New Releases by Oscar Wilde

An Ideal Husband is an 1895 comedic stage play by Oscar Wilde which revolves around blackmail and political corruption, and touches on the themes of public and private honour. The action is set in London, in "the present," and takes place over the course of twenty-four hours. "Sooner or later," Wilde notes, "we shall all have to pay for what we do." But he adds that, "No one should be entirely judged by their past." Together with The Importance of Being Earnest, it is often considered Wilde''s dramatic masterpiece. After Earnest, it is his most popularly produced play.In the summer of 1893, Oscar Wilde began writing An Ideal Husband, and he completed it later that winter. His work began at Goring-on-Thames, after which he named the character Lord Goring, and concluded at St. James Place. He initially sent the completed play to the Garrick Theatre, where the manager rejected it, but it was soon accepted by the Haymarket Theatre, where Lewis Waller had temporarily taken control. Waller was an excellent actor and cast himself as Sir Robert Chiltern. The play gave the Haymarket the success it desperately needed. After opening on 3 January 1895, it continued for 124 performances. In April of that year, Wilde was arrested for "gross indecency" and his name was publicly taken off the play. On 6 April, soon after Wilde''s arrest, the play moved to the Criterion Theatre where it ran from 13-27 April. The play was published in 1899, although Wilde was not listed as the author. This published version differs slightly from the performed play, for Wilde added many passages and cut others. Prominent additions included written stage directions and character descriptions. Wilde was a leader in the effort to make plays accessible to the reading public.

The Picture of Dorian Gray is an 1891 philosophical novel by Irish writer and playwright Oscar Wilde. First published as a serial story in the July 1890 issue of Lippincott''s Monthly Magazine, the editors feared the story was indecent, and without Wilde''s knowledge, deleted five hundred words before publication. Despite that censorship, The Picture of Dorian Gray offended the moral sensibilities of British book reviewers, some of whom said that Oscar Wilde merited prosecution for violating the laws guarding the public morality. In response, Wilde aggressively defended his novel and art in correspondence with the British press. Wilde revised and expanded the magazine edition of The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890) for publication as a novel; the book edition (1891) featured an aphoristic preface - an apologia about the art of the novel and the reader. The content, style, and presentation of the preface made it famous in its own literary right, as social and cultural criticism. In April 1891, the editorial house Ward, Lock and Company published the revised version of The Picture of Dorian Gray.

EXCEPTIONAL COLLECTION UNABRIDGED EDITION This edition contains within an only book, the greatest masterpieces by Oscar Wilde. The Picture of Dorian Gray, Wilde''s only novel, is the eerie fable of Dorian Gray, a naive and irresistible young man, who sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty. He becomes steeped in sin, but his face remains perfect - while only his portrait, locked away, reveals the blackness of his soul. The tale of Dorian Gray''s moral depravity caused a scandal when it first appeared in 1890, confronted with the rigid morality of the Victorian era. The Canterville ghost and other stories is a collection of five short stories first published in 1891. An American family buys a haunted castle in England from Lord Canterville, where creaking chains and blood stains have been terrorizing the area for centuries... But how can a poor ghost frighten pragmatic people? The other four short stories - Lord Arthur Savile''s crime, The sphinx without a secret, The model millionaire, The portrait of Mr W.H. - are extraordinary stories which also mix mystery and humor and make a witty dissection of Victorian society. Arguably the greatest farcical comedy in English, The Importance of Being Earnest, made a triumph in London since its premiere performance in 1895 and still delights readers more than a century later, with its mistaken identities, secret engagements, and lovers entanglements from Victorian England. A light-hearted satire of the absurdity of conventions, this comic play features an unforgettable cast of characters who speak nonsense twisted into fantasy, with provocative observations. These sparkling masterpieces by Oscar Wilde at the height of his art will delight readers of all ages. Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) was an Irish author, playwright and poet, who built an esthete and hedonist dandy character. Inseparable from his huge literary talent, his extraordinary personality, biting wit, flamboyant dress and glittering conversation ensured his fame.

The artist is the creator of beautiful things. To reveal art and conceal the artist is art''s aim. The critic is he who can translate into another manner or a new material his impression of beautiful things. The highest as the lowest form of criticism is a mode of autobiography. Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming. This is a fault. Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated. For these there is hope. They are the elect to whom beautiful things mean only beauty. There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.

“Now, for the first time, we can read the version that Wilde intended...Both the text and Nicholas Frankel’s introduction make for fascinating reading.” —Paris Review More than 120 years after Oscar Wilde submitted The Picture of Dorian Gray for publication in Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine, the uncensored version of his novel appears here for the first time in a paperback edition. This volume restores all of the material removed by the novel’s first editor. Upon receipt of the typescript, Wilde’s editor panicked at what he saw. Contained within its pages was material he feared readers would find “offensive”—especially instances of graphic homosexual content. He proceeded to go through the typescript with his pencil, cleaning it up until he made it “acceptable to the most fastidious taste.” Wilde did not see these changes until his novel appeared in print. Wilde’s editor’s concern was well placed. Even in its redacted form, the novel caused public outcry. The British press condemned it as “vulgar,” “unclean,” “poisonous,” “discreditable,” and “a sham.” When Wilde later enlarged the novel for publication in book form, he responded to his critics by further toning down its “immoral” elements. Wilde famously said that The Picture of Dorian Gray “contains much of me”: Basil Hallward is “what I think I am,” Lord Henry “what the world thinks me,” and “Dorian what I would like to be—in other ages, perhaps.” Wilde’s comment suggests a backward glance to a Greek or Dorian Age, but also a forward-looking view to a more permissive time than his own repressive Victorian era. By implication, Wilde would have preferred we read today the uncensored version of his novel.

Twee jongemannen storten zich rond de eeuwwisseling in een hartstochtelijke affaire.

A young man''s quest for eternal youth and beauty ends in scandal and depravity.