Friday, May 2, 2008

Happy Friday Everyone!

According to the votes, it looks like Tuesday, May 20 at 6 pm is the time.

The place is:

The Irish Lion

Here's a few fun facts about Oscar Wilde:

Irish-born novelist, playwright, poet, and critic

Birthdate: October 16, 1854
Died: November 30, 1900
Place of Birth: Dublin, Ireland

Known for:
Witty, often paradoxical, sayings that lampoon the social mores and behavior of the English upper classes of his time
Championing the aesthetic movement, which is based on the idea of art for art's sake

Milestones:
1878 Graduated from the University of Oxford with a degree in classics
1881 Published Poems, a collection of poetry
January - October 1882 Lectured on English aestheticism in the United States and Canada
1882 Vera, or the Nihilists, his first play, is produced in New York but is not successful
1891 Published his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, which portrayed the moral decay of its title character
February 1892 The play Lady Windermere's Fan, the first of four successful comedies, opened in London.
June 1892 Rehearsals for the play Salomé were halted by the British censor because of a law forbidding the representation of Biblical characters on stage.
February 1895 The Importance of Being Earnest, the last and most popular of his comedies, was produced in London.
May 1895 Was convicted of homosexual acts following three sensationalized trials, and received a sentence of two years' hard labor
1897 Released from prison, Wilde left immediately for France where he lived the rest of his life, publishing only the poem The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898).

Did You Know:
Wilde's flamboyant personality and eccentric dress were parodied in Gilbert and Sullivan's comic operetta, Patience (1881).
Wilde's most popular plays satirized the English upper classes- the very audience for whom they were intended.
Wilde's mother was a poetess and Irish nationalist known as Speranza.
Wilde's full name was Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde, in deference to his Irish heritage.

PSH

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