Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin on 1854. His father is a famous surgeon, Mr. William Wilde, and his mother is a writer who loves literature and writes under the pseudonym of Sparanza. Wilde studied classical literature at Trinity University in Dublin, and later went to Madeleine University in Oxford. During this period, he fully exposed himself as a brilliant scholar. He won the Newdigate Prize); For his poem Lavaine. Wilde was brilliant, witty, charming and fond of showing off, and immediately became a well-known literary celebrity. He is eloquent and good at writing. His first book of poetry was published in 188 1, and soon he went to North America for a one-year lecture tour. When he arrived in new york, Wilde said, "I have nothing to say except my talent. This is one of the many idioms he left behind.
1884, after he married constance Lloyd, he published several children's story books, originally written for his son. 189 1 year, he published his only novel The Portrait of Gray, and not long ago, he published The Crimes of Sir Arthur Saville. After 1890, Wilde wrote one witty and dazzling comedy after another and succeeded one after another. His works include: Mrs. Wen's Fan (1892), An insignificant woman (1893), The Ideal Husband (1895) and the masterpieceNo. London refused to perform the play, which was later adapted into an opera. Everett Douglas, Oscar Wilde's good friend, translated the play into English and published it in Britain.
Everett's father, a marquis, learned that his son was friends with the infamous playwright, strongly opposed their friendship and publicly insulted Wilde, which triggered an argument. Finally, Wilde was imprisoned for homosexual acts in 1894. Wilde was sentenced to two years in prison and sentenced to hard labor. This prison exhausted Wilde physically and mentally and declared bankruptcy. Later, with the generous assistance of Wilde's friends, Wilde was able to settle in France and changed his name to Sibas Melmos. When he lived in France, he wrote the most famous poem: Song of Reading. 1890, Wilde died in a foreign land in France. The letter he wrote to Everett in prison was published in 1905 under the title "Letter from Prison".
The Portrait of Gray was first published in 1890, but the response was not good. The public was shocked by this and strongly criticized the book. Wilde mentioned in the preface of this book: "There is no moral or immoral difference between books, only the difference between good writing and poor writing, and that's all." Strongly refuted the public opinion at that time.
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"The statue of the Happy Prince stands on a tall pillar, high above the city. He is covered with thin pure gold leaves, a pair of sapphire eyes, and a big ruby embedded in the hilt, which is dazzling. "
This is the beginning of the fairy tale Happy Prince. Over the past 100 years, the image of the melancholy and loving "Happy Prince" has deeply touched the hearts of countless children and adults all over the world. People love this bitter and warm fairy tale, sighing and crying for the fate of the protagonist. However, people have different opinions about its author, Oscar Wells Wilde, who marvels at his extraordinary literary talent and regrets his perverse and vulgar behavior. In the eyes of many people, he is a contradictory figure who combines angels and demons. More vividly, he is a "degenerate body" with a "noble soul".
Let's review his short 46-year life and make our own judgment.
Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin, Ireland, on June 1854 10. He is the second son of his family. His father William Wilde is a very clever expert in ophthalmology and otology. It is said that when he was a medical student, he took out a thorn from a fisherman's eye to save his blindness. Cut a child's throat with an ordinary household scissors and successfully take out a stuck needle. Later, he opened a St. Kyle's hospital, which is famous all over Europe for its superb medical skills and is known as the "father of otology". It doesn't match his medical ethics. Old Wilde's private life was quite disorderly, greedy and lewd, and once he was even accused of seducing a good woman with drugs. He is also good at literature and archaeology. Jane Elgi, Wilde's mother, was a brilliant and famous poet and political critic. At the age of 65,438+08, she began to publish her own poems in publications, and later took an active part in the "Young Ireland Movement", which made her famous for writing an article advocating nationalism. She is an excellent socialite. In her home in Marion Square, weddings are often held and guests are like clouds. Elgi wears heavy makeup, shuttles between them and enjoys entertainment. When Wilde was very young, his mother thought he was an "original" child. Because she really wants to have a daughter, she has been dressing up little Oscar as a girl for a long time. As a child, Wilde traveled to France and Germany with his antique-visiting father, and he was proficient in both languages. These trips aroused his interest in myths and anecdotes. At the salon held regularly at home, he often heard his mother talk about Kan Kan in front of the guests, which virtually cultivated his wisdom and eloquence. Wilde was deeply influenced and edified by his parents since he was a child. It can be said that the best education in his life came from his father's breakfast table and his mother's living room. Wilde was also very proud of his parents. In his later work "A Prison Record", he once talked about his parents like this:
"My mother and my father left me a name, which they made noble and glorious not only in literature, art, archaeology and science, but also in the history of making my own country a country."
Wilde
1865,1/kloc-0 Oscar Wilde entered the royal school of Portola. This is a school run by Protestants, where Wilde began to get in touch with religious teachings, but he seems to be ungodly at all. He dresses like a modern boy and goes in and out of school with a top hat every day. His ridiculous appearance attracted the attention of many teachers and classmates, but he felt very proud. The young Oscar Wilde has an amazing understanding and never forgets anything, but his math scores are poor and his composition is not so good. Six years later, Oscar Wilde graduated from Portola School and was admitted to Trinity College in Dublin in June+10, 5438. There, his studies were mediocre, but just before graduation, he won the gold medal of Bishop Parkley for his thesis "Essays of Greek Comedy Poets", and then entered Maglinda College of Oxford University to study ancient Greek classics. At this time, he was only 20 years old and began to write articles for magazines.
At that time, john ruskin, a famous writer and literary critic, was giving a series of lectures at the Oxford University Museum. Systematically expounded his aesthetic thought. This thin and firm critic's view that "life without activities is a crime, and activities without art are dehumanized" is all the rage among college students and won the praise and heartfelt support of Wilde. At the same time, Walter Pinter's book Renaissance Studies also inspired him greatly. Wilde later met Pinter and inherited the slogan "Art for Art's sake" from him.
In Oxford, Wilde's room is famous for its gorgeous decoration. The walls of the room were painted with beautiful colors, and the counters and bookshelves were filled with all kinds of antiques. These antiques were all given by his father who likes archaeology and collection. On the one hand, he inherited his father's temperament, on the other hand, he was influenced by decadent and extravagant social atmosphere, and his clothes were relatively unconventional. Someone described Wilde at that time like this: "He wore a velvet dress, a large undershirt, a tearful neckline, a strange tie lavalliere knot between his throat, and a sunflower, a lily, in his hand, spreading his theory everywhere." 1877, Wilde visited Italy and Greece. In Italy, he visited the tomb of British poet Keats, the tomb of Italian poet Dante and the former residence of English poet Byron. In Greece, the birthplace of European civilization, he came into contact with many non-Christian and ancient hedonistic cultures. Although these were not enough to make him a "sound pagan", they greatly confirmed the beauty he dreamed of and gave him many things he never dreamed of. The trip to Italy and Greece accelerated the formation of his artistic theory and aesthetic thought. In his own words, "this trip turned my worship of sadness into a worship of beauty." After returning to Oxford, he called himself "Professor of Aesthetics" and preached aestheticism. Around him, a group of like-minded "admirers" gradually gathered.
1878, Oscar Wilde's poem "Lavaine" won the new Degate Prize of the university, so when he graduated from Oxford the next year, he was already famous in the literary world. At this time, his father had died and his mother moved to London to live with him. At his mother's literary salon, Wilde became an instant hit. His strange clothes, shocking theory, eloquent speech and witty conversation became the focus of attention and the topic of discussion. Many people are greatly dissatisfied with his deviant behavior. He was even portrayed as a satirical object in the cartoon of Clumsy magazine in London. At the same time, he became increasingly close to Ruskin, Swinburne, Rossetti and others, and jointly advocated the aestheticism movement. 188 1 In July, Wilde's first hardcover collection of poems was published in London, which included some of his poems completed a year ago. This thin little book marks the beginning of Wilde's formal entry into the literary world.
188 1 year1kloc-0/month; He went to the United States and Canada to give lectures. In new york, Boston and other places, he toured universities to teach "English Renaissance" and "difficult decorative arts". The former advocates taking aesthetics as the highest purpose of life, while the latter accuses Americans of being clumsy and boring in decoration. His speech aroused strong repercussions and debates in the United States. Novel and extremely self-respecting Americans enthusiastically accepted his artistic view, but could not tolerate his comments on American culture. So on the whole, the criticism of his refutation drowned out the praise. During his stay in America, he visited famous American poets Poe and Whitman. In an interview with the New York Herald, when asked if his aestheticism could be called philosophy, Wilde replied without hesitation: "Philosophy, of course. It studies what can be found in art and seeks the secrets of life. Everything that represents eternal truth in art is the expression of great basic truth, so aestheticism can be regarded as the study of truth in art. "
1883 Oscar Wilde came to Paris, the center of the new literary trend of thought at that time, shortly after his return from the United States. This spring, he booked a room at the Voltaire Hotel near the Voltaire Pier in Paris. It is located on the banks of the Seine, with pleasant scenery. Bookstores and antique shops stand side by side along the street. Less than a block or two in the past, it is the bustling city center where cars and horses gather. The magnificent Louvre Museum stands across the river. This place is the most ideal residence for literati. Although he only lived temporarily, Wilde's room was still luxuriously decorated. There is a naked Greek goddess on the mantelpiece. The flowers in the vase are new every month. There is a huge porcelain ashtray on the table. He walked from room to room with a big box of cigarettes in his hand all day, smoking cigarettes made of Turkish tobacco. The ambitious Wilde made up his mind half a century ago to emulate Balzac and ascend the hall of honor from this bustling capital. He imitated Balzac's living habits everywhere, and even customized a white hand wash inlaid with turquoise according to the well-known "Balzac's walking stick" style, and began to March into Paris society.
During his stay in Paris, Wilde met writers such as Goncourt, Hugo and Dude, as well as famous actress bernhardt, socialite Duchess Bosh and nihilist Vera. He dedicated his poems to everyone, but the evaluation was quite different. Goncourt admired his talent very much, but Hugo just shrugged his shoulders. While "conquering Paris", Wilde still stepped up his creation, which was the only way for him to achieve his goal. He finished a popular drama "The Duchess of Petunia", which, like the first drama "Villa", is very immature. But it is the embryonic form of the later novel The Portrait of Dorian Gray. In contrast, The Sphinx, a narrative poem written at the same time, fully shows Wilde's literary talent. Paris left a good impression on Wilde, but he had to return to London after half a year because of profligacy and financial difficulties.
1884 At the beginning of the year, Wilde, 30, met constance Lloyd, the daughter of a rich lawyer in Dublin, and was immediately fascinated by her charming charm and frankness. They got married soon in May. They returned to London after their honeymoon in Paris, and Wilde lived a relatively comfortable life from then on. Wilde loved his wife very much. Once, when he saw a flower shop on his way to visit a friend, he stopped to buy a large bunch of carnations and wrote a short and affectionate note for the flower shop to send back to his residence for his beloved wife who had just left for a moment. This year, he wrote the fairy tale Happy Prince.
The Happy Prince, published in 1888, contains five fairy tales, including Prince Le Wei. Together with the second collection of fairy tales "Pomegranate House" published by 189 1 (the first edition of "Pomegranate House" is dedicated to his wife constance), Wilde wrote nine fairy tales altogether. In these fairy tales, Wilde decorated each story with rich imagination and colorful words, making it poetic and picturesque, which fully reflected Wilde's exquisite ability to control words and aestheticism. Ingrid, the author of On Wilde, once said when reading The Happy Prince for the first time: "The first story made me feel that Wilde still had a childlike innocence." Indeed, eulogizing the beauty and the innocence of human love have "spontaneous and moving power", but the charm of Wilde's fairy tales is not limited to this. As Oscar Wilde's good friend, R·H· Chaylard, pointed out in The Biography of Oscar Wilde: "In English, no fairy tale can compare with them. The writing is very clever, and the story is unfolded according to a rare and rich imagination; They are interesting for children and adults to read (or speak), and at the same time they are permeated with a subtle philosophy, an accusation against society and an appeal to the proletariat, which makes Happy Prince and Pomegranate House two real accusations against the current social system. " These fairy tales run through a theme, that is, lashing the former selfishness, ruthlessness and cruelty of the ruling class and the rich, praising the spirit of self-sacrifice of good people, and reflecting the author's sympathy for the bullied weak. As Huntson said, "Fantasy fairy tales run through the compassion of a sensitive and beautiful society, just like several beautiful mosaic fabrics are firmly stitched together with a crimson thread." Because of this, Wilde's few fairy tales are recognized as comparable to Andersen and Brothers Grimm, and even praised by many as "his best and most distinctive prose works".
After marriage, Wilde continued to write articles and give lectures for magazines, and edited the monthly magazine Women's World from 1887 to 1889. During this period, he gave birth to two sons in succession. 1887, he wrote many short stories, and a few years later, he published them in the name of The Crimes of Lord Arthur Saville. By A.D. 189 1 year, he had published a collection of literary criticism, a paper, People's Mind under the Socialist System, and began to write a poetic drama Salome.
However, Wilde's most remarkable literary achievement in this period was that he began to serialize in the American magazine Lippincourt in July, 1890, and published a solo book the following year, with only one novel, The Portrait of Dorian Gray. This is a symbolic story, which wonderfully blends fantasy with reality. The theme of the novel is that the handsome guy Gray dreams of eternal youth, and the painter Hallward painted a wonderful portrait for him, which can bear the consequences of Gray's debauchery and leaving traces on his face. Sir Henry is a hedonist and historian. He seduced Gray in various ways, which made him drunk. Gray killed the actress Sybil and then murdered Hallward. Everything he did was depraved and filthy, adding a little ferocity to his portrait face and a little more blood to his body. When Kemper, a chemist who helped Gray destroy his body, committed suicide because of his conscience, Sybil's brother, who was eager for revenge, was killed by a stray bullet. Gray had the safety of his life, but he could not get peace of mind. After a moment of melancholy for pure youth, evil thoughts flooded him again, and he was determined to assassinate the ugly class in the portrait and destroy the only evidence of his soul's depravity. A knife stabbed him, but Gray himself fell, his body became ugly, and the portrait glowed with youth and beauty again. Wilde pointed out through this story that beauty is above everything else. Portrait can get life, even better than the real person in reality, because Hallward did not mix any utilitarianism in his portrait creation. Moral distraction poured into the single pursuit of "beauty" It implies that art can reflect the spirit and essence of characteristics and phenomena more faithfully than reality, which is the essence of Wilde's philosophy and aesthetic thought. It can be seen that the inspiration of this novel comes from Balzac's The Story of the Donkey's Skin, which he has always regarded as a model, but its theme and connotation are undoubtedly much richer than the latter.
The contradiction between the protagonists in the book is actually a portrayal of the author's inner contradictions. In a letter to an admirer, Wilde clearly wrote: "Basel Hallward is my image in my mind, Sir Henry is my image in the eyes of the world, and Dorian is the image I want to be-just don't let him get old like that." However, this novel is not a simple self-analysis, it involves many issues that the author and his contemporaries are extremely interested in, including the relationship between art, morality and life, appreciation and abuse of beauty, and so on. Some authors have put forward their own answers to these questions, while others have not. Even if the author thinks he has got the answer, he is not sure whether it is correct. Wilde finally fell into the dilemma of the conflict between beauty and morality faced by Gray, and destroyed himself in the dangerous game of challenging morality.
The preface written by Wilde for The Portrait of Dorian Gray 189 1 was published separately in Biweekly Review. The preface criticizes the declining realism and romanticism literature at the end of 19, and repeatedly publicizes his aestheticism thought, which is tantamount to declaring his complete aestheticism aesthetic thought. He declared:
"Books are immoral or immoral. The book is either well written or poorly written, that's all. "
"Artists are never morbid. Artists can express everything."
"In fact, the mirror of art reflects people who look in the mirror, not life."
At the end of the preface, he even asserted that "all art is useless."
After the publication of dorian gray, readers have different opinions, and this debate has invisibly brought great fame to Wilde. However, in the endless debate, Wilde turned his creative goal to the field of drama that he had long wanted to set foot in, and finally achieved greater success.
Oscar Wilde wrote two plays, Villa and Duchess Petunia, as early as the early 1990s, but neither of them had a great influence after they were put on stage. The real sensation broke out at St. James' Theatre in London1On the evening of February 20th, 892, Wilde's new work "Mrs. Windermere's Fan" was staged. With the development of the plot, the audience's mood is constantly rising, and with each ending, the audience burst into long applause again and again. The enthusiasm of the audience also strongly infected the author. When Wilde greeted the audience on stage at the request of the audience after the play, he was always tongue-tied and only said, "You are happy, I am happy, and I can say I am very happy myself." I even forgot to throw away half a cigarette in my hand, so that the major newspapers in London made fun of the author when they reported the grand performance the next day.
Like Wilde's three successful plays (Three Little Women in 1893, an ideal husband in 1895 and the importance of being named O 'nast), Mrs. Windermere's Fan is a comedy with a narrow theme and few plots. However, in this relaxed and lively comedy form, the author's witty language can be fully exerted. Wilde's strength lies in his beautiful, appropriate and harmonious words, and his defect lies in his lack of deep impression, while family comedy just encourages his advantages and covers up his shortcomings. The characters in the play may not have any personality, but every play is full of dynamic vitality from beginning to end, which makes the audience linger. In the play, the laid-back ladies and gentlemen often show off their wit and make witty remarks. Sometimes, they deliberately let the characters in the play solemnly repeat the cliches of the upper class at that time, and change a sentence or two in key places, so that the audience can give a knowing laugh and realize the hypocrisy and absurdity of all kinds of prudes in society. The author occasionally mixed a few sarcastic and sharp social criticisms in his lines, which were unconsciously input into the audience's thoughts with laughter, but did not attract too much attention. Wilde once said: "The purpose of art is the creation of beauty, and the purpose of life is the enjoyment of beauty." The purpose of creating these scripts is to let the audience discover beauty, identify beauty and enjoy beauty in joy. Wilde hated the rigid, boring and mechanical social atmosphere at that time, so he proposed beautifying and dramatizing life, "making life an interesting romantic, gorgeous and elegant pastoral poem". He clearly said: "My aestheticism movement is a response to this dry and tasteless society. My work can also be regarded as a paper on decorative art, which is a blunt and vulgar response to ordinary realism. " Therefore, his works cater to the appreciation tastes of all walks of life and are strongly welcomed by people. Sometimes in one place in London, you can see three theaters performing his plays on the same night.
It is not known today how much satire Wilde's social family comedy was understood by the cheering audience at that time. However, at least one person is keenly aware of this. He is another outstanding playwright Bernard Shaw who was born in Dublin two years later than Wilde. 1895 65438+10.3, after watching The Ideal Husband at Haymarket Royal Theatre in London, he wrote a drama review for Saturday Review on/kloc-0.2 in the same month, which implied the hidden social significance of Wilde's drama and spoke highly of his drama talent: "Oscar Wang! Because he has the ability to make his critics boring ... I am sure that I am the only person in London who can't sit down and write an Oscar Wilde play at will. ..... For me, in a sense, Mr. Wilde is our only very skilled playwright. "
At the same time of these social family comedies, 1893, Wilde published a one-act poetic drama Salome. This play, which fully embodies the aesthetic style, is written in French. Wilde said, "I have a tool, and I know it can be used well." This is English writing. But there is another language that I have listened to all my life. Now I want to try this new tool to see if I can create something gorgeous ... Of course, it contains many styles that French literati don't use, but my script can get different colors. " This "strange color" complements the strange romantic pseudo-passion in poetry and drama. The plot is based on the story in the Bible in which Salome lured Herod to kill the prophet John. In order to get John's kiss, the young girl Salome even instigated Herod to cut off John's head. After kissing John's head, she was killed by the jealous Herod. This poetic drama embodies Wilde's more and more exciting artistic thought, that is, in order to realize the pursuit of beauty, you can do whatever it takes. This poetic drama, translated into English by Aubrey beardsley, a friend of the author, is one of the best rhymes in English. Unfortunately, the then British court minister banned it from being staged in Britain on the grounds that it described the characters in the Bible.
At this time, Wilde, Bernard Shaw, William Archer and others have been called the pillars of the British drama revival movement, and their fame is increasing day by day, reaching the peak of their career and life. However, under the cover of increasingly sophisticated techniques, his works are more superficial in ideology and his personal life is gradually indulgent and decadent. He went from despising the prejudice of the laity to the evil path of not recognizing all social norms and ethics. Finally, an unexpected disaster befell Wilde in the spring breeze, which completely changed his fate for the rest of his life.
As an adult, Wilde inherited his father's handsome and dull appearance, as well as his bohemian character, and even more. 189 1 year, he met a 2 1 year-old young man named Alfred Douglas, and they later developed into homosexuals. Alfred's father, the famous Marquis of queensberry, who was the first to make boxing rules, couldn't swallow this evil spirit when he knew it, so he humiliated Wilde in public one day in 1895. Wilde couldn't stand it. In March of the same year, he sued the court, only to be trapped by the marquis. In May of the same year, queensberry Feng Jue accused Wilde of indecency, and was found guilty and sentenced to two years' imprisonment because of conclusive evidence.
From1May 25th, 895 to1May 9th, 897, Wilde spent two difficult and long years in prison. He was held in Wonderworth prison for nine months and then transferred to Leigh prison. In prison, he did the hard work of sorting out marijuana. The harsh environment and dark control in the prison made him miserable. In his first few months in prison, he didn't even have the right to read and write. Wilde, who lost his freedom for the first time, was suffocated and spent every day in an almost crazy struggle. Thanks to Martin, the jailer who guarded him at that time, pitied his misfortune and often took care of him secretly. Martin recorded Wilde's life in prison day after day, and later compiled and published it in the name of a prison poet. On the title page of this book, there are several big characters written conspicuously: "Don't read this, if you want to be happy today." You can imagine Wilde's miserable situation in prison.
After more than a year, Wilde's treatment improved and he was allowed to write letters and articles. At this time, he also calmed down from the heavy blow and began to reflect on his life. In a letter to a friend, he wrote: "Prison life enables a person to observe people and things in a proper way, which is why prison life turns people into stones." Those who are deceived by the illusion of immortality are all outside the prison. They follow life and encourage unreality. Only when you are still like me can you' see' and' know'. "He began to write a documentary about prison, called" A Record of Prison ".In this documentary, he reviewed the reasons for his imprisonment, traced back the changes in his thoughts and examined his life journey. He wrote: "When I was in prison, I had only a heart of stone and had to pursue pleasure. Now my heart is completely broken, now my heart is full of sympathy, and now I know that sympathy is the greatest and most beautiful thing in the world. "While serving his sentence, his wife died in Genoa, Italy.
1897 after Wilde was released from prison, he moved to a small village near Dipper, France. 1898, he finished his last poem "Song of Reading Prison". In the poem, he wrote that a prisoner in the prison was hanged for killing his lover. The theme of the whole poem is that love is inseparable from death and crime. He came to the final conclusion that "all people will kill the people they love". He spent the next few years in poverty. 1900165438+1October 30th, a few days after joining the Roman Catholic church, this ill-fated genius passed away. Five years later, some chapters of a prison record were extracted and published by Alfred, and the full text was not made public until 1962. This painful psychological history, known as "Wilde's last masterpiece", has become a classic in the history of English prose.
(seaver)
The Secret of the Soul —— The Other Side of the Life of Famous Foreign Writers. First edition.
http://www.lxbook.org/zjzp/england/e_0 15.htm