h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Perhaps I should go into a mini-biography, but you can find that anywhere. Oscar Wilde is one of my favorite authors. His comedies are full of true observations on the absurdities of Victorian life. The Picture of Dorian Gray is an acutely sensitive portrait of the dissolution of an innocent soul. Salome was decadent and incisive. De Profundis moved me deeply. His poems are well-crafted, but it is The Ballad of Reading Gaol that is his best work. It strongly influenced my own opinion on the death penalty and human rights, even though its religious rhetoric sometimes escapes me - I am not a Christian nor was raised one.

I think the best lines he ever wrote come from that poem:

And all the woe that moved him so that he gave a bitter cry,
And the wild regrets and the bloody sweats none knew so well as I,
For he who lives more lives than one more deaths than one must die.

By the way, the movie Wilde was excellent, Stephen Fry being the only living actor I can think of who could carry of Oscar Wilde. Jude Law was wonderful as Bosie, and did anyone notice Ioan Gruffudd as the inspiration for Dorian Gray?

I think Oscar Wilde would be pleased to know that his genius and talent are finally recognized.

Anya, I think his genius and talent were recognised by many during his lifetime, but it wasn't safe to admit it. He was born out of time in many ways, and knew it himself, but refused to compromise accordingly - he was offered the chance to escape imprisonment if he left the country but refused.

Have you seen the 1960's film 'The Trials of Oscar Wilde' with Peter Finch as Wilde? Well worth seeing.

I haven't seen The Trials of Oscar Wilde, but will make an effort to see it soon.

He wrote some excellent poetry besides "The Ballad of Reading Gaol" - "Ravenna" comes to mind, as well as some impressionistic lyric poetry. I have a book of his poems - most people think they're not as good as his prose, but for what it's worth I think they're underrated.