Built of Books: How Reading Defined the Life of Oscar Wilde

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 Wildes 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 lifes pursuits are seen to be as significant as his most important relationships with friends family or lovers. Wildes 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 books happiest surprises is the story of the authors adventure reading Wildes library. Reminiscent of Jorge Luis Borgess fictional hero who enters Cervantess 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.