The truth is rarely pure and never simple. Modern life would be very tedious if it were either, and modern literature a complete impossibility.
Is lying simply an uncomfortable truth about life or something to be celebrated? In these dazzlingly witty pages we find deceptions of all kinds. From false names to imaginary friends to fictitious engagements, Wilde proves himself to be a connoisseur of creativity and argues that lying may be an art form in itself.
作者简介
奥斯卡·王尔德(Oscar Wilde)于1854年10月16日出生于都柏林。他曾就读于都柏林三一学院和牛津大学玛格达琳学院。他后来住在伦敦,并于1884年与康斯坦斯·劳埃德(Constance Lloyd)结婚。王尔德是美学运动的领袖。他的唯一一部小说《多利安·格雷的图片》(The Picture of Dorian Gray)于1890年首次在Lippincott的《月刊》上出版。由于批评该书不道德的负面评论,他于1891年出版了修订版和扩展版。王尔德因其戏剧的巨大成功而闻名,例如温德米尔夫人的歌迷(1892),理想丈夫(1895)和重要性的认真(1895)。
1985年,在一场涉及王尔德与阿尔弗雷德·道格拉斯勋爵(Lord Alfred Douglas)的关系的公开丑闻之后,他在瑞丁监狱(Reading Gaol)被判两年徒劳,罪名是“严重dec亵”。他的诗歌《读监狱的民谣》是根据他在监狱中的经历出版的,于1898年出版。王尔德出狱后,再也没有在英格兰生活,并于1900年11月30日在巴黎去世。他被埋葬在拉雪兹神父公墓。Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin on 16 October 1854. He studied at Trinity College, Dublin and Magdalen College, Oxford. He later lived in London and married Constance Lloyd there in 1884. Wilde was a leader of the Aesthetic Movement. His only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, was first published in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine in 1890. He published a revised and expanded edition in 1891 in response to reviews which criticised the book’s immorality. Wilde became famous through of the immense success of his plays such as Lady Windemere's Fan (1892), An Ideal Husband (1895) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895).
In 1985, after a public scandal involving Wilde's relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas, he was sentenced to two years' hard labour in Reading Gaol for 'gross indecency'. His poem The Ballad of Reading Gaol was based on his experiences in prison and was published in 1898. After his release, Wilde never lived in England again and died in Paris on 30 November 1900. He is buried in Père Lachaise cemetery.
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