Oscar: A LifeMatthew Sturgis
Taschenbuch
' The Book of the Year, perhaps of the decade, has to be Matthew Sturgis's Oscar ' T L S , Books of the Year. N O M I N A T E D F O R T H E W O L F S O N H I S T O R Y P R I Z E 2019. A S U N D A Y T I M E S B O O K O F T H E Y E A R. ' Simply the best modern biography of Wilde . . . A terrific achievement' Evening Standard . ' Page-turning . . . Vivid and desperately moving. However much you think you know Wilde, this book will absorb and entertain you' Sunday Times . ' Wonderfully exciting . . . Sturgis's great achievement is to take on board his great flurry of contradictions' Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday . '[ Sturgis] is a tremendous orchestrator of material, fastidious, unhurried, indefatigable' Observer . ' Oscar Wilde is more fashionable than ever . . . Sturgis's account of the hearing at the Old Bailey is as gripping as it is grim' Guardian . ' The Book of the Year, perhaps of the decade, has to be Matthew Sturgis's Oscar which captures the wit, the love-ability, the dramatic genius, the insane self-destructiveness, the originality of Wilde . . . [ Sturgis] is the greatest chronicler of the 1890s we have ever had' T L S , Books of the Year. Oscar Wilde's life - like his wit - was alive with paradox. He was both an early exponent and a victim of 'celebrity culture': famous for being famous, he was lauded and ridiculed in equal measure. His achievements were frequently downplayed, his successes resented. He had a genius for comedy but strove to write tragedies. He was an unabashed snob who nevertheless delighted in exposing the faults of society. He affected a dandified disdain but was prone to great acts of kindness. Although happily married, he became a passionate lover of men and - at the very peak of his success - brought disaster upon himself. He disparaged authority, yet went to the law to defend his love for Lord Alfred Douglas. Having delighted in fashionable throngs, Wilde died almost alone: barely a dozen people were at his. . .
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