Oscar Wilde

About Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) was a towering figure of the Aesthetic and Decadent movements in late Victorian England, renowned for his sharp wit, flamboyant persona, and literary brilliance. His key contributions span drama, poetry, and prose, most famously the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray and the comedic masterpiece The Importance of Being Earnest. MIT's Pantheon project ranks him at #541 in historical importance, reflecting his lasting cultural influence on literature and social commentary.

Despite this high historical standing, Wilde's modern internet attention shows a significant disconnect. In 2025, his Wikipedia pages garnered 2.0M views, resulting in an Attention Gap ratio of +6x, indicating he is six times more over-attended online than his historical importance rank might suggest. This level of attention is comparable to modern political figures like Benjamin Netanyahu (#744 importance, 6.7M views), suggesting an enduring, perhaps even amplified, public fascination with his persona over his literary canon.

This attention is relatively stable, as the year-over-year change was only -6.8%, though his Q1 vs Q3 momentum showed a positive uptick of +7%, hinting at intermittent surges in current interest.