Oscar Wilde 1988 and a Pulitzer Prize in 1989. The book was the basis for the 1997 film "Wilde", directed by Brian Gilbert and starring Stephen Fry as the title character. Neil McKenna's 2003 biography, "The Secret Life of Oscar Wilde," offers an exploration of Wilde's sexuality. Often speculative in nature, it was widely criticised for its pure conjecture and lack of scholarly rigour. Thomas Wright's "Oscar's Books" (2008) explores Wilde's reading from his childhood in Dublin to his death in Paris. After tracking down many books that once belonged to Wilde's Tite Street library (dispersed at the time of his trials),
Oscar Wilde a stringed lute on which all winds can play "Punch" was less enthusiastic, "The poet is Wilde, but his poetry's tame" was their verdict. Aestheticism was sufficiently in vogue to be caricatured by Gilbert and Sullivan in "Patience" (1881). Richard D'Oyly Carte, an English impresario, invited Wilde to make a lecture tour of North America, simultaneously priming the pump for the US tour of "Patience" and selling this most charming aesthete to the American public. Wilde journeyed on the SS "Arizona", arriving 2 January 1882, and disembarking the following day. Originally planned to last four months, it continued for almost