Most Popular Books by Oscar Wilde

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 classic book, The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde! There''s a reason why The Importance of Being Earnest is one of the best books of all time. If you haven''t read this classic, then you''d better pick up a copy of The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde today!

The Picture of Dorian Gray is a Gothic and philosophical novel by Oscar Wilde, first published complete in the July 1890 issue of Lippincott''s Monthly Magazine. Fearing the story was indecent, the magazine''s editor deleted roughly five hundred words before publication without Wilde''s knowledge. 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 public morality. In response, Wilde aggressively defended his novel and art in correspondence with the British press, although he personally made excisions of some of the most controversial material when revising and lengthening the story for book publication the following year.

One of the classics masterpieces of the written world. A must-read. Illustrated with doodles Complete and Unabridged In this celebrated work, his only novel, Wilde forged a devastating portrait of the effects of evil and debauchery on a young aesthete in late-19th-century England. Combining elements of the Gothic horror novel and decadent French fiction, the book centers on a striking premise: As Dorian Gray sinks into a life of crime and gross sensuality, his body retains perfect youth and vigor while his recently painted portrait grows day by day into a hideous record of evil, which he must keep hidden from the world. For over a century, this mesmerizing tale of horror and suspense has enjoyed wide popularity. It ranks as one of Wilde''s most important creations and among the classic achievements of its kind.

The Picture of Dorian Gray is a Gothic and philosophical novel by Oscar Wilde, first published complete in the July 1890 issue of Lippincott''s Monthly Magazine. Fearing the story was indecent, the magazine''s editor deleted roughly five hundred words before publication without Wilde''s knowledge. 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 public morality. In response, Wilde aggressively defended his novel and art in correspondence with the British press, although he personally made excisions of some of the most controversial material when revising and lengthening the story for book publication the following year.

Wilde''s only novel, first published in 1890, is a brilliantly designed puzzle, intended to tease conventional minds with its exploration of the myriad interrelationships between art, life and consequence. From its provocative Preface, challenging the reader to belief in ''art for art''s sake'', to its sensational conclusion, the story self-consciously experiments with the notion of sin as an element of design. Yet Wilde himself underestimated the consequences of his experiment, and its capacity to outrage the Victorian establishment. Its words returned to haunt him in his court appearances in 1895, and he later recalled the ''note of doom'' which runs like ''a purple thread'' through its carefully crafted prose. Complete Original Unabridged Illustrated with book-end doodles about reading

The Importance of Being Earnest By Oscar WildeThis lighthearted play tells the farcical tale of Jack Worthing and Algernon Montcrieff-two men who falsely claim to be named Ernest when they fall in love with two women whose affections are illogically but irrevocably tied to the name.The Importance of Being Earnest was popular upon its debut in 1895. It was not until the twentieth century that Wilde''s work was once again recognized both for its literary worth and comedic genius, and subsequently The Importance of Being Earnest has been adapted many times for film and theatre, most recently in the 2002 film starring Colin Firth, Rupert Everett, Reese Witherspoon, and Dame Judy Dench.

The Canterville Ghost By Oscar Wilde. "The Canterville Ghost" is a short story by Oscar Wilde, widely adapted for the screen and stage. It was the first of Wilde''s stories to be published, appearing in two parts in The Court and Society Review, 23 February and 2 March 1887. The story is about a family who moves to a castle haunted by the ghost of a dead nobleman, who killed his wife and was starved to death by his wife''s brothers.

Written in his distinctively dazzling manner, Oscar Wilde''s story of a fashionable young man who sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty is the author''s most popular work. The tale of Dorian Gray''s moral disintegration caused a scandal when it first appeared in 1890, but though Wilde was attacked for the novel''s corrupting influence, he responded that there is, in fact, "a terrible moral in Dorian Gray." Just a few years later, the book and the aesthetic/moral dilemma it presented became issues in the trials occasioned by Wilde''s homosexual liaisons, which resulted in his imprisonment. Of Dorian Gray''s relationship to autobiography, Wilde noted in a letter, "Basil Hallward is what I think I am: Lord Henry what the world thinks me: Dorian what I would like to be-in other ages, perhaps.

The Importance of Being Earnest was popular upon its debut in 1895. It was not until the twentieth century that Wilde''s work was once again recognized both for its literary worth and comedic genius, and subsequently The Importance of Being Earnest has been adapted many times for film and theatre, most recently in the 2002 film starring Colin Firth, Rupert Everett, Reese Witherspoon, and Dame Judy Dench.

The Original Unabridged Edition. In this celebrated work, his only novel, Wilde forged a devastating portrait of the effects of evil and debauchery on a young aesthete in late-19th-century England. Combining elements of the Gothic horror novel and decadent French fiction, the book centers on a striking premise: As Dorian Gray sinks into a life of crime and gross sensuality, his body retains perfect youth and vigor while his recently painted portrait grows day by day into a hideous record of evil, which he must keep hidden from the world. For over a century, this mesmerizing tale of horror and suspense has enjoyed wide popularity. It ranks as one of Wilde''s most important creations and among the classic achievements of its kind.

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.

Over 120 years after Oscar Wilde submitted The Picture of Dorian Gray for publication, the uncensored version of his novel appears here for the first time in a paperback edition. This volume restores material, including instances of graphic homosexual content, removed by the novel’s first editor, who feared it would be “offensive” to Victorians.

"The Canterville Ghost" is a humorous short story by Oscar Wilde. It was the first of Wilde''s stories to be published, appearing in two parts in The Court and Society Review, 23 February and 2 March 1887.[1]The story is about an American family who moved to a castle haunted by the ghost of a dead English nobleman, who killed his wife and was then walled in and starved to death by his wife''s brothers. It has been adapted for the stage and screen several times.

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

The Picture of Dorian Gray is a Gothic and philosophical novel by Oscar Wilde, first published complete in the July 1890 issue of Lippincott''s Monthly Magazine. Fearing the story was indecent, prior to publication the magazine''s editor deleted roughly five hundred words without Wilde''s knowledge. 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 public morality. The longer and revised version of The Picture of Dorian Gray published in book form in 1891 featured an aphoristic preface--a defense of the artist''s rights and of art for art''s sake--based in part on his press defenses of the novel the previous year. The content, style, and presentation of the preface made it famous in its own right, as a literary and artistic manifesto. In April 1891, the publishing firm of Ward, Lock and Company, who had distributed the shorter, more inflammatory, magazine version in England the previous year, published the revised version of The Picture of Dorian Gray. The Picture of Dorian Gray is the only novel written by Wilde. It exists in several versions: the 1890 magazine edition (in 13 chapters), with important material deleted before publication by the magazine''s editor, J. M. Stoddart; the "uncensored" version submitted to Lippincott''s Monthly Magazine for publication (also in 13 chapters), with all of Wilde''s original material intact, first published in 2011 by Harvard University Press; and the 1891 book edition (in 20 chapters). As literature of the 19th century, The Picture of Dorian Gray "pivots on a gothic plot device" with strong themes interpreted from Faust. Dorian Gray is the subject of a full-length portrait in oil by Basil Hallward, an artist impressed and infatuated by Dorian''s beauty; he believes that Dorian''s beauty is responsible for the new mood in his art as a painter. Newly understanding that his beauty will fade, Dorian expresses the desire to sell his soul, to ensure that the picture, rather than he, will age and fade. The wish is granted, and Dorian pursues a libertine life of varied amoral experiences while staying young and beautiful; all the while, his portrait ages and records every sin. Oscar Fingal O''Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 1854 - 30 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. As a spokesman for aestheticism, he tried his hand at various literary activities: he published a book of poems, lectured in the United States and Canada on the new "English Renaissance in Art" and interior decoration, and then returned to London where he worked prolifically as a journalist. Known for his biting wit, flamboyant dress, and glittering conversational skill, Wilde became one of the best-known personalities of his day. At the turn of the 1890s, he refined his ideas about the supremacy of art in a series of dialogues and essays and incorporated themes of decadence, duplicity, and beauty into what would be his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890). The opportunity to construct aesthetic details precisely, and combine them with larger social themes, drew Wilde to write drama. He wrote Salome (1891) in French while in Paris but it was refused a license for England due to an absolute prohibition on the portrayal of Biblical subjects on the English stage. Unperturbed, Wilde produced four society comedies in the early 1890s, which made him one of the most successful playwrights of late-Victorian London.

Written in his distinctively dazzling manner, Oscar Wilde''s story of a fashionable young man who sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty is the author''s most popular work. The tale of Dorian Gray''s moral disintegration caused a scandal when it first appeared in 1890, but though Wilde was attacked for the novel''s corrupting influence, he responded that there is, in fact, "a terrible moral in Dorian Gray."

Just a few years later, the book and the aesthetic/moral dilemma it presented became issues in the trials occasioned by Wilde''s homosexual liaisons, which resulted in his imprisonment. Of Dorian Gray''s relationship to autobiography, Wilde noted in a letter, "Basil Hallward is what I think I am: Lord Henry what the world thinks me: Dorian what I would like to be--in other ages, perhaps.Oscar Wilde

Wilde''s only novel, first published in 1890, is a brilliantly designed puzzle, intended to tease conventional minds with its exploration of the myriad interrelationships between art, life and consequence. From its provocative Preface, challenging the reader to belief in ''art for art''s sake'', to its sensational conclusion, the story self-consciously experiments with the notion of sin as an element of design. Yet Wilde himself underestimated the consequences of his experiment, and its capacity to outrage the Victorian establishment. Its words returned to haunt him in his court appearances in 1895, and he later recalled the ''note of doom'' which runs like ''a purple thread'' through its carefully crafted prose. - Illustrated

Just a few years later, the book and the aesthetic/moral dilemma it presented became issues in the trials occasioned by Wilde''s homosexual liaisons, which resulted in his imprisonment. Of Dorian Gray''s relationship to autobiography, Wilde noted in a letter, "Basil Hallward is what I think I am: Lord Henry what the world thinks me: Dorian what I would like to be--in other ages, perhaps.

Just a few years later, the book and the aesthetic/moral dilemma it presented became issues in the trials occasioned by Wilde''s homosexual liaisons, which resulted in his imprisonment. Of Dorian Gray''s relationship to autobiography, Wilde noted in a letter, "Basil Hallward is what I think I am: Lord Henry what the world thinks me: Dorian what I would like to be--in other ages, perhaps.Oscar Wilde

Written in his distinctively dazzling manner, Oscar Wilde''s story of a fashionable young man who sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty is the author''s most popular work. The tale of Dorian Gray''s moral disintegration caused a scandal when it first appeared in 1890, but though Wilde was attacked for the novel''s corrupting influence, he responded that there is, in fact, "a terrible moral in Dorian Gray." Just a few years later, the book and the aesthetic/moral dilemma it presented became issues in the trials occasioned by Wilde''s homosexual liaisons, which resulted in his imprisonment. Of Dorian Gray''s relationship to autobiography, Wilde noted in a letter, "Basil Hallward is what I think I am: Lord Henry what the world thinks me: Dorian what I would like to be--in other ages, perhaps.

The Importance of Being Earnest was popular upon its debut in 1895. It was not until the twentieth century that Wilde''s work was once again recognized both for its literary worth and comedic genius, and subsequently The Importance of Being Earnest has been adapted many times for film and theatre, most recently in the 2002 film starring Colin Firth, Rupert Everett, Reese Witherspoon, and Dame Judy Dench.

The Picture of Dorian Gray In this celebrated work, his only novel, Wilde forged a devastating portrait of the effects of evil and debauchery on a young aesthete in late-19th-century England. Combining elements of the Gothic horror novel and decadent French fiction, the book centers on a striking premise: As Dorian Gray sinks into a life of crime and gross sensuality, his body retains perfect youth and vigor while his recently painted portrait grows day by day into a hideous record of evil, which he must keep hidden from the world. For over a century, this mesmerizing tale of horror and suspense has enjoyed wide popularity. It ranks as one of Wilde''s most important creations and among the classic achievements of its kind.

Just a few years later, the book and the aesthetic/moral dilemma it presented became issues in the trials occasioned by Wilde''s homosexual liaisons, which resulted in his imprisonment. Of Dorian Gray''s relationship to autobiography, Wilde noted in a letter, "Basil Hallward is what I think I am: Lord Henry what the world thinks me: Dorian what I would like to be--in other ages, perhaps.Oscar Wilde

Written in his distinctively dazzling manner, Oscar Wilde''s story of a fashionable young man who sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty is the author''s most popular work. The tale of Dorian Gray''s moral disintegration caused a scandal when it first appeared in 1890, but though Wilde was attacked for the novel''s corrupting influence, he responded that there is, in fact, "a terrible moral in Dorian Gray."