Oscar Wilde: A Life in Quotes

Oscar Wilde was to many the greatest wit in the English Language. He died unsure whether his reputation as a genius - the one thing that mattered to him - would survive his disgrace, yet today he is possibly even more famous and admired now than he was in his own lifetime. In many ways he is an astonishingly modern figure, and Barry Day's affectionate tribute to him is a fine testament to the lasting relevance of Wilde's voice. It is largely through Wilde's own scintillating words that we perceive his progress from the brilliant, youthful aesthete who mesmerised audiences, to the tragic outcast, destroyed by his own vanity and arrogance.