num_pages: 128
description: One of literature's most flamboyant and witty personalities, the much-quoted Oscar Wilde captivated London society with his works of drama, poetry, and fiction. His sharp social observation coupled with his elegant writing style assured him popular success both in Britain and the USA.Wilde was a pioneer of celebrity whose contributions to intellectual and artistic life swiftly secured him a place in high society. His friends and contemporaries included Aubrey Beardsley, Lillie Langtry, James McNeill Whistler, Sir Max Beerbohm, and Ada Leverson, but Wilde is perhaps best known for the circumstances of his love affair with Lord Alfred Douglas ("Bosie"). The subsequent libel case against Bosie's father, the Marquess of Queensbury, and Wilde's own tragic imprisonment made him a social exile and were to be his downfall.In this perceptive appraisal of Wilde and his circle, Simon Callow brilliantly captures the spirit of one of Britain's most celebrated, but ultimately tragic, literary figures.
language: English
title: Oscar Wilde and His Circle
titlecomplete: Oscar Wilde and His Circle
ratings_count: 25
publisher: Natl Portrait Gallery Pubns