref><ref>''The Last Englishman'' by Roland Chambers pp. 61–69 (2009, Faber and Faber, London) {{ISBN|978-0-571-22261-2}}.</ref>

[[Richard Ellmann]] wrote his 1987 biography ''Oscar Wilde'', for which he posthumously won a National (US) Book Critics Circle Award in 1988<ref>{{Cite web |title=All Past National Book Critics Circle Award Winners and Finalists: 1988 Awards |url=http://bookcritics.org/awards/past_awards/#1988 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190604095541/http://bookcritics.org/awards/past_awards/#1988 |archive-date=4 June 2019 |access-date=22 February 2010 |publisher=National Book Critics Circle}}.</ref> and a [[Pulitzer Prize]] in 1989.<ref>{{cite web |title=Autobiography or Biography |url=http://www.pulitzer.org/bycat/Biography-or-Autobiography |access-date=22 February 2010 |publisher=The Pulitzer Prizes |archive-date=25 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150525054128/http://www.pulitzer.org/bycat/Biography-or-Autobiography |url-status=live}}</ref> In 1997, it was the basis for the British film ''[[Wilde (film)|Wilde]]'', directed by [[Brian Gilbert (director)|Brian Gilbert]] and starring [[Stephen Fry]] as the title character.<ref>{{cite news |last=Ebert |first=Roger |author-link=Roger Ebert |date=12 June 1998 |title=Wilde |work=Chicago Sun-Times |url=http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19980612/REVIEWS/806120305/1023 |access-date=2 April 2010 |archive-date=20 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130120092801/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F19980612%2FREVIEWS%2F806120305%2F1023 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Neil McKenna's 2003 biography, ''The Secret Life of Oscar Wilde'', offers an exploration of Wilde's sexuality. Often speculative in nature, it was widely criticised for its pure conjecture and lack of scholarly rigour.<ref>{{cite news |last=Bedell |first=Geraldine |date=26 October 2003 |title=It was all Greek to Oscar |work=The Guardian |location=London |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/oct/26/biography.stage1 |access-date=22 February 2010 |archive-date=24 June 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130624215113/http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2003/oct/26/biography.stage1 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Parker |first=Peter |title=The Secret Life of Oscar |url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article998029.ece |url-status=dead |work=[[The Times]] |location=London |date=26 October 2003 |access-date=22 February 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110624113846/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article998029.ece |archive-date=24 June 2011}}{{subscription required}}</ref> Thomas Wright's ''Oscar's Books'' (2008) explores Wilde's reading from his childhood in Dublin to his death in Paris.<ref>{{cite news |last=Dugdale |first=John |date=26 September 2009 |title=Oscar's Books by Thomas Wright |work=The Guardian |location=London |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/sep/26/thomas-wright-oscars-books |access-date=22 February 2010 |archive-date=28 October 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111028170309/http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/sep/26/thomas-wright-oscars-books |url-status=live}}</ref> After tracking down many books that once belonged to Wilde's Tite Street library (dispersed at the time of his trials), Wright was the first to examine Wilde's [[marginalia]].

In 2018, [[Matthew Sturgis]]' ''Oscar: A Life'', was published in London. The book incorporates rediscovered letters and other documents and is the most extensively researched biography of Wilde to appear since 1988.<ref>{{cite news |last=Quinn |first=Anthony |date=1 October 2018 |title=Oscar: A Life by Matthew Sturgis |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/oct/01/oscar-wilde-a-life-by-matthew-sturgis-review |access-date=5 February 2019 |archive-date=24 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190224054424/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/oct/01/oscar-wilde-a-life-by-matthew-sturgis-review |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Rupert Everett]] starred as Wilde in, and wrote the screenplay for, ''[[The Happy Prince (2018 film)|The Happy Prince]]'' (2018), a biographical drama film about Wilde following his release from prison.<ref>{{cite news |last=Grater |first=Tom |title=Rupert Everett, Colin Firth begin filming Oscar Wilde biopic |url=http://www.screendaily.com/news/rupert-everett-colin-firth-begin-filming-oscar-wilde-biopic/5109716.article?blocktitle=Most-popular&contentID=-1 |work=Screen Daily |publisher=[[Screen International]] |date=22 September 2016 |access-date=4 October 2016}}</ref>

Parisian literati also produced several biographies and monographs on him. [[André Gide]] wrote ''In Memoriam, Oscar Wilde'' and Wilde also features in his journals.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gide |first=A |author-link=André Gide |title=In Memoriam, Oscar Wilde |publisher=Editions Mercure De France |location=Paris |year=1905}}</ref> Thomas Louis, who had earlier translated books on Wilde into French, produced his own ''L'esprit d'Oscar Wilde'' in 1920.<ref>{{cite book |last=Louis |first=Thomas |title=L'esprit d'Oscar Wilde |publisher=G. Crès & Cie |edition=4th |series=Collection Anglia |location=Paris |oclc=3243250}}</ref> Modern books include Philippe Jullian's ''Oscar Wilde'',<ref>{{cite book |last=Jullian |first=Philippe |title=Oscar Wilde |year=2000 |publisher=Editions Christian de Bartillat |isbn=978-2-84100-220-7 |location=Paris}}</ref> and ''L'affaire Oscar Wilde, ou, Du danger de laisser la justice mettre le nez dans nos draps'' (''The Oscar Wilde Affair, or, On the Danger of Allowing Justice to put its Nose in our Sheets'') by {{ill|Odon Vallet|fr}}, a French religious historian.<ref>{{cite book |last=Vallet |first=Odon |title=L'affaire Oscar Wilde ou Du danger de laisser la justice mettre le nez dans nos draps |publisher=Editions Albin Michel |location=Paris |year=1995 |isbn=978-2-226-07952-7}}</ref>