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Historically famous critics

Oscar Wilde

1854-1900 · Anglo-Irish · Victorian era

Anglo-Irish wit who used comedy to expose Victorian hypocrisy and moral cant

Oscar Wilde used dazzling wit as a scalpel against Victorian respectability. His comedies, especially The Importance of Being Earnest, turned the hypocrisies of marriage, class, and morality into laughter that cut deep, and The Picture of Dorian Gray probed the rot beneath a beautiful surface. In The Soul of Man under Socialism he attacked poverty and conformity and argued for individual freedom. Convicted and imprisoned for his homosexuality, he became a lasting symbol of the cost of a society policing private life.

Essays to read on AltWoke

13 essays, full text, free. Grouped by the collection they appeared in.

The Soul of Man under Socialism (1)

De Profundis (1)

Wrote against

  • Victorian hypocrisy
  • bourgeois morality
  • class snobbery
  • philistinism
  • marriage conventions
  • puritanism

Books

Complete bibliography. Public-domain titles link to the full text; others link out to read, borrow, or buy.

Sources

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