Oscar Wilde as A Universal Author

In the Victorian Age the strict moral standards, narrowminded religious values and taboos were prevailing in the English society. This paper studies and discusses the biography and the works of Oscar Wilde to discuss in what way Oscar Wilde has addressed to the universal feelings of readers of all ages although he lived in the age of Victorian morality. The main issue is how Oscar Wilde as a marginal and rebellious writer, playwright and poet advocating “art is for art’s sake”, as one of the forerunners of aesthetic movement in literature, has become universally acknowledged, well known author. Accordingly, the paper deals with the controversial issue of an elitist author becoming a universally acknowledged author. Within this framework, it aims to disclose the the expressive identity of the author by setting up correlations between his works, family and educational background as well as the established values and literary movements of Victorian age. Meanwhile it discusses the underlying motives of his universal fame despite his marginal lifestyle and rebellious attitude towards canonized literature of his age. In conclusion, the paper discusses whether being controversial as an author to the established values of society or literary movements ends in totally isolation of the author from the society, or just contrarily whether it helps the author gain deep awareness of one’s society, which ends in processing the feedback from the society in such a way as to touch on the universal values of the humanity