Built of Books
eBook - ePub

Built of Books

How Reading Defined the Life of Oscar Wilde

  1. 385 pages
  2. English
  3. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

Built of Books

How Reading Defined the Life of Oscar Wilde

About this book

An entirely new kind of biography, Built of Books explores the mind and personality of Oscar Wilde through his taste in books
This intimate account of Oscar Wilde's life and writings is richer, livelier, and more personal than any book available about the brilliant writer, revealing a man who built himself out of books. His library was his reality, the source of so much that was vital to his life. A reader first, his readerly encounters, out of all of life's pursuits, are seen to be as significant as his most important relationships with friends, family, or lovers. Wilde's library, which Thomas Wright spent twenty years reading, provides the intellectual (and emotional) climate at the core of this deeply engaging portrait.
One of the book's happiest surprises is the story of the author's adventure reading Wilde's library. Reminiscent of Jorge Luis Borges's fictional hero who enters Cervantes's mind by saturating himself in the culture of sixteenth-century Spain, Wright employs Wilde as his own Virgilian guide to world literature. We come to understand how reading can be an extremely sensual experience, producing a physical as well as a spiritual delight.

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Yes, you can access Built of Books by Thomas Wright in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Literature & Literary Biographies. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title
  3. Copyright
  4. Contents
  5. List of Illustrations
  6. Chronology of Wilde’s Life
  7. Introduction: ‘One of the greatest of the many worlds’
  8. Part I Built Out of Books
  9. Part II The Library
  10. Part III A Library of Lamentations
  11. Appendices
  12. Bibliographical Note
  13. Acknowledgements
  14. Notes
  15. General Index
  16. Index of Authors