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Dolly Wilde

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Socialite

The Resume

    (July 11, 1895-April 10, 1941)
    Born in London, United Kingdom
    Birth name was Dorothy Irene Wilde
    Niece of Oscar Wilde
    Popular guest in Parisian literary salons between the World Wars
    Lover of salon hostess Natalie Barney

Why she might be annoying:

    She was addicted to heroin and cocaine.
    She came out of a rehab program with a new addiction, to the sleeping pill paraldehyde.
    She never had a job, surviving by sponging off friends.
    Although her friends considered her a gifted storyteller, she never tried her hand at literature.
    Her reputation as a wit has a distinct 'you had to be there' quality. (For example, her friend Bettina Bergery wrote, 'She scintillated with so many epigrams, all delivered at once, that no one had the time to remember any.')

Why she might not be annoying:

    Her father was a violent alcoholic.
    She was an ambulance driver during World War I.
    Her wit stood out in salons frequented by the likes of Jean Cocteau, Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Nancy Mitford.
    Barney often treated her less like a romantic partner than as the ultimate in collectable Oscar Wilde memorabilia.
    Taking after he uncle in both looks and wit, she declared, 'I am more like Oscar than Oscar himself.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 9 Votes: 77.78% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 183 Votes: 51.37% Annoying