The life and death of Oscar Wilde poet playwright poseur and convict can only fittingly be
summarised as a tragedy. Every misspent life is a tragedy more or less but how much more
tragic appear the elements of despair and disaster when the victim to his own vices is a man of
genius exercising a considerable influence upon the thought and culture of his day and
possessing every advantage which birth education talent and station can bestow? Oscar Wilde
was more than a clever and original thinker. He was the inventor of a certain literary style
and though his methods showy and eccentric as they were lent themselves readily to imitation
none of his followers could approach their Master in the particular mode which he had made his
own. There can be two opinions as to the merits of his plays. There can be only one judgment as
to their daring and audacious originality. Of the ordinary and the commonplace Wilde had a
horror which with him was almost a religion [...] Reprint of the book original published in
1906.
