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OSCAR WILDE

(1854-1900)

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Oscar Wilde is the

Aesthete par excellence

as, not only his

works, but his very life

style, reflected the

principle that the only

thing in life that

matters is art and

pleasure. It was not art

that had to imitate life,

but life had to imitate

art.

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Oscar Wilde (Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills

Wilde) was born in Dublin on 16 October

1854 to Sir William Wilde and his wife Jane.

Oscar's mother, Lady Jane Francesca Wilde

(1820-1896), was a successful poet and

journalist. She wrote patriotic Irish verse

under the pseudonym "Speranza". Oscar's

father, Sir William Wilde (1815 - 1876), was

a leading surgeon, a renowned philanthropist

and gifted writer, who wrote books on

archaeology and folklore. Oscar had an elder

brother, Willie, and a younger sister, Isola

Francesca, who died at the early age of 10.