Collins Complete Works of Oscar Wilde

Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was born on October 16, 1854, in Dublin. His parents were William (afterwards Sir William) Wilde, a renowned ear and eye surgeon, and Jane Francesca Wilde, who, under the name 'Speranza', wrote political articles for the Young Ireland movement. Oscar was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and at Magdalen College, Oxford. He became a leading light of the so-called 'Aesthetic Movement' (satirised by Gilbert and Sullivan in Patience) and was recognised as one of the most prominent wits of the age. Plays such as Lady Windermere's Fan (1893) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) established him as the most important contemporary dramatist; other great works included several children's stories, such as The Happy Prince and Other Tales (1891), and much important art criticism. He was imprisoned for homosexuality in 1895, serving his time in Wandsworth Prison and Reading Gaol. His wife obtained a legal separation from him, and he never saw her or his two sons again. On his release in 1897, he settled in France, and died from cerebral meningitis in Paris, in 1900Wilde, Oscar is the author of 'Collins Complete Works of Oscar Wilde', published 2003 under ISBN 9780007144358 and ISBN 0007144350.