The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde

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The life of the Irish novelist, poet, essayist, and playwright Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) is as famous as – perhaps even more famous than – his work. But in a career spanning some twenty years, Wilde created a body of work which continues to be read an enjoyed by people around the world: a novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray; short stories and fairy tales such as ‘The Happy Prince’ and ‘ The Selfish Giant’; poems including The Ballad of Reading Gaol; and essay-dialogues which were witty revivals of the Platonic philosophical dialogue.

One can survive everything, nowadays, except death, and live down everything except a good reputation. Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 2020-10-17 12:05:05 Associated-names Holland, Vyvyan Beresford, 1886-1967 Boxid IA1967824 Camera USB PTP Class Camera Collection_set printdisabled External-identifier As for the plays... I am not one for theatre; it's just not my cup of tea. I have to say though that I absolutely enjoyed reading most of his! 'Lady Windermere's Fan' (my personal favourite), 'The Importance of Being Earnest', 'A Woman of No Importance'… Oscar Wilde is witty, sharp, cynical and sarcastic, always catching the reader off-guard with the unexpected, and his creativity and bluntness are a delight that takes no prisoner. I just struggled with 'An Ideal Husband', predictable, too long, and tiring for its feel of déja vu. I didn't know he had written a tragedy ( 'The Duchess of Padua'), which was a nice surprise, especially since it's a really good play overall. My favourite remains, however, 'Salomé' - wonderfully poetic, dark, occult, bathed in bloody moonlight, all here is but foggy vision dancing enthrallingly before our hypnotised eyes.The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898) – It was written during Wilde’s imprisonment. He was sentenced to two years of hard labor in prison after being convicted of homosexual offenses. Wilde was declared bankrupt to pay legal costs after his conviction for " gross indecency", and his possessions - including manuscripts, letters, books and presentation volumes of all the major literary figures of his day - were sold by auction. This has made bibliographical (and biographical) studies of unpublished work more difficult since they are widely dispersed, some in private ownership. The largest collection of Wilde's letters, manuscripts, and other material relating to his literary circle are housed at the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library. [1] [2] A number of Wilde's letters and manuscripts can also be found at The British Library, as well as public and private collections throughout Britain, the United States and France. Wilde originally wrote the play in French, in 1891, but it was translated into English three years later. Curiously, it was Wilde’s play that gave us the phrase ‘dance of the seven veils’ to describe Salome’s suggestive performance! First, 'De Profundis', his letter to his lover, is an insightful take upon his fate - the pain of a man looked upon, ruined and humiliated, who nevertheless has the unforgiving lucidity to don't spare himself for his mistakes. For sure, it reeks of a sad bitterness! It is, nevertheless, quite disarming for its deep honesty.

Oscar Wilde was born on October 16, 1854, in Dublin, Ireland. He was the second of the three Wilde siblings, born to Sir William Wilde and Jane Wilde. Her mother was an Irish nationalist and wrote poetry for Young Irelanders under the pseudonym Speranza. Her works and the poetry from Young Irelanders gave birth to a deep love for literature that Oscar developed over the ages. His 'Poems' indeed are, overall, quite bad. A classicist at heart, Oscar Wilde attempted to follow strict formal rules that are everything but suited to his stylised and flowery language, going over the top and feeling way too rigid. I preferred his 'Prose Poems', where he discarded such strictness to completely unleash himself. In fact, mostly religious (mystic?) his prose displays him at his playful best. This review is a work-in-progress. I'm reading this whole collection, but will be reviewing the individual reads separately as I go along, so don't be all confused by the otherwise seemingly random posting of Wilde stories and plays. Oscar’s elder William Wilde was a leading to-ophthalmologic surgeon from Ireland and was consequently knighted in 1864 for his services. The dispensary created by William became the forerunner for the Dublin Eye and Ear Hospital. Young Oscar Wilde Noteworthy too are his essays on Art. 'Intentions' and 'The Decay of Lying' may not be ground breaking, but they deserve a read to better understand what he meant by some of his most famous (and misunderstood!) quotes -e.g. 'life imitates art'... His tales are entertaining too, though I disliked the ones he wrote for children (for me personally all unsuited and complete failure).Before starting this collection I had actually never read anything by Oscar Wilde - I have now read everything by Oscar Wilde, and can officially say I am a massive fan! His writing is incredibly clever and witty, but also riveting, humorous and beautiful. My favourites would be The Importance of Being Earnest, The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Happy Prince & Other Tales, The Ballad of Reading Gaol, and De Profundis.

The Star Child" is Wilde operating in his Fairy Tale Mode. In many ways it is a traditional fairy tale with an obvious moral - a poor family finds an abandoned baby and raises him to be a beautiful boy. But the boy is cruel, arrogant and hateful and despises the poverty around him, torturing small animals and displaying his ingratitude at every opportunity, so magically he is turned ugly and has to go forth in the world to learn humility - which he does, by trying to complete three impossible tasks, aided by animal servitors. The Wildean punch, when it comes, lies not so much in the classically-beautiful-but-cruel main character but instead in the short and oddly ominous last line of the piece, as if Wilde could not completely commit himself to the eternal awe and wonder of happily ever after. De Profundis (1897) – It was a letter in whose first half Wilde recounts a previous relationship that had led to the conviction of Wilde and imprisonment. The second half talks about spiritual development in prison. Salome (1891) – The play is about the Biblical story of Salome, who was the stepdaughter of the tetrarch Herod Antipas. She requests the head of Jokanaan on a silver platter as the reward for the dance of the seven veils. I’d highly recommend Oscar Wilde. I’m not even going to try to explain how much and why I love his work because as neither Critic nor Artist, I cannot do it justice.The Decay of Living (1889) – One of the most famous essays by Wilde, it presents two characters Vivian and Cyril engulfed in a conversation. Wilde presents the essays in a Socratic dialogue, where the characters are having s playful and whimsical conversation. The essay promotes Romanticism over Realism as Wilde’s view.