Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde was born to Anglo-Irish intellectuals, becoming fluent in German and French at a young age. He read the Greats at university and became involved in the aestheticism movement, returning to London after graduation to work as a journalist. He became a well-known personality and writer in London, parlaying his ideas about art and society into essays, plays, and his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray. At the height of his success, Wilde was prosecuted for homosexual activities and was imprisoned in a hard labor camp for two years. Upon his release, and in poor health, Wilde went to Paris, where he died at age 46.