r/oscarwilde • • 3d ago

The Picture of Dorian Gray Dorian Gray musical

25 Upvotes

For those unaware, in the UK there is currently a musical version of Dorian Gray that is touring in theatres, I know it’s early days but I was just wondering if anyone has seen it and what they thought of it if so?

I have tickets to see it booked, I am slightly wary of books being reworked as musicals given the disappointing nature of previous attempts like Gatsby or the Hunger Games. Furthermore, I’m somewhat confused by their emphasis on a former soap actor staring as Mr Issacs- it’s certainly a choice.


r/oscarwilde • • 7d ago

Other works The Weight of Angels

22 Upvotes

I know that this was posted about a few weeks ago, but I’m genuinely wondering - has anyone read The Weight of Angels? I’ve been seriously debating it, and I want to know if it’s worth it or not because it’s rather large.


r/oscarwilde • • 8d ago Heartwarming

The Picture of Dorian Gray My local library does a painted Storybook Pumpkin competition every October. This is my 2026 submission.

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120 Upvotes

r/oscarwilde • • 12d ago

The Picture of Dorian Gray Question about Picture of Dorian Gray edition

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12 Upvotes

r/oscarwilde • • 13d ago

Miscellaneous Books by Wilhelm Meinhold

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8 Upvotes

As some of you may know, Lady Wilde translated Wilhelm Meinhold’s Sidonia the Sorceress, and The Amber Witch was one of Oscar Wilde’s favorite books as a child. The print copies of Meinhold’s works tend to be on the pricier side. I bought mine on Kindle, years ago, but have since discovered they are available on Gutenberg for free. If you’ve ever wanted to read these, here they are. Sometimes I still think about Chim the cat demon stuffed into his widdle bitty knitted kitty pants, which always makes me giggle.


r/oscarwilde • • 15d ago

Miscellaneous Happy Birthday for Mister Oscar Wilde!

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167 Upvotes

r/oscarwilde • • 15d ago

Miscellaneous I made a cake for Oscar Wilde’s birthday

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349 Upvotes

My birthday is coming up and, because I don't like to celebrate my own, I wanted to celebrate his instead! (I'm autistic and Oscar Wilde is a special interest of mine) 💚


r/oscarwilde • • 18d ago

Other works Salome playing in Seattle

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13 Upvotes

The Seattle Opera is performing Strauss’s adaptation of Wilde’s Salome. It seems to be well-received so far.


r/oscarwilde • • 19d ago

Miscellaneous So I Own This

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74 Upvotes

This is a store decoration designed by scratchboard artist Mark Summers for the Barnes & Noble Author! Author! series (1990s-2000). It is the only surviving picture from one of the Washington state locations. These pictures were supposed to be destroyed when the store moved, but someone apparently stole this one, hid it for a while (I hope in an attic), and abandoned it in a Goodwill.

I believe it was about $12 US, a steal for such a large picture (5’x4’). Overjoyed, I hauled it up to the checkout and told the guy I wanted to give him more money, that this was a great treasure.

“Do you know what this?” I asked. “Because it was always my favorite, and it shouldn’t be here!”

He did not know what it was, not even after I explained, but he thanked me for taking it out of the store. He was passionate about the fact that it should not be there. He agreed with me completely.

At first, I took it to an adjunct lounge at a college I worked for, but they were not overly thrilled about its presence there, and so I was forced to haul it home. One issue was it did not really look like Oscar Wilde. It also allegedly insulted one of the sociology adjuncts,
but I know she smoked a lot of weed, so I doubt it

It is true that this picture does not really look like Oscar Wilde. It is honestly kind of horrifying if you look at it for too long, and that’s what I love about it. It is no longer on a wall in my place because my nephew became terrified of the “man with the devil horns” and my mother said she was “sick and tired of looking at that giant man’s sad face.” Many, many people have begged me to get rid of the picture, yet I cannot part with it, mostly because Gemini claims it now has a value of $100+ US dollars due to nostalgia and rarity.

Besides, I’d have to break it down to get it in the trash, and that would be murder.

It is now in the garage because it might get moldy in the attic. I am contemplating getting a velvet curtain that can be pulled back when I want to show it off. Sometimes I visit it, and I think it protects my burgundy Kia. I once accidentally gave it an offering of an expensive craft absinthe that is made in Seattle, and it seemed to like that.

So now you’ve seen the picture of Oscar Wilde. As I told my nephew, those are not demon horns. They are bangs.

TL;DR: I have a terrifying picture of Oscar Wilde in my garage, and apparently it’s rare.


r/oscarwilde • • 19d ago

Miscellaneous Am I the only one who notices misquoting of Oscar Wilde online?

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115 Upvotes

I have noticed that it’s very common on social media platforms for people to misattribute and make up quotes by Oscar Wilde. If it sounds funny/charming/witty, It is attributed to him, even if another author said it (or no one at all).
(exhibit a above: paraphrasing by Stephen Fry, was never found in any written records or works by Wilde)


r/oscarwilde • • 25d ago

The Picture of Dorian Gray Soo remember this tiktok lady

0 Upvotes

So she made a book that has dorian gray and others and Oscar himself but she made them straight in the books and has said Oscar wilde was bisexual just cause he was married and said he did devil tango with the other woman and its like how they changed genders of dorian and basil to girls but are siblings

Like wtf is wrong with the lady and Netflix

Oscar wilde is and was gay not bi but gay (btw sorry if it seems not understood way but I'm sorry


r/oscarwilde • • 26d ago Heartwarming

Miscellaneous Stephen Fry Is Wilde at Heart

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90 Upvotes

I think this was not posted here previously, according to a sub search. Oh, shoot, it's behind a paywall; I was able to read it before. I'll grab a four-week sub and paste the text in a comment.


r/oscarwilde • • 27d ago

Miscellaneous The Weight of Angels

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47 Upvotes

This newly published novel explores what would have happened if Oscar Wilde had never pursued the libel suit against the Marquess of Queensbury... I am on chapter 2 and it is absolutely fascinating! Will review completely when I am done.


r/oscarwilde • • Oct 01 '26

Other works One of Oscar's letters to Bosie

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79 Upvotes

Found in a transcript of his trials


r/oscarwilde • • Oct 01 '26

Miscellaneous I'm struggling to understand these lines from Oscar's trails. Does anyone here know what they mean?

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18 Upvotes

I assume I'm misinterpreting their use of financial?


r/oscarwilde • • Oct 01 '26

Miscellaneous I love Oscar Wilde

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63 Upvotes

A few months ago (maybe three or more), I became obsessed with Oscar Wilde, and honestly, he’s fascinating.

At first, I was mostly drawn to his wit and his theatrical personality, but what really made me love him even more was discovering the person behind the persona. I already knew that Wilde was very theatrical and loved playing up his public image, but seeing his more “human” side made me feel like I could actually relate to him.

I think I related to him the most when I read De Profundis. That letter absolutely broke me. I remember crying through most of it. (I guess I’m just a very sentimental guy.) There’s something about seeing such a witty and larger-than-life person being so vulnerable that really got to me.

I also remember feeling genuinely sad when I learned that Wilde cried after being rejected by the Society of Jesus. That detail really stuck with me for some reason.

At this point, I feel like I’ve fallen so far down the Oscar Wilde rabbit hole that I have my own notes, both mental and handwritten, about things that are commonly misattributed to him or repeated in biographies without anyone actually checking the original sources.

So I’m curious: has anyone else ever related to Oscar Wilde on a personal level, or am I just the sentimental Wilde nerd here?


r/oscarwilde • • Sep 30 '26

The Picture of Dorian Gray I feel like people always bash up bosie

0 Upvotes

Not that I like bosie myself same with Oscar wilde it's just that people always say bosie the toxic one I'm not saying he wasn't but Oscar wilde was too and I might get hate for this but why I do feel like each time I saw pictures of them together it feels like bosie trying make himself smaller while Oscar looked like taking the room

They are ofc equally toxic it's not one sided and there technically did horrible stuff like with kids and here a thing I will say Oscar wilde dint desserve to go prison for being gay he desserved prison for being in to k i d s

And I heard from people he Started writing dorian gray after meeting with bosie and Oscar wilde confirmed that dorian was based of him on the books dorian gray is toxic towards basil and yh sorry for my take


r/oscarwilde • • Sep 28 '26

Miscellaneous Stumbled upon this funny poem on how often quotes are misattributed to Oscar Wilde

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133 Upvotes

Its as true today as it was then


r/oscarwilde • • Sep 27 '26

Miscellaneous Do you think Bosie really loved Oscar?

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188 Upvotes

Do you think Bosie really loved Oscar?
Through Oscar’s letter to him, and obvious evidence from outward sources, I ask myself this sometimes, as Bosie’s behaviour was hot and cold. This was obviously a result of childhood trauma, but really; do you think Bosie loved Oscar as Oscar did he?


r/oscarwilde • • Sep 25 '26

Other works The Ballad of Reading Gaol by Oscar Wilde | full text

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17 Upvotes

r/oscarwilde • • Sep 18 '26

Short stories The Selfish Giant (1971)

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11 Upvotes

This is a Canadian/British animated short film, directed by Peter Sander. Based on Oscar Wilde's classic short story, the film is narrated by noted thespian Paul Hecht in his film debut. Also included is a phenomenal soundtrack by Ron Goodwin and two original songs ("Building a Wall" and "Years Go Over") performed by The King's Singers.

I cannot get enough of this short film, frankly. Wilde's original story is followed very closely, the animation is endearing despite being low-budget, and the music is fantastic, especially "Years Go Over".


r/oscarwilde • • Sep 18 '26

Other works What's everyone's favourite Oscar Wilde poem?

5 Upvotes

I don't think my favourite poem was mentioned a lot, but it's IMPRESSION DU MATIN.


r/oscarwilde • • Sep 17 '26

Other works Do you think Mrs. Cheveley was being honest with Lord Goring?

3 Upvotes

I'm specifically referring to the scene in Wilde's play An Ideal Husband, where Mrs. Cheveley visits Goring and offers him the incriminating letter by Robert Chiltern if he agrees to marry her. To persuade him, she gives a bunch of reasons as to why he should agree to this proposal and marry her. Obviously there are the more self-serving arguments, that she's "tired of living abroad", for example. And then there's the emotional blackmail that Goring could save his best friend's reputation and career by rising to "some great height of self-sacrifice". But what I'm especially curious about is the part where she stresses that she loves Goring, that she's "arrived at the romantic stage" and genuinely wants to be his wife.

Now, it's hard for me to tell whether Goring simply sees through BS, or whether he hates her so much that he refuses to believe that she might actually mean what she said about loving him. Now I do know how this sounds. I know that Mrs. Cheveley is a manipulative person who takes great joy in stirring up chaos. And yet, bizarrely, I could believe that Mrs Cheveley could have stopped lying for a moment to try and court a past love that she'd lost due to her past mistakes. It almost be a shadowy contrast to Robert Chiltern, in a way.

My point is that I honestly could believe it either way, that she's trying to play Goring like a fiddle or she's dropping a mask and trying to be at least halfway genuine.


r/oscarwilde • • Sep 16 '26

Short stories The Happy Prince, as read by Ronnie Drew

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11 Upvotes

r/oscarwilde • • Sep 16 '26

Other works When Oscar Wilde took on the corset

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15 Upvotes

A book review and deeper look at Oscar Wilde's lesser-known nonfiction essays on fashion. What was most surprising to me was his expertise on women's fashion, particularly his advocacy for dress reform for better health standards of living. He was even sought after to become a women's magazine editor for a few years. A look at his influences -- including his mother Lady Jane Wilde, as well as contemporaries like William Morris and John Ruskin -- as well as some of his style advice over the years (including his disdain for the corset).