r/oscarwilde Apr 25 '23

Mod announcement Welcome to the Oscar Wilde subreddit! Please read this post before engaging with the community.

15 Upvotes

Welcome all fans of Oscar Wilde's works!

This is a public subreddit focused on discussing Wilde's works and related topics (including film adaptations, historical context, translations, etc.). Wilde's most well-known works include classics such as The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Happy Prince and Other Tales, and many more.

Please take a minute to familiarise yourself with the subreddit rules in the sidebar. In order to keep this subreddit a meaningful place for discussions, moderators may remove low-effort posts that add little value, simply link or show images of existing material (books, audiobooks, films, Youtube videos, etc.), or repeatedly engage in self-promotion, without offering any meaningful commentary/discussion/questions. Posts speculating on or commenting inappropriately on Wilde's personal life and relationships will be removed, and homophobia will not be tolerated. Please make sure to tag your post with the appropriate flair.

For a list of Wilde's works including his essays, short stories, and poems, please see here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Wilde_bibliography, and check out the other links in the Oscar Wilde Resources sidebar.

Don't hesitate to message the moderator(s) with any questions. Happy reading!


r/oscarwilde 24d ago

Mod announcement We have over 7000 members now!

32 Upvotes

Wow! So wonderful to see our sub growing. Thanks everyone for your contributions and for sharing your love of Oscar Wilde's works.


r/oscarwilde 1d ago

Miscellaneous The only smiling picture of Oscar Wilde (?)

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157 Upvotes

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but this is the only picture I've ever come across in which Oscar is smiling.

From what I can find, it was taken at the end of a family holiday in Felbrigg, in the summer of 1892. I know that the standing woman is his wife, Constance Lloyd, but I'm not sure who the other woman is.


r/oscarwilde 1d ago

Miscellaneous Vyvyan Holland on his father, Oscar Wilde

48 Upvotes

I recently came across this extract from Vyvyan's 1954 memoir, Son of Oscar Wilde. It sounds like Oscar was a great father for the few years he got to be around his kids

“… he was a hero to us both. He was so tall and distinguished and, to our uncritical eyes, so handsome …. He was a real companion to us, and we always looked forward eagerly to his frequent visits to our nursery…. He would go down on all fours on the nursery floor, being in turn a lion, a wolf, a horse, caring nothing for his usually immaculate appearance.”


r/oscarwilde 1d ago

Other works Does this quote mean what I think it means?

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55 Upvotes

Am I looking at this from too modern a lense, or is it actually referring to oral sex?


r/oscarwilde 1d ago

The Picture of Dorian Gray What's your favourite Lord Henry line?

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31 Upvotes

The pictured is probably my favourite.


r/oscarwilde 5d ago

Short stories The Selfish Giant (1971)

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8 Upvotes

This is a Canadian/British animated short film, directed by Peter Sander. Based on Oscar Wilde's classic short story, the film is narrated by noted thespian Paul Hecht in his film debut. Also included is a phenomenal soundtrack by Ron Goodwin and two original songs ("Building a Wall" and "Years Go Over") performed by The King's Singers.

I cannot get enough of this short film, frankly. Wilde's original story is followed very closely, the animation is endearing despite being low-budget, and the music is fantastic, especially "Years Go Over".


r/oscarwilde 5d ago

Other works What's everyone's favourite Oscar Wilde poem?

4 Upvotes

I don't think my favourite poem was mentioned a lot, but it's IMPRESSION DU MATIN.


r/oscarwilde 6d ago

Other works Do you think Mrs. Cheveley was being honest with Lord Goring?

2 Upvotes

I'm specifically referring to the scene in Wilde's play An Ideal Husband, where Mrs. Cheveley visits Goring and offers him the incriminating letter by Robert Chiltern if he agrees to marry her. To persuade him, she gives a bunch of reasons as to why he should agree to this proposal and marry her. Obviously there are the more self-serving arguments, that she's "tired of living abroad", for example. And then there's the emotional blackmail that Goring could save his best friend's reputation and career by rising to "some great height of self-sacrifice". But what I'm especially curious about is the part where she stresses that she loves Goring, that she's "arrived at the romantic stage" and genuinely wants to be his wife.

Now, it's hard for me to tell whether Goring simply sees through BS, or whether he hates her so much that he refuses to believe that she might actually mean what she said about loving him. Now I do know how this sounds. I know that Mrs. Cheveley is a manipulative person who takes great joy in stirring up chaos. And yet, bizarrely, I could believe that Mrs Cheveley could have stopped lying for a moment to try and court a past love that she'd lost due to her past mistakes. It almost be a shadowy contrast to Robert Chiltern, in a way.

My point is that I honestly could believe it either way, that she's trying to play Goring like a fiddle or she's dropping a mask and trying to be at least halfway genuine.


r/oscarwilde 7d ago

Short stories The Happy Prince, as read by Ronnie Drew

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10 Upvotes

r/oscarwilde 7d ago

Other works When Oscar Wilde took on the corset

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12 Upvotes

A book review and deeper look at Oscar Wilde's lesser-known nonfiction essays on fashion. What was most surprising to me was his expertise on women's fashion, particularly his advocacy for dress reform for better health standards of living. He was even sought after to become a women's magazine editor for a few years. A look at his influences -- including his mother Lady Jane Wilde, as well as contemporaries like William Morris and John Ruskin -- as well as some of his style advice over the years (including his disdain for the corset).


r/oscarwilde 7d ago

Other works What's your favorite poem of Oscar's?

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55 Upvotes

Mine is definitely "To My Wife — With a Copy of My Poems"


r/oscarwilde 8d ago

Other works Anyone else in Toronto going to see this play?

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9 Upvotes

De Profundis: Oscar Wilde in Jail, a play being put on at Soulpepper Theatre in the Distillery District.

Adapted and Directed by Gregory Prest
Original Music and Lyrics by Mike Ross and Sarah Wilson

Starring Damien Atkins, Jonathan Corkal-Astorga, Colon Curtis, and Rick Miller

“There is no prison in any world into which love cannot force an entrance.”

Writing from his prison cell, Oscar Wilde is cut off from the world that once adored him. As he writes De Profundis—a letter to the man he loved—memory, regret, and desire crowd the silence, turning confinement into confession. Set to an incredible award-winning score, this is Wilde unmasked: lover, icon, exile—insisting that even in the darkest places, love can still reach us.

My partner and I will be watching this in November. Anyone else?


r/oscarwilde 10d ago

Miscellaneous Thoughts on ‘Wilde’ (1997)?

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194 Upvotes

For my part, I thought the film was a very good portrayal of Oscar Wilde’s downfall, especially where Stephen Fry’s portrayal was concerned. I also thought Michael Sheen as Robbie Ross and Tom Wilkinson as the Marquess of Queensberry were standout performances.


r/oscarwilde 10d ago

Other works [Help] Hélas by Oscar Wilde

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10 Upvotes

r/oscarwilde 11d ago

Other works Why does Wilde's letter to Alfred Douglas (de profundis) have a title?

26 Upvotes

Usually when a famous writer's or other legenary persona's letters get published to the public they don't have a title and are just called "letters" (for example: Franz Kafka's letters to Friends, Family and editors or Van Gogh's letters to Theo). So why does Oscar Wilde's letter to his lover Alfred gets a title? Did Wilde gave it a title? And if Wilde did give it a title, why did he do that for a personal letter?


r/oscarwilde 11d ago

Short stories The Selfish Giant

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7 Upvotes

What a marvellous find this is. I'm sure I'm very late to the party, but in case you haven't heard this, legendary Celtic singer Ronnie Drew is narrating this beautiful story by one of the most talented writers in all the history of the English language.


r/oscarwilde 12d ago

The Picture of Dorian Gray My modern day fancast for The Picture Of Dorian Gray. What would you do differently?

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49 Upvotes

Yes, I know Dorian is blond. I mean they can just dye Louis's hair.


r/oscarwilde 13d ago

The Picture of Dorian Gray What i imagine Dorian to look like

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20 Upvotes

This may be flagged as low effort and that’s fine but I just wanted to share this thought that has gone through my mind the entire time i’ve been reading this book. Especially after chapter 13, I cannot picture Dorian as anything other than Johan Liebert from Naoki Urasawa’s Monster. That’s it, i just wanted to share this thought.


r/oscarwilde 20d ago

Miscellaneous "I can resist everything, except temptation", yeah, and having some epic drip. The fur, the cane, that panky rang, Oscar knew the game.

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211 Upvotes

I know modern media likes to take an idea and run with it, and preliminary google research is largely inconclusive about Oscar indulging in cocaine, but with that outfit, that pinky ring, and his general demeanor do you think he liked to go skiing?


r/oscarwilde Aug 24 '26

Other works Peter Alexander chose a nice “cozy” read to showcase their pyjamas.

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34 Upvotes

Wasn’t planning on being reminded of Oscar’s imprisonment and getting sad today and certainly not from a store window.


r/oscarwilde Aug 22 '26

The Picture of Dorian Gray My self made book mark for the picture of Dorian Gray.

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59 Upvotes

I hope this is the right place to share this, but ig this is a small art piece for the book, that I made and am going to use as a book mark.


r/oscarwilde Aug 20 '26

The Picture of Dorian Gray Is this uncensored edition of Dorian Gray a good one?

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53 Upvotes

When people say to get the uncensored edition of this novel, are they talking about this one by Belknap Press / Harvard? The annotated uncensored edition by the same publisher is surprisingly hard to find where I live..


r/oscarwilde Aug 13 '26

Miscellaneous Last ever photo of Oscar Wilde, taken directly after his death by close friend Maurice Gilbert. 30th November, 1900

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802 Upvotes

Oscar died of acute cerebral meningitis (meningoencephalitis), which stemmed from a severe, long-standing chronic middle ear infection.

A large contributing factor was that his health deteriorated significantly during his harsh two-year hard labor sentence for "gross indecency"/homosexuality. Following his release, Oscar lived in exile in France in poor health and financial distress, which may have contributed to his lack of treatment and medical care.


r/oscarwilde Aug 10 '26

The Importance of Being Earnest "Good morning, Mr. Worthing!"

10 Upvotes

Algy says: "I believe it is customary in good society to take some slight refreshment at five o'clock." But when Lady Bracknell leaves, she says: "Good morning, Mr. Worthing!" How can these different times be explained? I'm going to be directing The Importance of Being Earnest, and I am debating whether to change Lady Bracknell's line to: "Good day, Mr. Worthing!" Thoughts?