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Oscar: A Life

Oscar: A Life

by Matthew Sturgis (Author)

  • Used

    Paperback 2019

    $6.97
Synopsis

'The Book of the Year, perhaps of the decade has to be Matthew Sturgis's Oscar' TLS, Books of the Year.

A SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR.

'Simply the best modern biography of Wilde ... A terrific achievement' Evening Standard.

'Page-turning ... Vivid and desperately moving. However much you think you know Wilde, this book will absorb and entertain you' Sunday Times.

'Wonderfully exciting ... Sturgis's great achievement is to take on board his great flurry of contradictions' Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday.

'[Sturgis] is a tremendous orchestrator of material, fastidious, unhurried, indefatigable' Observer.

'Oscar Wilde is more fashionable than ever ... Sturgis's account of the hearing at the Old Bailey is as gripping as it is grim' Guardian.

'The Book of the Year, perhaps of the decade, has to be Matthew Sturgis's Oscar which captures the wit, the love-ability, the dramatic genius, the insane self-destructiveness, the originality of Wilde ... [Sturgis] is the greatest chronicler of the 1890s we have ever had' TLS, Books of the Year.

Oscar Wilde's life - like his wit - was alive with paradox. He was both an early exponent and a victim of 'celebrity culture': famous for being famous, he was lauded and ridiculed in equal measure. His achievements were frequently downplayed, his successes resented. He had a genius for comedy but strove to write tragedies. He was an unabashed snob who nevertheless delighted in exposing the faults of society. He affected a dandified disdain but was prone to great acts of kindness. Although happily married, he became a passionate lover of men and - at the very peak of his success - brought disaster upon himself. He disparaged authority, yet went to the law to defend his love for Lord Alfred Douglas. Having delighted in fashionable throngs, Wilde died almost alone: barely a dozen people were at his graveside.

Yet despite this ruinous end, Wilde's star continues to shine brightly. His was a life of quite extraordinary drama. Above all, his flamboyant refusal to conform to the social and sexual orthodoxies of his day make him a hero and an inspiration to all who seek to challenge convention.

In the first major biography of Oscar Wilde in thirty years, Matthew Sturgis draws on a wealth of new material and fresh research to place the man firmly in the context of his times. He brings alive the distinctive mood and characters of the fin de siecle in the richest and most compelling portrait of Wilde to date.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
 Pages: 916
 Publisher: Apollo
Published: 05 Sep 2019
ISBN 10: 1788545982
ISBN 13: 9781788545983
Book Overview:

The first major biography of Oscar Wilde in thirty years is the most complete telling of his life and times to date.


Media Reviews
'Most of Wilde's biographers have seen him through the prism of his own heightened sense of tragedy. Sturgis's great achievement is to take on board his great flurry of contradictions - celebratory yet self-pitying, indifferent to his wife's agonies yet kind to total strangers, broken by prison yet still capable of day-to-day merriment - while at the same time conjuring him up as a coherent whole' Mail on Sunday.
'Sturgis's evocation of Wilde's jail term is especially well done in its light and shade ... and the diminuendo of his final days is desperately moving. However much you think you know about Wilde, this book will absorb and entertain you. It thickens the texture of every aspect of his unique life - dazzling, decadent and doomed' Sunday Times.
'A perfectly diligent book, and tells new readers all they possibly need to know about Wilde and his world' The Times.
'Authoritative, magnificently researched' Spectator.
'Authoritative and accurate, and Sturgis writes in a cheery, readable style' Literary Review.
'If you thought you knew all about the playwright, this captivating new biography will prove you wrong' Country Life.
'Matthew Sturgis uses new letters and a libel trial transcript to give a fuller picture of Oscar Wilde's dazzling rise and tragic fall ... He is a tremendous orchestrator of material, fastidious, unhurried, indefatigable' Observer.
'Oscar Wilde is more fashionable than ever, and his demise still makes for a gripping read ... Sturgis's account is fuller and in some ways more reliable [than Richard Ellmann's biography] ... Sturgis's account of the hearing at the Old Bailey is as gripping as it is grim' Guardian.
'[Sturgis's biography] is the first major attempt since that of Richard Ellman some 30 years ago, and it's much better ... This is simply the best modern biography of Wilde ... A terrific achievement' Evening Standard.
'Equally expansive [as Richard Ellmann's biography] but more careful with the facts. That is not the only reason to admire this moving and generous account of a life many think they know about. Sturgis confounds our expectations from the outset ... It reads like a work of art, which is surely appropriate to its subject' The Oldie.
'It details Wilde's love affair and links to our little pocket of London, from his home in Chelsea to his love for the West End. It's a fascinating read' The Resident.
'He does full justice to Wilde's crucial early years in Ireland ... This is a fastidious and absorbing biography' The Week.
'Sturgis brings alive the radical ideas, the distinctive characters and the flaring colours of the fin de siecle in the richest account of Wilde's life to date' Dorset Magazine.
'New material and wonderful detail make the latest Oscar Wilde bio the one to have ... The author brings alive the distinctive mood and characters of the fin de siecle in this rich account of Wilde's life, death and times. Brilliant' Attitude.
'Compendious new biography of Wilde' The Guardian Weekly (Book of the Week).
'The Book of the Year, perhaps of the decade ... Captures the wit, the love-ability, the dramatic genius, the insane self-destructiveness, the originality of Wilde ... [Sturgis] is the greatest chronicler of the 1890s we have ever had' TLS Book of the Year.
'A huge but always lively biography of Oscar Wilde' Mail on Sunday Books of the Year.
'Wilde's career is brought to life as never before' TLS.
'A meticulous documenting of key events and influences that avoids imbuing them with any false sense of foreshadowed tragedy' Irish Times.
Author Bio

Matthew Sturgis is a writer with a deep knowledge of the late Victorian cultural world. He is the author of acclaimed biographies of Aubrey Beardsley and Walter Sickert, as well as Passionate Attitudes: The English Decadence of the 1890s. He has contributed book reviews to the TLS, art criticism to Harpers & Queen and football reports to the Independent on Sunday. Matthew is on the editorial board of The Wildean, the journal of the Oscar Wilde society.