Oscar Wilde biography in Russian. Oscar Wilde (Wilde, full name Oscar Fingal O'Flaherty Wills Wilde, English

05.04.2019

Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flaherty Wheels (1854-1900)

English writer and critic. Irish by nationality. Graduated from Oxford University (1879). The collection "Poems", published in 1881, was a success. In 1882 he made a tour of the cities of the United States, lecturing on aesthetics; in the USA he published the revolutionary melodrama Faith, or the Nihilists, which expressed the rebellious moods of the young writer, and the poetic tragedy The Duchess of Padua. Returning to London, he contributed to newspapers and magazines. Was sentenced to two years imprisonment on charges of immorality (1895-1897), after leaving prison he settled in Paris. The mental breakdown was reflected in the poem "The Ballad of Reading Prison" and in the posthumously published confession "De Profundis" (1905).

Fairy tales "The Happy Prince", "Star Boy" and "Prose Poems" by Wilde are lyrical, sublime in style and content. "The Canterville Ghost", "The Crime of Lord Arthur Seville" - action-packed short stories riddled with irony. Sample intellectual novel late XIX century - "The Picture of Dorian Gray". However, the novel was mainly perceived by contemporaries as a sermon of aesthetic immorality.

The tragedies "The Duchess of Padua", "Salome", "The Florentine Tragedy" are attempts to revive the poetic drama of great passions. Secular comedies, full of witty paradoxes and epigrams on the mores of the ruling classes, have a different character: “Lady Windermere’s Fan”, “A Woman noteworthy", "The importance of Being Earnest". Socially critical motifs are strong in the comedy An Ideal Husband, where the impure methods of bourgeois careerists are exposed. IN critical articles In the 80s (collection "Intentions") Wilde highlighted the most close to him phenomena of modern English literature.

Oscar Wilde - English writer, critic, esthete, philosopher, playwright and poet, a bright celebrity of that time, a London dandy.

The author was born on October 16, 1854 in Dublin to an English family of Irish origin. Some historians erroneously put Wilde's date of birth as 1856. This is due to the fact that the writer liked to present himself younger than he was, often slowing down two years without hesitation. Even in his marriage certificate he indicated 1856 as the date of his birth.

Oscar was the second child in the family (his younger sister Isola died at the age of 8 from a serious illness). Father, William Wilde, became famous throughout Ireland as an excellent oto-ophthalmologist (ear and eye surgeon). In 1864, for his brilliant successes and community service(opening a free medical center helping the poor) William was awarded a knighthood. In addition to medical practice, Wilde senior wrote books on archeology. He liked to study Irish history and original folklore.

Oscar's mother, Jane Francesca Wilde, was also close to the art world. Poems for the revolutionary movement "Young Irish" came out from under her pen. Jane worked under the pseudonym "Speranza", which means hope in Italian. Mrs. Wilde opened in her house literary salon. She read revolutionary works to her children, instilling a love of poetry. From his father, Oscar inherited his ability to work and curiosity, from his mother - dreaminess and a creative streak.

Oscar Wilde until the age of 9 was on homeschooling, getting everything necessary knowledge and skills from governesses. Having mastered English and French well, Oscar Wilde entered the Royal School of Portora, where he studied for 7 years. His most notable ability was speed reading. The future writer also skillfully staged humorous skits on school themes. Until the age of twenty, Wilde rested every summer in his father's country villa. There, the young author, along with his brother, often played with the future writer George Moore.

Wilde graduated from school with a gold medal and in 1871 for this he was awarded the Royal School Scholarship, which allowed him to continue his studies at Trinity College Dublin. In this educational institution, Oscar Wilde chose the direction - ancient history and culture. He showed incredible ability to ancient languages. Within the walls of the college, for the first time, he listened to lectures on aesthetics. These lessons were not in vain, they formed a refined, highly cultured, aesthetic taste and behavior in the future writer.

In 1874, Oscar received another scholarship to study at Magdalen College, Oxford, in the classical department. Here Wilde worked out the ideal English pronunciation which I have been dreaming of for a long time. At Oxford, he managed to shine without making any effort (so he earned the dislike of classmates and athletes). While at university, Wilde began to travel. He visited Italy and Greece, was delighted with these countries, with their beauties and views. At Oxford, he also won the prestigious Newdigate Prize for Ravenna.

After graduating from university in 1878, Oscar settled in London. The writer became an active participant secular life, quickly gaining attention with his wit, easy manner of communication and his talents. Oscar Wilde proved himself to be a revolutionary in the field of fashion. He appeared in public in the outfits he created, combining incongruous. An indispensable accessory was a carnation in a buttonhole, painted in green color. He is willingly invited to various salons, and visitors come to look at the "Irish wit".

Rapid take-off writing career began with Oscar Wilde in 1881, beginning with the poetry collection Poems. In 1882 the author went to America, then to Paris. Here he met Paul Verlaine, Stefan Mallarmé, Anatole France.

After all the travels, returning to his homeland, 29-year-old Oscar Wilde married Constance Lloyd. His wife gave him two beautiful sons. For their sake, the writer changed his focus and began to write fairy tales.

From 1887 to 1889, Wilde supported his family by journalism, working as editor of the magazine " Women's World". In 1890, a novel was published that gained incredible popularity and discussion - The Picture of Dorian Gray. Critics called it immoral, but the author is already accustomed to criticism. 1891-1895 Wilde's dizzying glory years.

In 1891, an event occurred that affected the entire further biography popular writer. Wilde met Alfred Douglas, who was much younger than Wilde. The age difference was 16 years. Oscar became very friendly with the young man and had a fairly close relationship with him. The writer fulfilled any wishes of a spoiled aristocrat, supported him. Douglas' father filed a lawsuit accusing Wilde of the criminal offense of sodomy. Despite the advice of friends to go abroad, Oscar Wilde remained to defend his position.

On May 25, 1895, Oscar was found guilty and received two years of hard labor. The prison broke and finally broke the refined soul of the author. During his imprisonment, friends, admirers, wife and children turned away from the writer. The mother died without waiting for her son. Freed in 1897, Wilde went to France. He changed his name to Sebastian Melmoth.

The author died in poverty and loneliness on November 30, 1900 from a painful illness - meningitis. He was buried in the Bagno cemetery in Paris. Ten years later, the remains were reburied at the Pere Lachaise cemetery, at the same time a stone winged sphinx was installed on his grave.

Over time, the grave of the writer was covered with kisses. There is a belief: the one who kissed the Sphinx will find love and never lose it. To protect the monument, on November 30, 2011, it was surrounded by a protective glass fence.


Brief biography of the poet, the main facts of life and work:

OSCAR WILDE (1854-1900)

Oscar Fingal O'Flaherty Wills Wilde was born on 6 October 1854 to Sir William Wilde, a Dublin ophthalmologist of world renown. The mother of the future poet, Lady Jane Francesca Wilde, was an unbalanced and outrageous lady. She liked symbolic gestures, and her poems - the lady dabbled in poetry - she invariably signed Speranza - Hope, emphasizing her love for Ireland.

Lady Jane had her own literary salon. In it he spent his early youth future writer. From such eccentric parents, Oscar inherited a rare ability to work and curiosity, a dreamy and somewhat exalted mind, an emphasized interest in the mysterious and fantastic, a tendency to invent and tell extraordinary stories.

In his youth, Wilde was accompanied by constant success everywhere. In 1874 he entered Madeleine's College, Oxford University, where his talent was immediately recognized. There, the young man studied art - he read romantic poets, was fond of the Pre-Raphaelites, and also listened to the lectures of John Ruskin. The cult of the beautiful, which was established in Oxford under the influence of John Ruskin and gave rise, in particular, to the cult of a spectacular, deliberately "impractical" costume and ritual sophistication of speech intonations, soon gave rise to a new direction, or rather, even a frame of mind. This style of existence was called aestheticism. Oscar Wilde became his prophet. By the way, the poet graduated from the university with honors.

In the same years, Wilde's first poetic experiments appeared. The first collection of his works, Poems, was published in 1881.

At the end of 1881, Wilde traveled to New York, where he was invited to give several lectures on English literature. There, in the lecture "Revival of English Art", Wilde first formulated the main provisions aesthetic program English decadence. He recognized the continuity of decadence with the Pre-Raphaelites, stating that the laws of art do not coincide with the laws of morality, and proclaimed the right of the artist to complete creative arbitrariness.

Wilde later developed his teachings. In particular, he stated that "it is not art that reflects nature, but vice versa - nature is a reflection of art." “Nature is not at all a great mother who gave birth to us,” he said, “she is our very creation!” London fogs, according to Wilde, exist only because "poets and painters have shown people the mysterious beauty of such effects."


After a lecture tour of the UK, Wilde married an Irishwoman Constance Lloyd, edited the magazine "Women's World" and wrote essays that he published in the collection "Intentions", at the same time two volumes of fairy tales were written - "The Happy Prince" and "The Pomegranate House" - and a collection of short stories "The Crime of Lord Arthur Savile". The great success of the writer was the story "The Canterville Ghost".

When Constance Wilde gave birth to a child, the esthete Wilde wondered where her slenderness and grace had disappeared. And the woman became disgusting to him.

In the end, the aestheticism of the poetic nature led Wilde to the fact that after two years of quiet family life and the birth of two sons, the poet was seduced by a seventeen-year-old Oxford student, Robert Ross.

Soon Wilde had to start living double life, keeping a complete secret from his wife and from his respectable friends that he was increasingly drawn into the circle of young debauchees.

Home love affair Wilde in the early 1890s was John Gray, whose last name the writer gave to the protagonist of his most famous novel, which was published in 1891. After the publication of the novel, many London booksellers refused to sell this book, considering it "dirty", but among the aesthetic youth, "The Picture of Dorian Gray" was very popular.

In general, the first half of the 1890s became the stellar era of Oscar Wilde. Europe idolized him, admired him, imitated him. Wilde's dramaturgy was especially admired. In addition to the famous drama "Salome", he wrote comedies - "Lady Windermere's Fan", "A Woman Not Worthy of Attention", "An Ideal Husband", "The Importance of Being Earnest".

Among the passionate admirers of the writer was an aspiring poet, aristocrat, Lord Alfred Douglas. He was very handsome and young. On the very first day of their acquaintance, Wilde fell madly in love with Alfred, which he began shamelessly using - pulling out money, forcing people to publicly praise his graphomaniac writings, and so on. Douglas introduced Wilde to dubious pleasures among young people who, for a few pounds and a meal, were ready for anything. Wilde called these adventures "panther cage dinners".

All this sooner or later was bound to end in scandal. One day, one of Douglas' friends somehow got hold of some of Wilde's letters to his lover and began to blackmail the poet. In the end, Wilde was forced to buy these letters.

After some time, some of the letters still fell into the hands of Douglas's father, the Marquis of Queensberry.

The marquis was indignant and offended by this clear confirmation of his long-standing suspicions about his son's sexual inclinations and sent Wilde a casually sketched insulting letter, which began with the words: "To Oscar Wilde - a poseur and a sodomite."

Spurred on by Douglas, who hated his father, Wilde immediately brought criminal charges against the Marquess of Queensberry. When, in accordance with English law, Queensberry presented evidence to the court in the form of a list of twelve young people who were ready to testify in court that Wilde had molested them with sodomite proposals, Wilde's friends advised Wilde to withdraw the suit from the court and urgently emigrate from England.

But the poet stood his ground and, when the trial began, said in his first speech:

I'll be the prosecutor at this trial!

However, everything turned out the other way around, and the accusations turned against Wilde. The poet's lawyer was forced to admit that Queensberry rightly called Wilde a sodomite. No sooner had the court's verdict of acquittal against Queensberry been heard, as a criminal case was immediately initiated for coercion to sodomy against Wilde, who was immediately arrested.

When the jury refused to pass judgment on the case, the judge ordered a new trial, with Alfred Douglas acting as prosecutor. On May 25, 1895, Oscar Wilde was sentenced to two years of hard labor - that was the maximum possible term under this article of the charge. The judge said at the time of sentencing:

In my opinion, this punishment is too lenient for everything that this person has done.

Most strikingly, Wilde immediately forgave Douglas for his betrayal.

Oscar Wilde's two years in Reading Prison became a turning point in his mind and work. This is evidenced by two brilliant works created by him in last years life, - "The Ballad of Reading Gaol" and the prison confession "De Profundis".

When Wilde was released from prison in 1898, he found himself an outcast in England. Nobody just wanted to talk to him.

Taking the name Sebastian Melmoth, the poet lived out his last years in poverty and loneliness in dirty furnished rooms on the outskirts of Paris.

Alfred Douglas and Robert Ross came to France, in whose arms Oscar Wilde died, having previously confessed to a Catholic priest and received absolution. It happened on November 30, 1900. The poet was buried in the Pere Lachaise cemetery.

* * *
You read the biography (facts and years of life) in a biographical article dedicated to the life and work of the great poet.
Thank you for reading. ............................................
Copyright: biographies of the lives of great poets

Outstanding Irish writer playwright, poet, philosopher. He became famous for his plays the importance of Being Earnest», « Ideal husband", novel" The Picture of Dorian Grey", fairy tales.

Oscar Fingal O'Flaherty Wills Wilde / Oscar Fingal O "Flahertie Wills wilde, better known as Oscar Wilde/ Oscar wilde, was born October 16, 1854 in Dublin in the family of Sir William Wilde/ William wilde and lady Jane Francesca Wilde/ Jane Francesca wilde. His father was an eminent surgeon, specializing in ophthalmology and otolaryngology, and he received a knighthood in 1864 for services to medicine. The mother of the future writer under the pseudonym Esperanza published revolutionary poetry in the spirit of Irish nationalists. Oscar had a brother, William, and a sister, Isola, who died of meningitis at the age of 9. In addition, Sir William had three children from extramarital affairs.

Until the age of nine, the Oscar received home education, thanks to governesses, he was fluent in German and French. In 1971 Oscar Wilde received a royal scholarship and entered Trinity College in Dublin, where for three years he was the best student of the course. Upon graduation, he received gold medal Berkeley - the highest award for success in the study of ancient Greek. After this, Wilde received a scholarship and moved to Magdalen College, Oxford, where he studied from 1874 to 1878.

publish Oscar Wilde started while studying at Trinity College. In 1878 his poem " Ravenna”was awarded the Newdigate Prize. In the same year, he graduated with the highest possible marks and a Bachelor of Arts degree.

With a small inheritance Oscar Wilde settled in London. In 1881, a collection of poems published by him was a great success.

In 1982, Oscar Wilde was invited to lecture on a tour of America. The trip was planned for 4 months, but the writer's performances were so popular with the American public that he spent more than a year in the States.

Income from the tour and the play" Duchess of Padua» (1883) allowed Oscar Wilde in 1883 to move to Paris. In the same year, his first play " Faith, or the Nihilists».

Back in England in 1888 Oscar Wilde published a collection of fairy tales "The Happy Prince" and other tales". In 1891 two more collections were published: Lord Arthur Savile's Crime" And " pomegranate house».

In 1891 came out the only novel Wilde " The Picture of Dorian Grey».

In 1891 while in Paris Oscar Wilde wrote a play in French Salome».

In 1892 - 1895, several plays came out from Wilde's pen, wittily beating the mores of Victorian society: Lady Windermere's fan», « Woman not worthy of attention», « Ideal husband», « the importance of Being Earnest».

In 2007, in a BBC poll, Oscar Wilde was named the most witty man in British history.

Personal life of Oscar Wilde / Oscar wilde

In his youth, Wilde was fascinated Florence Balcombi/ Florence Balcombe. Arriving after graduating from Oxford in his native Ireland, he learned that she had married another famous writerBram Stoker/ Bram Stoker.

In 1881, Oscar was introduced to the daughter of a prominent London lawyer. Constance Lloyd/ Constance Lloyd. In 1884 they got married. In 1885, Constance gave her husband their first son - Cyril/ Cyril, in 1886 the youngest son was born Vivian/ Vyvyan.

Oscar Wilde / Oscar wilde in prison

In 1891, the 37-year-old Oscar Wilde met a charming and spoiled Oxford student Alfred Douglas/ Alfred Douglas, known in his circle under the name Bozi. Soon the brilliant intellectual and the young son of the Marquess of Queensberry became inseparable. Bosie's father hired detectives to confirm sexy character relationship between Wilde and Douglas, which in those days was regarded as criminal offense. He provoked the writer into a scandal. Following the unsuccessful advice of friends, Wilde sued the Marquis for libel, but in 1895 he himself was in the dock. He was convicted of indecent behavior and sentenced to two years of hard labor.

Punishment Oscar Wilde served in the prisons of London, where the terrible conditions of detention of prisoners caused irreparable damage to his health. Once, due to illness and hunger, he lost consciousness, as a result of a fall he damaged his eardrum, which, perhaps, hastened the death of the writer.

In May 1897 Oscar Wilde He was released and left England the next day. He spent the last three years of his life in poverty in exile in France, where he lived under the pseudonym Sebastian Melmoth.

Despite hardship, in 1998 he wrote " Ballad of Reading Gaol". It was published under a pseudonym and was very popular in England. However, despite seven reprints in two years, the poem did not bring much income to Wilde.

After his release, Wilde wrote several articles in English magazines in which he spoke about the deplorable state of the prisons. He also made proposals to improve the prison system, which were taken into account in the "Jails Act" (1898) passed by Parliament.

In 1987 Oscar Wilde and Bosies reunited in Rouen, despite the protests of their families. During this period, Wilde's wife Constance, forced to flee England and change her surname, forbade him to see her sons, but supported her husband financially. After spending some time together in Naples, Wilde and Douglas were forced to part because of threats from their relatives.

Oscar Wilde died of cerebral meningitis on November 30, 1900 at the age of 46. He was buried in the Bagno cemetery, in 1909 his remains were reburied in the main Parisian cemetery of Père Lachaise.

Oscar Wilde / Oscar wilde in the movies

In 1997, the biopic Wilde was released, in which the writer was played by the popular British actor and writer Stephen Fry / Stephen Fry.

In the movie almanac "Paris, I love you" one of the episodes is dedicated to Oscar Wilde.

Based on works Oscar Wilde several films were made, including Dorian Gray (2009), The Picture of Dorian Gray (2004), the importance of Being Earnest» (2002). Also filmed were The Canterville Ghost», « Salome», « happy prince and other stories by Wilde.

January 13, 2010, 15:05

Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin. His parents were very eccentric people. The mother dreamed of having a daughter. When the second son, Oscar Fingal O "Flagerty Wills Wilde, was born, she, as was customary, began to dress him in girlish clothes. Wilde was a tall, elegant and handsome young man. He began to study at Oxford, where his inimitable wit, graceful manners and peculiar style of dress. Shortly after graduation, Wilde became the darling of London society. He was a dear guest at any party and in all salons, and he was literally flooded with invitations. One of his contemporaries wrote: "He was, without exaggeration, the most magnificent conversationalist whom I met in my life ... No one could outshine him in any company. In his presence, no one else was paid any attention at all." Wild earned his living by writing book and art reviews, and by lecturing in England and America. Then he began to write comedy works and achieved great success in this field. He was extravagant, generous, scandalous and, most importantly, happy. The story of his fall sounds incredible today and remains one of the most famous literary disasters to this day. As a young man, Wilde was unambiguously heterosexual. Homosexuality even slightly shocked him. His first love was Florrie Balkum, whom he met when he was 21 years old. His heart was broken when she decided to marry Bram Stoker, the author of Dracula. A few days later, Wild tried unsuccessfully to woo the beautiful actress Lilly Langtry, who was then married. In his youth, Wilde had several other hobbies. In addition, he sometimes used the services of prostitutes. One evening, he announced to his friend Robert Sherard that his name was passions, and left the house. The next morning, meeting Sherard, Wild said: "What kind of animals we are, Robert." When Sherard said that he was very afraid of that; that Wilde could have been robbed, he only replied: "They are given everything that is at that moment in their pockets." In 1881, Oscar met Constance Lloyd, a beautiful and affectionate girl, whom he began to court passionately and write impassioned poetic letters to. They were madly in love with each other and married in 1884. Honeymoon spent in Paris. Over the next few years, Oscar and Constance loved each other passionately. They had two sons, whom they named Cyril and Vivian. Oscar adored his children, but he was completely unadapted to everyday peaceful family life. It is still not clear what exactly made Wilde become a homosexual. While still at Oxford, he probably contracted syphilis after another sexual encounter with a prostitute. At that time, this disease was treated with mercury. (This, in particular, caused strong change the color of the teeth, from which Wilde clearly suffered). Before Wilde proposed to Constance, he underwent a medical examination. The doctors assured him that he was completely cured of his illness. Two years later, he discovered her relapses. He stopped sexual relations with Constance and began to resort to the services of males. Robert Ross, who maintained his loyalty to Wild for the rest of his life, once boasted that he was Oscar's "first boy" when he was 17 and Wild was 32. However, it wasn't until 1891 that Wild met the 22-year-old the aristocrat Lord Alfred Douglas, whom family and friends called "Bosie" and who was destined to become the most big love in Wilde's life. He was born October 22, 1870. WITH early childhood he was surrounded by the luxury of houses and tables, many nannies and servants - such was the price of belonging to the oldest Scottish family, originating from Charlemagne and glorified from the 14th century. Lady Queensbury nicknamed her youngest son Alfred for his unusual imperious disposition and for his "divine" beauty - Bosie (Bosie) from the English "bossy" - "loving to dispose", she knew that this nickname would be with him throughout his life and even will outlive him. At Magdalen College, the young Bosie was not particularly loved, the reason being a rabid character, frequent mood swings, sometimes not giving in to any reasonable explanation, his desire to subjugate everyone to his will: from friends to enemies with his view of things, sometimes relating exclusively to personal matters. When the young lord was 17 years old, his mother Lady Queensbury began divorce proceedings with her sons' father and with her once beloved husband, the eighth Marquess of Queensbury, for numerous adulteries. The divorce process attracted the attention of all of London, because its main culprit was known as a brawler and a militant atheist, for which he was expelled from the House of Lords. The complete collapse of the family played important role in the formation of Alfred as a psychologically traumatized person. Constant quarrels between father and mother, observed by him from early childhood; assault on the brothers, and in particular on him, evoked a feeling of resentment in Bozi, which, reinforced by the suffering of the mother, turned into hatred for the father already in his youth.
Young Alfred lived in a family where quarrels and constant litigation lived: whether it was his father's lawsuits with the respectable persons of London, or his parents' divorce proceedings. Bozi lacked love and warmth hearth, as a result of which, he plunged into himself, into his beauty, the admiration of which reached the open manifestation of narcissism. At Oxford, he began to write poetry, too emotional and daring, but not distinguished by excellent style and sustained meter. How the fate of Alfred Douglas and the fate of English society at the end of the 19th century would have developed is not known if in 1891 a wonderful book had not fallen into his hands, which all London was talking about then, condemning it and calling it immoral. That book was The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. After rereading the book 11 times, as he himself claimed, the question arose of getting to know the author of the book, which so magically bewitched him. By the will of fate, a good friend of Alfred's, the poet Lionel Johnson, was familiar with Oscar Wilde, so the question of acquaintance was not difficult, because he saw future success in this. As he hoped, having met Wilde, he would enter the poetic salts, where he would receive recognition as a poet. And, in the fall of 1891, when Alfred turned 21 and Oscar Wilde was 37, a long-awaited acquaintance took place in Wilde's house itself, in which Constance's wife and two sons, Cyril and Vivian, lived. Alfred timidly admitted to Prince Paradox that he studied at Oxford and wrote poetry, which Wilde liked, then asked him to simply call him Bosie. Intoxicated by Wilde's melodic speech, the young aristocrat left the house at 16 Tite Street under great impression, in turn, Wilde remembered the "angelic expression" of the immaculate Greek, as if "resurrected from ancient Greek myths." It was love at first sight. Bosie possessed all the qualities that Wild admired. They both adored luxury. Their stormy friendship began, and they became inseparable. Communication began between them, while very rare, Wilde gave Douglas a book of his poems in 1881 and The Picture of Dorian Gray with a friendly inscription. Perhaps this acquaintance would have been limited, if not for the "scrutiny" case of Douglas's life. Bosie was staying at the house of his underage friend (in England at that time they got the age of majority at 21, Douglas was already so old in 1892), for whom he had an open passion, but the friend’s parents found Douglas’ letters with rather “strange content” and began to blackmail him , in order to receive money from a wealthy family. Knowing none of inner circle who could understand and help him, he turns to Wilde, whose commitment to Uranian love was undoubtedly known to Douglas, and receives a promise of help. Having contacted a lawyer, Wilde redeems letters through intermediaries, gives a bribe to blackmailers, saving Douglas from shame. Bosie takes the place of Wilde's lover, dethroning John Grey, the poet and kind soul man, and also encroached on the most sacred thing that the Artist of the word had - on loneliness, in union with which masterpieces of world literature were created. Inability to remain alone and reckon with the preferences of others, Bosi tore Wilde away from creativity and family with “empty talk”, as a result of which Wilde was never able to finish his two tragedies “The Florentine Tragedy” and “Holy Harlot”, but most importantly, he could not spend time with the children, whom he undoubtedly loved. But love for Bozi was strongest of all, staying with him, he seemed to be in the most sacred arts, clearly risking respectability, family, creativity. Bosie influenced Wilde, more than Wilde influenced him, alas, but then only their friends knew this, while Douglas's society and relatives blamed Wilde for corrupting a beautiful and innocent youth. In reality, Wilde only introduced Douglas to a circle of people with whom it was easy to find a suitable companion for the night, which Bosie did. In their relationship there were many passions, declarations of love, as well as tears, partings. They complemented each other and destroyed with equal success. Their friendship caused disgust and ridicule wherever they appeared, be it London, Paris, Florence or Algiers. And at the same time, their love, and inexplicable, fatal passion, caused jealousy among Wilde's friends, especially Robert Ross, a young writer who first seduced the still inexperienced Wilde in 1886 (at that time Ross was 17 and Wilde was 32). This jealousy accumulated for a long time and was sometimes expressed in quarrels with Bozi, whom it cost nothing to piss off. And indeed, during the three years of Wilde's relationship with Bosie, right up to the trial, Robert Ross, aka Robbie, played minor role friend, the first place belonged to Douglas. During the journey of Wilde and Bosie through Algiers in January 1895, 3 months before the trial, they met in Biskra a young and novice French writer André Gida (Laureate Nobel Prize in Literature 1949). André Gide thought Douglas was not as handsome as Wilde had always described him, but he accurately noted the enormous influence that Bosie had on Oscar: from choosing dishes in a restaurant to direct instructions on what to do. In his autobiography, Gide wrote: “The personality of Douglas was stronger and more pronounced than that of Wilde; yes, Douglas did indeed have a more developed personality, manifested in terrible selfishness; he was guided by some kind of fatal predestination, for moments it seemed that he was not responsible for his actions; he never resisted his nature, nor did he allow anything or anyone to resist it. To tell the truth, Bosie interested me greatly, but he really was "terrible", and I think he is to blame for all the troubles of Wilde. Next to him, Wilde seemed soft, indecisive and weak-willed. Douglas, like a spoiled child, strove to break his own best toy, he was not satisfied with anything and something pushed him further and further. All sorts of rumors and gossip circulated around the name of Wilde and Bosie, but everything would probably have ended quietly if Bosie's father, the 8th Marquess of Queensberry, had not intervened. His son's sexual habits, of which he was well aware, infuriated him. His anger culminated in a famous postcard he sent to a club of which Wilde was a member. Only three words were written on the postcard: "To Oscar Wilde, a homosexual." Wilde was furious, and his anger pushed him to a rash act. He sued Queensberry, accusing him of libel. To the great surprise of the whole court, it turned out, however, that Queensberry was superbly prepared for the trial, employing a whole team of private detectives and paid informants, and with their help tracked down many of the young men Wild had met through Taylor. from further proceedings, and the Marquis was completely acquitted. Oscar's friends begged him to leave England urgently, but he refused to do so. Less than a month later, Wilde was arrested. Now Queensberry sued him, presenting evidence of his sexual perversion. Pimp Taylor was also arrested but refused to testify against Oscar Wilde. English history, Wild was full of self-control and acted, as always, very witty. This was not enough. One after another, boys and young men appeared in court, who gave such testimony, for example: “Wylde asked me to imagine that I was a woman, and he was my lover ... Usually I sat on his lap, and he caressed me as if I were a girl..." The active side was always Wilde. He delivered his famous speech in the process, "Love that dares not speak its name" (a line from one of Bozi's poems), which was so heartfelt that it was greeted with applause. The case was adjourned until the third trial. Once free, Wild again refused to flee the country. The third trial ended tragically for Wilde: he was sentenced to two years hard labor, which was the maximum punishment under the current legislation at that time. Conditions of imprisonment in England at that time were difficult. The horrors of prison took a toll on Wilde's mental health. In prison, he disowned Bozi, accusing him of being the one who led him to his downfall. When Wilde was in prison, Bosie did not write him a single letter. After it became clear that the letters could have been read by the head of the prison, who would undoubtedly have transferred them to the appropriate authorities, which would have hurt Wilde even more. Bosie received information about the condition of his friend from the so-called “close associates” of Wilde: Robert Ross, More Adie, Reginald Turner, but after the trial they treated Bosie very coldly and saw him as the direct culprit in Oscar’s trouble; the information was scarce, and Douglas never received any “kind words” from Wilde, with the exception of the ban on dedicating his first book of poems to Wilde (published in 1896) and not writing “defensive” articles. After his release in May 1897, Wilde, broken both mentally and physically, did not return to England. Under the name C:)styan Melmot, he first lived in France, and then moved to Italy. Constance Wilde, on the one hand, and the Bosie family and his many friends, on the other hand, made sure that Bosie and Wilde never met again, but there were still meetings. On most of them, Wilde used the moment to ask for money. When Oscar Wilde lived in France, he honestly tried one day to improve and get on the right path. The poet Ernst Dawson took him with him to brothel in the hope that he will develop "healthier tastes and cravings". When Wild went out into the street, he only remarked: "The first and last time for ten years. It looks like cold lamb." He nonetheless asked Dawson to "talk about it in England" as he thought it would "repair his reputation". wild life, having lovers in England, France and Algeria, with some of them he made short trips around Europe in order to be unnoticed by the strict family gaze on which he was then financially dependent. In early 1900, the Marquess of Queensbury died, having bequeathed to his sons a decent fortune. There were rumors, originated by Douglas himself, that his father had left him, Bosie, over £20,000. Wilde reacted to this immediately, believing that Alfred "should compensate" with money for his bankruptcy and collapse. He wrote letters to Douglas that were only about money, infuriating Bosie with the contrast of the relationship, because Oscar had previously written letters to him. full of love and beauty. From such commercialism, Bosie began to feel disgust for Wilde, as if his dreams had come true. own words that he wrote to Wilde in a letter dated October 16, 1894 (Wilde's 40th birthday): "When you are not on a pedestal, you are completely uninteresting." Nevertheless, Bosie did not forget Wilde, he always showed interest in his person, found out from Ross the state of Wilde's health, which constantly worsened, but did not experience special desire meet with him. Oscar Wilde died in exile in France on November 30, 1900 from acute meningitis caused by an ear infection. Shortly before his death, he said this about himself: “I will not survive 19th century. The English will not tolerate my continued presence." He was buried in Paris at the Bagno cemetery. About 10 years later, he was reburied in the Père Lachaise cemetery, and a winged sphinx made of stone by Jacob Epstein was installed on the grave. Alfred Douglas responded to the death of Oscar Wilde with several sonnets. In the 1990s, Bosi believed that being homosexual meant being chosen by Art itself and belonging to the era of the ancient Greeks. According to his own conclusions, 25% of all world heroes of history and art were homosexuals, moreover, he stated that: "the most intelligent men are homosexuals, others cannot be compared with them." By 1901, everyone spoke of Lord Alfred Douglas with contempt, as the lover and muse of Oscar Wilde. Recognized literary magazines refused to publish Bozi's poems, as a result of which by 1905 he ceased to write them regularly, from now until 1924 poetry becomes a rare hobby for him. With the advent of the new twentieth century, in 1901, Bozi's attitude to everything that was previously the most main value: to love. He begins to shy away from stormy companies where it was easy to meet young people, begins to speak negatively about homosexuality, calling it sodomy and perversion. If his father were alive, he would be proud of his son. At the end of 1901, he met the young and beautiful poetess Olive Eleanor Constance, daughter and heiress of Colonel Frederick Humboldon Constance. The following year, they fled together from England from Olive's father, who hated Douglas and, like everyone else, knew about his past. Olive loved Alfred (she dedicated several poems to him, one of them "Hyacinth" seemed to repeat Love letters Wilde to Bozi) and was expecting a child from him, which she did not hide from society or from Alfred, as a result, Douglas proposed her hand and heart and they got married on March 4, 1902. And on November 17 they had a son, Raymond ( full name– Raymond Wilfrid Sholto), a very fragile boy from birth alarming doctors, as it will become known later, not in vain: after a divorce from his wife, long persecution for his connection with Wilde, 6-month hard labor for an article accusing Churchill of conspiracy to kill politician, and other events rich life Douglas' biggest shock will be his son's diagnosis: schizophrenia. In 1940 Alfred published a book called Oscar Wilde: A Summing Up. Like all Douglas books, this book has not been translated into Russian, so it can only be judged by reviews and opinions of art critics on the Internet, from which it becomes obvious that “Oscar Wilde. Summing up ”became the most personal book of Douglas, where he, already without fear, confesses his love for Oscar Wilde, calls him the love of his life. Remembering every day he spent with Wilde on the pages of his book, the elderly Douglas relives his life with happiness and peace in his heart and soul, to which he has been going for so long. The appearance of this book was a reflection spiritual state Douglas: a lonely man whose only respite is to live in the memories of the past. Alfred Douglas. During Wilde's lifetime, everyone spoke of Douglas as the terrible shadow of the Prince of Paradox, which had a corrupting influence on him. After Wilde's death in 1900, everything became exactly the opposite. Now, Wilde's shadow haunted him until the end of his life, not giving him a peaceful life, both in the family and in society. And only the prison dotted all the “and”. Mystical fatalism - this is how you can call the life of Douglas. And now, almost sixty years after his death, I continue to speak of him as Bosie, Wilde's fatal lover, but not as a poet. He knew during his lifetime that he went down in history precisely as the shadow of Oscar Wilde, the trial of which in 1895 broke the life of not only the writer, but also the young English lord. PS: The brilliant film "Wilde" was played by the brilliant Stephen Fry and the handsome Jude Law.



Similar articles