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Un tributo a Oscar Wilde

Translation:  Paula Picado Picado

A tribute to Oscar Wilde

The name Oscar Wilde is synonymous with wit, literature, good taste and eccentricity. All his appellations can be rolled into one: Oscar Wilde was an utter genius.

We open the doors of the scarlet library to pay a well-deserved tribute to Oscar Wilde. Come in…

A picture of Oscar Wilde.

Biographical note

Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin on October the 16th, 1854, and died in Paris on November 30th, 1900. His legacy tells us that he was a brilliant writer, poet and playwright as well as a dandy aesthete, scathing critic and creator of numerous aphorisms.

Since his youth he cultivated various literary genres with great success in Victorian London. But a trial for defamation of the father of Sir Alfred Douglas, his lover, led to a sentence for homosexuality, and imprisonment. After serving his sentence, Wilde went into self-exile in France, where he lived in poverty, before dying in Paris in 1900.

His remains were buried in Père-Lachaise Cemetery and his grave has become an iconic place where generations of lovers of his literature come to worship him and lay roses in his honour.

The Importance of Being Earnest

Wilde had already achieved great success as a playwright, but with this comic play he surprised all London reviewers. It was first performed on 14 February 1895 and was a sensation.

A scathing portrait of Victorian England, its title carries a double meaning, as the name ‘Ernest’ sounds the same as ‘Earnest’, which means serious.

It was the last comedy Wilde wrote and it is considered one of his best works.

Salome

“I have kissed your mouth, Yokanaan”.

Undoubtedly Oscar Wilde’s most controversial work was Salome. He wrote it in Paris and it was originally written in French. But it was harshly criticised for its inclusion of biblical characters in scenes with an implicit sexual charge. Death and desire populate this reinterpretation of the biblical passage of Salome and the beheading of St John the Baptist. It is without doubt the ultimate drama of Decadent movement.

The play fascinated the British illustrator Aubrey Beardsley, who produced a series of illustrations for the play. But Wilde, first honoured but later disappointed, rejected Beardsley’s work.

One of the most striking illustrations is the one depicting the moment when Salome says to the beheaded Baptist: ‘I have kissed your mouth Yokanaan’.

To enjoy the edition of Salome illustrated by Beardsley, I recommend the one published by Libros del Zorro Rojo, translated by Rafael Cansinos Assens.

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Dorian Gray’s portrait after becoming monstruous.

It was his only novel, but with it Oscar Wilde achieved the highest heights in his prose and was confirmed as one of the great classics of world literature.

In it, Wilde exalts the value of aestheticism taken to its extremes, where beauty makes perfect sense, whether or not it is accompanied by morality. This is why Dorian Gray is capable of committing all kinds of crimes in the name of beauty, remaining forever young and beautiful, while his portrait becomes monstrous as a result of all his crimes.

This is the fundamental idea of Oscar Wilde’s aesthetics: ‘art for art’s sake’.

Here is an open online version of The Picture of Dorian Gray.

De Profundis

Oscar Wilde and Bossie.

If his life had been a celebration of beauty and freedom, his imprisonment marked the beginning of the end of Oscar Wilde’s life and work.

After his sentence to hard labour for homosexuality, Wilde wrote an epistolary work dedicated to his lover, Lord Alfred Douglas, whom he affectionately called Bossie.

De Profundis was the title of Wilde’s last song, after which only utter decadence remained. In this long letter to Bossie we find anger, hatred, sadness, guilt, regret or accusation, and even an approximation to Jesus Christ. In the end, we find forgiveness. Forgiveness to his lover who has abandoned him but also to himself.

A terrible swan song from one of the greatest in world literature.

Dr. Pedro Ortega

Ingeniero Industrial, Historiador del Arte, Máster en Edición Digital y Doctor en Estética. Es Gestor Cultural de Patrimonio Mundial del Ayuntamiento de Madrid. Edita la revista académica Herejía y Belleza y dirige el sello académico Ediciones Aulós. Es autor en Penguin Random House y ha escrito artículos para El Imparcial, Jot Down e Historia National Geographic, entre otros medios. Pedro Ortega PhD Industrial Engineer, Art Historian, with a M.A. in Digital Publishing and a PhD in Aesthetics. He is the cultural manager at the World Heritage Service of the Madrid City Council. He is a published author at Penguin Random House and has written articles for El Imparcial, Jot Down and Historia National Geographic, among others. Pedro Ortega doktorea Industria Ingeniaria, Artearen Historialaria, Edizio Digitaleko Master-duna eta Estetikan Doktorea. Kultur kudeatzailea da Madrilgo Udaleko Munduko Ondare Zerbitzuan. Penguin Random House-ko idazlea da eta artikuluak idatzi ditu El Imparcial, Jot Down eta Historia National Geographic-entzat, besteak beste.

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OpenEdition le sugiere que cite este post de la siguiente manera:
Dr. Pedro Ortega (29 de julio de 2024). Un tributo a Oscar Wilde. El blog de Tartalo. Recuperado 24 de abril de 2025 de https://doi.org/10.58079/123tl


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