[Of glory and shame: a portrait of Oscar Wilde]

This study concerning the most controversial of British writers will surely evoke passionate reactions. Faced with the calibre and complexity of a figure such as Oscar Wilde, we concentrate our efforts on two lines of investigation event though we are aware that this will not satisfy all our readers. Firstly we look at the parallels between his principal work. The Picture of Dorian Gray, and his own tragic destiny. Many parallel themes can be found between the subject of the novel and the events of his own biography (particularly his relationship with an omnipresent mother in flagrant contrast to an absorbed and distant father). The second line of investigation looks at his problem of sexual identity. Oscar Wilde produced a work which described his own problems without any ambiguity. His homosexuality, his stage sense, his dandysm, as well as his taste for provocation and scandal are seen in the context of an unconditional relationship with a powerful mother which he attempted to find in his quest for substitutions love objects. It would seem that both, the relentless pursuit of his limits and the bearing of his secret fantasies, are not so much a reflection of a more or less verifiable reality but the product of as untiring elaboration of his fantasy-life.