Product Description
Palgrave Advances in Oscar Wilde Studies is a comprehensive guide to recent critical approaches. Topics covered include Gay Studies, Feminist Criticism, Material Culture, Religion, Philosophy, Performance Studies, Aestheticism, Biography, Textual Studies and Postcolonial Theory. The book is designed to acquaint readers of all levels with the history of scholarship in a range of fields and suggest ways that Wilde's work offer new areas for research. The collection also provides a chronology and detailed bibliography.
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Classic Book for the Kindle: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde

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Oscar Wilde's classic The Picture of Dorian Gray and three additional storiesAmazon.com Review
"Oh! In what a wild hour of madness he had killed hisfriend! How ghastly the mere memory of the scene! He saw it allagain. Each hideous detail came back to him with added horror. Out ofthe black cave of time, terrible and swathed in scarlet, rose theimage of his sin." In their ideal of an exquisitely sensitivetemperament that thrills to fine shadings in sensation, the principlesof the aesthetic (or "decadent") movement are well suited tothe tale of terror. No story exemplifies this better than OscarWilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray. The sparkling wit and zestfor life of Wilde's characters combine with cold-blooded acts ofhorror to generate a deliciously twisted sense of elegance and evil,civilization and degradation. Oscar Wilde, like Edgar Allan Poe, showsus that what we find loathsome and frightening can also be beautiful. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (20)

Review of Signet's 'Dorian Gray'
The introduction is expansive and insightful. This edition has a few additional stories, which gives it something more than similar texts. My only complaint is the physical book itself, which is a small, tough little bulldog of a paperback. It's nothing out of the ordinary for a cheap paperback, I'm merely remarking on my frustration with the thing.

genius
there is nothing about this novel i didn't enjoy. oscar wilde is nothing short of a genius.

a classic novel
a timeless novel about the rights of the individual and our own mortality.

"For Youth is the One Thing Worth Having"
"How sad it is! I shall grow old, and horrible, and dreadful. But this picture will remain always young. It will never be older than this particular day of June...If it were only the other way! If it where I who was to be always young, and the picture that was to grow old! For that-for that-I would give everything! Yes, there is nothing in the whole world I would not give! I would give my own soul for that!"

Meet Dorian Gray. He has the perfect look. He shines with such youth and beauty that he amazes everyone he comes in contact with. According to Lord Henry Wotton, however, he does not fully realize what he has. When their mutual friend, Basil Hallward, a painter, decides to paint a portrait of Dorian, he ends up capturing that youth and beauty almost perfectly in his painting. Dorian is mezmerized by it. After listening to Lord Henry's philosophy about how youth and good looks are more important than being good-hearted, Dorian claims he would do anything to let the picture grow old and decay, while he will stay young and beautiful for the rest of his life.

It is only a downward spiral for Dorian after that. He continues to believe in the ways of Lord Henry. His face remains perfect and unlined as he commits sin after sin. The only way anyone would have known Dorian's true colors would be to take a look at his portrait; for his face on the portrait would take on the age lines and the sinister look that Dorian truly should bare in the flesh. The sight of his picture horrifies Dorian so deeply that he locks it up, and would not let anyone look at it. Dorian himself is too afraid to look at it. However, this does not stop Dorian from listening to Lord Henry and believing the same way he does.

Overall, The Picture of Dorian Gray is a great novel. The wit, humor, horror, and philosophy all comes together to make this story exactly what the description of the book says: timeless. The philosophical views of Lord Henry alone will make you question your own outlook on life. The plot is somewhat predictable, and so is the ending, but this doesn't keep Oscar Wilde's only full-length novel from being a great read. Also included in this book are his short stories, Lord Arthur Savile's Crime, The Happy Prince, and The Birthday of the Infanta. Go ahead and pick this book up and start reading.

real good book
I had to read this book for english class i wasn't sure if it was going to be that good but i went and read it anyways. Ahead of the chapters that i was suppose to read in class but that didnt stop me. I really enjoyed this book Wilde is a very great writer. The only thing that bothered me was too many gay refrences but that made the book strong somehow. weird. As i got into the book i came to conclude that Dorian was nothing but a sponge sucking in everything he could know.

Dont read chapter 11 it would bore you to sleep. But the rest was good. What got me into this book was the fact that im an artist too and it made me think alot.
Pick it up it's worth a try. ... Read more

Product Description
Playwright and raconteur Oscar Wilde embarks on another adventure as he sets sail for America in the 1880s on a roller coaster of a lecture tour. But the adventure doesn't truly begin until Oscar boards an ocean liner headed back across the Atlantic and joins a motley crew led by French impresario Edmond La Grange. As Oscar becomes entangled with the La Grange acting dynasty, he suspects that all is not as it seems. What begins with a curious death at sea soon escalates to a series of increasingly macabre tragedies once the troupe arrives in Paris to perform Hamlet. A strange air of indifference surrounds these seemingly random events, inciting Oscar to dig deeper, aided by his friends Robert Sherard and the divine Sarah Bernhardt. What he discovers is a horrifying secret -- one that may bring him closer to his own last chapter than anyone could have imagined.

As intelligent as it is beguiling, this third installment in the richly historical mystery series is sure to captivate and entertain. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (35)

Rolling over in his grave, no doubt
Poor Oscar Wilde, so abused in life and now this in death. I, too, find this book unreadable. Love the concept, but turning Wilde into a mystery-solving detective would require imbuing the work with some of the wit and sensibility of the man himself. At least some crackling dialogue. As for this book on my shelf, clearly "one of us has got to go." I do recommend Richard Ellman's lengthy biography ofOscar Wilde.

Unreadable
I am sorry.I thought that I would greatly enjoy this book, it being a fictional novel about Oscar Wilde and Arthur Conan Doyle's collaboration on solving a mystery but, for some inexplicable reason, I find it totally unreadable.I have tried to read it 4 times now and have yet to get beyond the 10th page.I don't know whether it is the style in which it is written, some conceit of the characters, or what...I simply cannot read this book.I hope that other readers will have better luck than I did and will find that they enjoy the book, which seems to have a lot going for it.

Refreshing
It was a pleasure to read a book that is not a carbon copy of what an author has already written. Being a Wilde fan, it made it even more pleasurable.

Mystery for Literature Lovers
If you love literary characters, you'll love this series.This book is the third in the series and I just loved Oscar Wilde as the "detective."As others have mentioned, the book is a tad slow to start, but well worth the effort in the end.For me, the mystery was almost secondary to being thrown into Oscar's world with his friends and acquaintances....his wit was legendary and the author stays true to his real-life character, despite the fictional mystery. (I especially enjoyed the dialogue!)

You really don't need to start at the beginning of this series (each could be a stand-alone), but if you love literary characters and cozy mysteries, you might want to start at the beginning and read the entire series.It's my understanding that there are nine planned for the whole shebang and I'll be collecting each of them since they do stand up for re-reads.

Keen Wit and Sleuthing
Third in a series of mysteries featuring Oscar Wilde as sleuth (I have not read the previous ones), this book starts with a visit to Madame Tussaud's in London in 1890, where Wilde and Sherard meet up with Arthur Conan Doyle.The story then goes back to a time when the young Wilde is touring America and meeting an unusual variety of folk, including one who will later figure in the mystery.Then he is off to Paris, helping to translate "Hamlet" for a production by the famous theatrical La Grange family, where he first meets his friend, writer and sleuthing side-kick, Robert Sherard.It is in Paris where a series of murders occur, although the stage had been set countries and even continents before.

The setting is convincing, as is the character of Wilde, who seems as if he could indeed have the ability and inclination to spot and wish to solve subtle and not so subtle mysteries.The mystery was involved, bizarre and unusual, and the denouement was complex and had a twist, bringing things back to London and Arthur Conan Doyle. I think that those who would love to see Wilde solve a mystery will be satisfied. ... Read more

Product Description
Oscar Wilde was at once a family man and a homosexual outsider, a socialite, socialist, and Irish nationalist. His contradictions inspired him to ponder the roles and masks donned in conventional society, and his acute and wry insights are wonderfully displayed in this collection of his essential plays. Known not only for his brilliant, epigrammatic language, but also for his sense of theatrical design, color, and staging, Wilde created an enduring body of finely crafted works, whose delights and ironies still speak to modern audiences.In addition to Lady Windermere's Fan, Salomé, A Woman of No Importance, An Ideal Husband, A Florentine Tragedy, and The Importance of Being Earnest, this edition contains an introduction, notes and commentaries, and an excised scene from The Importance of Being Earnest. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (105)

Bravo, bravo, Mr. Wilde!
This is possibly the most amazing work to come out of English literature and the English language.How can something so inane and senseless be so captivating, intriguing, and darling?The play makes one happy.And best to see it well-performed.

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I read this on my 100 classic book collection for Nintedo DS because it ranked ad 'the funniest book' well I'm sorry but I didn't laugh once. The girls in the play were annoying and the only likeable character is Jack. I'm not a big fan of plays at the best of times but reading this has made sure I don't pick up another one in a while.

Classic Wit
Oscar Wilde's last and best-known play is a classic comedy complete with mistaken identities, biting satire, and a fair amount of punning (including a crucial pun in the title). This is Wilde at his irreverent best as he repeatedly skewers as many aspects of late 19th Century English society as he can manage.

I've occasionally heard the term "joke density" applied to comedy writing, and The Importance of Being Ernest certainly has that. Every character in the play is witty, and the jabs, barbs, and puns come fast and furious.

The story centers on two somewhat roguish young bachelors who have both created elaborate lies to help them to cover for their mischief. At different points in the play, both gentlemen have assumed the false name of Ernest, which becomes a problem once two women become involved. Two women who are both particularly enamored with the idea of marrying someone named Ernest.

The tightly plotted play has enough twists and turns to keep things interesting, and the witty dialogue never lets up.

The Avon (a HarperCollins imprint) paperback edition that I read contained a short collection of critical essays, the most interesting being a (mostly negative) review by George Bernard Shaw of the original production of the play, which raises some interesting points about the nature of comedy. I found some good insights into the career of Oscar Wilde in the introduction and the other critical pieces, but those familiar with his life and work would not be missing much by skipping these "bonus features".

The play itself was a really enjoyable work to read, and I'll keep an eye out for a chance to catch a performance of it sometime.

General Books Problem...Not the book
I ordered this for my daughters birthday and Amazon delivered right on her birthday. My daughter is a huge Oscar Wilde fan! Unfortunately, the book was full of garbage text. It was printed by General Books the day I ordered it. I then requested a replacement. Once again, it was printed the day I made my request and it contained the exact garbage text that the original order contained. Here is an example of the garbage text that this book contained...(Jk*he$. HeL*) This was all throughout the book. Then half the book looked like some bizarre glossary that didn't even belong to this book. The entire book was worthless both times and I requested a refund. I can't give a proper review on the book as it was unreadable!

The Importance of Being Earnest is a brilliant satirical play by the pen of Irish genius Oscar Wilde
"To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness." So spoke the fatuous and funny noveau rich maven the incomparable Lady Bracknell in Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest." The very readable and actable play holds its own in the modern theatre. It is produced thousands of times each year all around the world from school productions to professional acting companies. The play premiered at the St. James Theatre in London on Valentine's Day 1895.
The three act comedy stars Jack Worthing and (later to be revealed-his younger brother Algernon Moncrieff). Jack is courting Gwendolyn Fairfax. Algernon is in love with the beautiful young Cecily Cardew. Both of these young dandies have invented doubles. Jack acts like his name is Ernest. Algy has invented Bunbury whose ill health always requires a visit when Algy's pestiferious aunt Augustus Bracknell is in London.
After countless bon motes and Wildean witticisims it is learned that Jack is really named Ernest. It is revealed that Cecily's governess Miss Prism had lost Jack when he was a baby by leaving him in a handbag at Victoria Station. Jack is, therefore, really named Ernest. Gwendolyn asserts she could never love any man unless he was named Ernest! She and Jack plan on wedding as does Algernon to the fetching Cecily.
This play provides Wilde the opportunity to show off his ability to entertain while at the same time poking fun at the class conscious British aristocracy where what your name and genealogy are counts for a lot in high society.
Some of this reviewer's favorite quotes from this eminently quotable play are the following:
The truth is rarely pure and never simple"
Only relatives or creditors ring in that Wagnerian manner
All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That's his.
Memory... is the diary that we all carry about with us
I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.
I have also in my possession ...certificates of Miss Cardew's birth, baptism, whooping cough, registration vaccination, confirmation and the measles; both the German and the English variety
I've now learned for the first time in my life the vital Importance of Being Earnest
Oscar Wilde's other great plays including "Salome"; "A Woman of No Importance"; "The Ideal Husband" and "Lady Windemere's Fan" are all worth the attention of modern fans of the drama. All are social satires in which Wilde the ultimate Irish, gay outsider slams hard at English social pretensions in late Victorian fin de siecle England.
Discover the wonderful world of Oscar Wilde in his plays, short stories, only novel "The Picture of Dorian Gray" and his essays and poems. ... Read more

Product Description
Oscar Wilde-witty raconteur, flamboyant hedonist, and self-destructive lover-is most familiar as the author of brilliant comedies, including The Importance of Being Earnest, An Ideal Husband, and the decadent novel The Picture of Dorian Gray. This selection of critical writings reveals a different side of the great writer-the deep and serious reader of literature and philosophy, and the eloquent and original thinker about society and art. This illuminating collection includes "The Portrait of Mr. W. H.," "In Defense of Dorian Gray," reviews, and the writings from Intentions (1891), including "The Decay of Lying," "Pen, Pencil, Poison," and "The Critic as Artist."

Edited with an Introduction and Notes by Linda Dowling. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The only book you need ever own.
It may seem wilful to lead a selection of Oscar Wilde's major critical prose with an essay on left-wing politics, but 'The Soul of Man under Socialism' is more concerned with aesthetics than ethics: Wilde found socialism 'beautiful' because it encouraged freedom and individualism, freeing man to develop his emotional and imaginative lives.Wilde's Utopian scheme, as he admits, is gloriously impractical and contrary to human nature, but that's the point - it's because reforms are based on what is considered practical, rather than what might be possible or even unthinkable, that inequality and suffering persist.His vision of a future in which men dream and absorb Art as vaguely-imagined machines do all the menial work, reads like a delightful lampoon of HG Wells.Favourite Quotation: 'the moment that an artist takes notice of what other people want and tries to supply the demand, he ceases to be an artist and becomes a dull or amusing craftsman, an honest or dishonest tradesman').

The selection begins with examples of Wilde the professional reviewer at work, attending art lectures by Whistler, reading books by Pater and Swinburne, drawing attention to poetry anthologies by labouring socialists, praising an actress's memoirs.Some of the pieces are more theoretical, arguing, for instance, the importance and legacy of actors as critics of great theatre.Each article presents difficult and often radical ideas in an accessible and witty manner.FQ: 'where there is no exagerration there is no love, and where there is no love there is no understanding'.

'The Portrait of Mr. W.H.' (printed here in its extended 1889 revision) is quite simply one of the greatest achievements in the world literature of short fiction.'Short story' doesn't begin to describe this work about a young scholar who commits suicide after being caught forging evidence to 'prove' a theory claiming that Shakespeare dedicated his Sonnets to a young actor-lover.'Portrait' is mostly a dazzling exercise in critical play, but it is also a touching gay fantasy, a Nabokovian study of mad academics, a defence of 'forgery' as an aesthetic mode, a literary detective story, a history of the Elizabethan stage, an anthology of Elizabethan gossip, a Borgesian metaphysical puzzle and so much more.FQ: 'he always set an absurdly high value on personal appearance, and once read a paper before our Debating Society to prove that it was better to be good-looking than to be good'.

'In Defence of Dorian Gray' collects letters written by Wilde to hostile newspapers that branded his only novel immoral, decadent and demanded its interdiction.While it's depressing to see our hero stoop to these tedious non-entities, we must remember the dangerous influence of the reactionary press, and at least the letters make galvanising reading, helping Wilde formulate ideas that would shape the novel's famous 'All art is quite useless' preface.FQ: 'Good people exasperate one's reason; bad people stir one's imagination'.

But the major achievement here is the four-part collection 'Intentions', a still explosive series of critical dialogues, memoirs and essays which are only 'safe' today because they are labelled 'classic' - if anyone actually absorbed these radical, liberating pieces, with their provocative, teasing, shifting, playful, ironic, contradictory, unsystematic, aphoristic, hilarious assertions on Art, Beauty, Life, Philosophy, Morality, Ethics, Crime etc., the whole world would implode, or at least irrevocably change.'The Decay of Lying' demolishes the depressing modes of realism and naturalism and the tyranny of facts; 'Pen, Pencil and Poison' is a portrait of Wainewright the Poisoner, Wilde discussing his crimes with the same aesthetic detachment as he does his art and writing; ''The Critic as Artist' is his masterpiece, a credo and a gauntlet; 'The Truth of Masks' is an essay on the importance of costume and historical accuracy when staging Shakespeare, and seems to contradict eveything else in the volume, with Wilde winningly admitting, 'Not that I agree with everything I have said in this essay'.FQ: 'The truth of metaphysics are the truth of masks'.

There are (at least) two Wildes in this volume; one whose address is utterly contemporary and congenial, intellectually curious, blasting all that is deadening, hypocritical and humbug, an alien in his own time.The other is startlingly Victorian, passionately engaged with elitist subjects that have little importance or (ugh) 'relevance' today (Classical literature, Aesthetics, the importance of form etc.), couching his theories in language that is often ornate, oritund, exotic, even verbose, a lush challenge to his fusty, pedantic peers.

Linda Dowling's introduction rescues Wilde from his earnest post-modern apologists and returns him fruitfully to his original context, the Oxford debates about 'Art for Art's sake' and the function of poetry and criticism,.Her copious notes are a blessing and necessity, as well as recreating a strange, wonderful, intellectually audacious cultural world, one that shames our depleted, dead-end, theory-strangulated, accept-anything age.I know you've heard this before, but this time it's true: BUY THIS BOOK AND LET IT CHANGE YOUR LIFE. ... Read more

Product Description
This Halcyon Classics ebook contain more than one hundred of the works of Oscar Wilde, including his famous 'The Picture of Dorian Grey.'Includes an active table of contents.


Contents:

The Picture of Dorian Grey
Lord Arthur Savile's Crime
The Canterville Ghost
The Sphinx Without a Secret
The Model Millionaire
The Portrait of Mr. W. H.
De Profundis
The Young King
The Birthday of the Infanta
The Fisherman and his Soul
The Star-child
The Rise of Historical Criticism
The English Renaissance of Art House Decoration
Art and the Handicraftman
Lecture to Art Students
London Models
Poems in Prose
The Decay of Lying
Pen, Pencil, and Poison
The Critic as Artist
The Truth of Masks
The Happy Prince
The Nightingale and the Rose
The Selfish Giant
The Devoted Friend
The Remarkable Rocket
How They Struck a Contemporary
The Quality of George Meredith
Life in the Fallacious Model
Life the Disciple
Life the Plagiarist
The Indispensable East
The Influence of the Impressionists on Climate
An Exposure to Naturalism
Thomas Griffiths Wainewright
Wainewright at Hobart Town
Cardinal Newman and the Autobiographers
Robert Browning
The Two Supreme and Highest Arts
The Secrets of Immortality
The Critic and his Material
Dante the Living Guide
The Limitations of Genius
Wanted A New Background
Without Frontiers
The Poetry of Archaeology
The Art of Archaeology
Herod Suppliant
The Tetrarch's Remorse
The Tetrarch's Treasure
Salome anticipates Dr. Strauss
The Young King
A Coronation
The King of Spain
A Bull Fight
The Throne Room
A Protected Country
The Blackmailing of the Emperor
Covent Garden
A Letter from Miss Jane Percy to her Aunt
The Triumph of American 'Humor'
The Garden of Death
An Eton Kit-cat
Mrs. Erlynne Exercises the Prerogative of a Grandmother
Motherhood more than Marriage
The Damnable Ideal
From a Rejected Prize-essay
The Possibilities of the Useful
The Artist
The Doer of Good
The Disciple
The Master
The House of Judgment
The Teacher of Wisdom
Wilde gives directions about 'De Profundis'
Carey Street
Sorrow wears no mask
Vita Nuova
The Grand Romantic
Clapham Junction
The Broken Resolution
Domesticity at Berneval
A visit to the Pope
Phrases And Philosophies for the Use of The Young
Mrs. Langtry as Hester Grazebrook
Slaves of Fashion
Woman's Dress
More Radical Ideas upon Dress Reform
Costume
The American Invasion
Sermons in Stones at Bloomsbury
L'Envoi
Reviews
Miscellanies
The Soul of Man Under Socialism


Poetry

Charmides and Other Poems
Selected Poems of Oscar Wild


Plays

A Woman of No Importance
An Ideal Husband
For the Love of the King
Lady Windermere
The Duchess of Padua
The Importance of Being Earnest
Vera, or the Nihilists
... Read more

Product Description

Oscar Wilde strode through the literary landscape of the 19th century marking it with his passage. His works, from The Picture of Dorian Gray to The Happy Prince, are suffused with literary brilliance, insight into the human condition and wit.

Customer Reviews (2)

Impressive Binding
I gave this book as a gift to an Oscar Wilde fan who had not yet collected much of his work.The binding is beautiful and would be a fantastic addition to any bookshelf.

Horrible digital edition, no table of contents!?
This is a 1320 page digital book with NO TABLE OF CONTENTS!?
Do not waste your money! ... Read more

Product Description
Four classic comedies from one of the wittiest playwrights in Western literature: Lady Windermere s Fan, A Woman of No Importance, An Ideal Husband and The Importance of Being Earnest, all featuring star-studded casts. Also includes a chilling dramatization of the only novel Oscar Wilde wrote, The Picture of Dorian Gray.

The Importance of Being Earnest starring James Marsters, Charles Busch, et al. A stylish send-up of Victorian courtship and manners, complete with assumed names, mistaken lovers, and a lost handbag. A full-cast performance featuring: James Marsters, Charles Busch, Emily Bergl, Neil Dickson, Jill Gascoine, Christopher Neame, Matthew Wolf and Sarah Zimmerman.

An Ideal Husband starring Jacqueline Bisset, Alfred Molina, Yeardley Smith, et al. With empathy and wit, Oscar Wilde explores the plight of a promising politician desperate to hide a secret in his past.

Lady Windermere s Fan starring Roger Rees, Eric Stoltz, Joanna Going, Miriam Margolyes, et al. This classic Oscar Wilde satire involves good girls, bad husbands, and the moral hypocrisy of British high society in the late 19th century.

A Woman of No Importance starring Miriam Margolyes, Samantha Mathis, Rosalind Ayres, Martin Jarvis, et al. Oscar Wilde uses his celebrated wit to expose English society s narrow view of everything from sexual mores to Americans.

The Picture of Dorian Grayadapted by Paul Edwards, starring Steve Juergens, et al. One of the great classics in contemporary Western literature, dramatized for the stage, with Steve Juergens as the beautiful and corrupt Dorian Gray. ... Read more

Product Description
One of the most comprehensive and authoritative single-volume collection of Wilde's works available, containing his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, as well as his plays, stories, poems, essays, and letters-all in very authoritative texts. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (1)

Great Anthology
A great collection of Oscar's interviews.If you want a sense of Oscar in the USA, this is the book. ... Read more

Product Description
Wilde’s scintillating drawing-room comedy revolves around a blackmail scheme that forces a married couple to reexamine their moral standards. A supporting cast of young lovers, society matrons, and a formidable femme fatale exchange sparkling repartee, keeping the action of the play at a lively pace.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (18)

A Wildely Witty Comedy
Surely, this is one of the most hilarious comedies ever written by anyone. Every page of the script offers up lines of pure, gracefully articulate wit. Wilde's insight is prodigious and relevant as it could have been written as easily about Wall Street as London of 1895: "Private information is practically the source of every large modern fortune." This is the playwright who, when passing through customs into Canada, was asked if he had anything to declare and replied, "Only my genius." The movie with Rupert Everett is spectacularly funny. Wilde has the ability to criticize high society so cleverly that the paradoxes he frames almost seem a compliment. "Fashion is what wears oneself. What is unfashionable is what other people wear." And this one: "Vulgarity is simply the conduct of other people." And this great truth: "Soooner or later we all have to pay for what we do." Wilde was a real genius. I strongly recommend that you read his play.

An Ideal Husband
This is a great play, the things that happen with the characters is extremley funny because it deals with morality and marital issues that still exist. The play is set in the late 1800s early 1900s in England. It is a perfect example of how we over anaylize things in society and that if we just "let go" ofwhat an ideal relationship is we will see thatthe acceptance of two individuals is the foundation for a healthy, long lastingrelationship and that there really is no princess or prince charming. What I found to be the funniest thing about it is that the one character who naturally got this without a scandel came off to me as being the most shallow and superfical of the characters. Mabel really has no substance to her, she's not very bright and loves being scolded. Yet at the end of everything is the only one who doesnt waist time trying to anaylize everything that goes on in her relationships with people. I guess we all can learn something from those different from us after all.

Politics, love and black mail - what more could you want?
I actually read An Ideal Husband, a play by Oscar Wilde last month but am just now getting around to reviewing it.

This play contains politics, love, and black mail what more could you want? Turmoil revolves around the main character's ability to handle a threat to reveal a dark secret from his past and possibly jeopardize his marriage.You'll read how each person responds to this information and some great interactions with one another.The deep story line discusses human morals, remorse and the question of if a loved one can accept faults.

I really enjoyed this play. It was a quick read with a story that still works today, a truly timeless piece. If you are looking for a fun steady tale that will make you smile this is the play to pick up.

"Life repeats itself meaninglessly"- T.S. Eliot
The play is a description of the morals and values of Victorian England, where a good hearted man, Chiltern is torn apart between remorse over a mistake he committed in the past and his love and devotion to his wife.
It was quite fascinating to read Chiltern's thoughts of being a victim of feminine adoration as opposed to his masculine love that accepts loved one's imperfections.

Apparently, Wilde believes that the acceptance of loved ones' flaws is a key part of love. Oscar Wilde examines love, honesty, friendship, and forgiveness with a humorous, forcibly happy ending.
Nice plot that cleverly mixes seriousness with humor and cynicism with hope. Each character is attractively built, even Mrs. Cheveley, who is the quintessential evil lady, is frankly an attractive evil character
A century later, the same moral irony and the same human nature still exist.

Great easy Wilde's book
This book is a great nineteenth century literature of one of mi favourites writers ever . It makes a great picture of the english bourgeoisie of the century combined with humour, sarcasm and moral content. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Good fun
Sherlock Holmes and the Mysterious Friend of Oscar Wilde
by Russell A. Brown

Good fun4*

First, this book is clearly not even an attempt to write a missing story that Conan Doyle might actually have written, something that could convince us that the infamous tin dispatch box (which must be the size of a large steamer trunk given all the manuscripts that have oozed forth over the years) was actually uncovered.Instead it falls in that broad category of Holmes pastiches that interpret or expand the Canon very loosely, often with modern sensibilities very much at the front.(It does not seem to me, however, to be one of the sort that tries to satirize or make a disparaging point about the original Holmes stories, a group uniformly despicable.)And while I am not usually very fond of stories that stray too far from the original characters, and Brown's endeavor is not the most polished such effort and does go over the top at places; nevertheless, I found it overall pretty well done and enjoyable ... as well as side splittingly funny in parts.It's certainly worth a read, if notadding to your library.

[For those put off by any "gay agenda", I didn't see one other than that of tolerance.Obviously, simply having Wilde as a main character is likely to bring up the topic, and the mystery involves a man (the "mysterious friend") caught in the toils of a blackmailer due to a supposed gay encounter.One of the points that seems a bit overdone is the degree to which Holmes and Watson are portrayed as reflexive homophobes, taking the official line of the time; but then Brown also overdoes the extent and obviousness, even obsequiousness, of the Holmes/Watson faith in the primacy of England and it's upper classes.]

Not so Wilde after all...
Author Russell Brown is not the first to speculate on the sexual orientation of Holmes, Watson and others in the Conan Doyle stories.While there is nothing explicit in the stories about Holmes having much of a love life (his admiration for 'the' woman notwithstanding), Watson did have many marriages.It is not unusual for modern writers and modern scholars to 'read between the lines' when trying to discern something like 'the love that dares not speak its name', which, by this very definition, means it is not going to be made explicit.

Russell Brown takes the tactic of combining fact with fiction, drawing upon the real life persona and proclivities of Oscar Wilde, a fellow Victorian/Edwardian figure, and draws Holmes into mysteries that at first Holmes resists, but eventually acquieses to.Much of Wilde's lines here are adapted from or taken directly from his own work; much of the Holmesian character is derivative of Conan Doyle, but perhaps with a bit more intention in driving the author's point about tolerance and acceptance, something that takes Holmes some time to reach.

As one can see from reviews, this is a book that many people either love or hate; this probably turns on their attitudes toward the subject matter of sexual orientation than on the work itself, and this is thus a fair indication - if this is a topic that disturbs you, don't get this book.If it is a topic in which you have interest, this might be of interest to you.

If, however, you are looking for Holmes-related material (I collect such things, the good, bad and ugly), this is a minor offering in such literature.It is worth reading, but is not groundbreaking, and would be a second or third tier extra-canonical story.Were it possible, I would grant this three-and-one-half stars, but I am generally inclined to round up.

Campy fun.
This book is one of the most amusing I have read in a while. Many clever Wilde quotations are worked into the dialogue. It honestly isn't much of a mystery novel, but it is great fun to read if you have the right sense ofhumour. If you are a fan of both Sherlock Holmes and Oscar Wilde, this maybe the book for you.

Warning: Do not read this book if you"dislike" homosexuals or if you are looking for a straight (ifyou'll pardon my pun) mystery. You will not enjoy it.

BURN IT!
I found this book to be utterly repulsive. As far from Conon Doyle as you can get.It's hard to imagine Stanley Hopkins, Wiggins, Watson and all those wellloved characters being homosexuals. Only someone with a pervertedsexual preference would find any joy in this disgusting excuse forliterature.All it's good for is toilet paper or lighting fires with.

Agenda Drives the Plot and Characters
True fans of Holmes and Watson - avoid this book. I couldn't even finish it. The central character is actually Oscar Wilde, and the story is actually an attempt to entrap Holmes and Watson in a modern-day agenda. Ihave no ill will toward that agenda, but it drives the plot and the authordistorts the characters in unbelievable ways. To the author: If you'regoing to write a book to push your agenda, make it subtle and keep theaction honest. ... Read more

Product Description
While flying to a warmer climate, a little swallow stops to rest in the great city.His short stay is extended, however, when he takes refuge at, and then makes friends with, the golden statue of The Happy Prince.From high atop his pedestal in the city park The Happy Prince has a bird's-eye view of the sufferings of the people of the city.But, he is powerless to do anything.When the Prince entreats his new friend to stay and help him, a lesson in kindness and caring is in store for the little bird.

Beloved since its original publication in 1888, the Oscar Wilde fairy tale is now set against a modern-day backdrop and written for young readers.Stunning, evocative paintings, along with a masterful retelling, breathe new life and meaning into this classic story of mindfulness and compassion for others. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Mis-match
If only Laura Stutzman (Illustrator) had collaborated with a real writer who understood the full beauty of Oscar Wilde's concept, language and imagry, then we would have a book to cherish. Ms Strutzman's artistry is exceptionally beautiful. If the references to Egypt had not been cut, I would love to have seen her work on that. Perhaps if I type out the real story and paste it over the existing text, well it might look a bit tacky but not as tacky as the writing. No, no, too many misguided liberties were taken so that won't work. Like rewarding the prince and sparrow with an unmarked memorial in a tree planter instead of being especially honored by God. Would this author cut Aslan out of Narnia?! If you loved the story you don't want this book. And wait until your child is closer to seven to share it.

Disappointing - NOT Oscar Wilde's version
I should have read more of the other negative reviews. Very disappointed because this is NOT Oscar Wilde's version of The Happy Prince.Book arrived today - tossed today.

The Happy Prince
The art work is spectacular but the ending is such a disappointment when compared to the original work.Eliminating the heavenly reward creates a shallow ending in my opinion.I'm sending this version back and getting the original to give as a gift.
Some stories should just be left unedited.I think this is one of them.

Lovely Retelling of The Happy Prince
It's been years since I read Wilde's The Happy Prince, so when I saw this sitting on the shelf at the library, I just had to check it out.Done in large, picture book style, Grodin's retelling of this classic children's tale is quite lovely.The book starts out with a bit about Wilde's life and ends with a page on homelessness and the virtue of "caring" which is nice, but well over the head or interest level of the children on the low end of the recommended age rage listed for this book (4-8), and though the story itself is fine for reading to children on the low end of the age range...my guess is that the subtleties of the message will be lost on most 4-5 year olds without adult prodding about the "lessons" of compassion and charity that this book has to offer.Still it's a classic and, I think a message worth giving and receiving.

Overall, The Happy Prince has never been a very "happy" book, that is to say, even in the original, the prince was melted down and the bird died...what's missing here is the bit where they get to go to heaven, chosen by one of God's angles as the two most precious things in the city.Grodin gave the book a more secular ending where the man charged with pitching them into the furnace decides they deserve better and buries them in the city center (presumably where the statue once stood), under a tree in a planter marked with the words compassion and kindness...so despite the loss of the direct Christian religious overtones of God and the virtues, Grodin manages to deliver the message of the original and I think that's wonderful.I give this version of The Happy Prince five stars, the text is lovely and the artwork is stunning and evocative of the story...at first dark and depressing and as the city becomes a happier, kinder, more compassionate place, it brightens and becomes lighter in look and feel.

Should be no stars for ruining the ending
This is my favorite story of all-time but I would never recomend buying a version that alters the ending. I am an agnostic and even I think it is beyond insane to remove the most beautiful/moving part of the story --

" 'Bring me the two most precious things in the city,' said God to one of His Angels; and the Angel brought Him the leaden heart and the dead bird.

'You have rightly chosen,' said God, 'for in my garden of Paradise this little bird shall sing for evermore, and in my city of gold the Happy Prince shall praise me.' "
... Read more

Product Description
The fourth of Gyles Brandreth's acclaimed series of Victorian murder mysteries, Oscar Wilde and the Nest of Vipers opens in the spring of 1890 at a glamorous reception hosted by the Duke and Duchess of Albemarle. All London's haut monde is there, including the Prince of Wales, who counts the Albemarles as close friends. Although it is the first time Oscar and Bertie have met, Oscar seems far more interested in Rex LaSalle, a young actor, who disarmingly claims to be a vampire...However, what begins as a diverting evening ends in tragedy. As the guests are leaving, the Duchess is found murdered, two tiny puncture marks in her throat. No one has entered the house; no one has left. Desperate to avoid another scandal, the Prince of Wales asks Oscar to investigate the crime. What he discovers threatens to destroy the very heart of the Royal Family... ... Read more

Product Description
The most comprehensive collection of photographs and images of Wilde--compiled by his only grandson.

Oscar Wilde was one of the first and unquestionably one of the greatest self-publicists who ever lived. With that exceptional streak of modernity that characterized much of his life and work, he understood the power of the image in his campaign to promote the self. As early as his Oxford days, he had himself photographed with his contemporaries in loud checked suits of the latest fashion. The Wilde Album now publishes more of these images of Oscar than have ever been seen together before, as well as later photographs, some previously unpublished, from the family archive, including rare snapshots of Oscar in his last years in Italy; the famous sitting in New York for Napoleon Sarony in fur coat and velvet suit; and the good, the bad, and the vicious caricatures, cartoons, and lithographs.

In the accompanying text, Merlin Holland examines Wilde's life as reflected in the photographs and images, paying particular attention to his relationships with friends, family, and lovers, as well as the profound influence of his Irish upbringing. He also investigates the reasons for the adverse opinions his work engendered and the background to the famous legal battles that finally led to imprisonment and exile.Amazon.com Review
Oscar Wilde was a man ahead of his time. He was famous forpushing the parameters of socially accepted sexual codes (albeit withdisastrous results), and, as a playwright, for introducing a new,extraordinarily modern, idea of comedy that combined psychologicalinsight with social satire. But he was also one of the primaryinventors of the art and science of self-invention andself-promotion. The Wilde Album by Merlin Holland (Wilde'sgrandson) is a fascinating and comprehensive examination of how Wildethe artist consciously conjured--through a complicated and savvy useof the media--Wilde the personality. Holland has assembled an enormousnumber of artifacts--from press clippings to political cartoons totheater programs --that map Wilde's emergence as a media celebrity andchart how this image was used against him as his popularity founderedin the face of scandal.

What makes The Wilde Album ultimately moving, and unique, isHolland's use of rare family photos and personal material. Juxtaposedwith the vivaciousness of the public life, and in the context of thegovernment's persecution of the artist, this more private materialembodies and expresses the pain and needless tragedy of Wilde's life. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Mr. Wilde's grandson strives to recreate his family heritage
Mr. Oscar Wilde, the toast of all London for his successful plays revealing the immoral soft underbelly of the British aristocracy, received a slanderous calling card at his club from the Marquess of Queensberry, whose son Al was assisting Mr. Wilde in his investigations of the more corrupt and immoral and hypocritical aspects of those filthily wealthy imperialists.

At Al's urgent request, Mr. Wilde filed suit for slander against Al's own father, serving as noted in this book in Mr. Wilde's own words, as the dice in a cruel and callous oedipal gamble between father and son. Mr. Wilde lost; the petit bourgeois father won and before the Crown brought charges against Mr. WIlde under a new immoral activities act, the father had Mr. Wilde's home ramsacked and auctioned, all of Mr. Wilde's treasured and expensive belongings, and those of his wife and two small sons, in order ostensibly to cover his own legal costs in defending himself against Mr. Wilde's charge of slander. The auction, staged as it was, brought only a very small percentage of its actual worth, yet destroyed all that the family owned.

Mr. Wilde's grandson, in gathering this present album, mentions the fact of this destruction of his family heritage by alluding to the registry of six family albums which were sold and discarded beyond any recovery. Merlin mentions this fact cold, without further comment, but the skilled reader may read between the lines the deep and painful import of this action to Merlin personally. Thus this present effort grows immeasurably poignant and important.

Though others praise the photographs here, it is the comprehensive andextensive and brilliant essay by Merlin here which makes this book as well. This book grows thereby essential for any reader of the English language, and for any reader of Irish resistance to English colonialist power, in particular that fatal power which was so coldly brought to bear against its most subtle and charming and astute and eloquent and Irish critic, greater even than GB Shaw, more subtle even than the great Mr. James Joyce.

Never mind please my ramblings nor the effusiveness of other reviews which here appear upon this page. My one qualm regarding this book is that it is not BIG enough!

Please see as well the excellent, if painfully abridged, production of An Ideal Husband in the BBC collection The Oscar Wilde Collection (The Importance of Being Earnest / The Picture of Dorian Gray / An Ideal Husband / Lady Windermere's Fan) if only to see younger and slimmer and in his prime he who would later play for them Sherlock Holmes. The Importance . . .in this collection is also tolerable if abridged and awkward; Lady Windermere's Fan begins slow with the mournful Lord, but grows inexorably to a heart wrenching finale without sentimentality.

Read all of Mr. Wilde's published work (lacking of course the bulk his writings for Women's World, and lacking his original French text of Salome) in Complete Works of Oscar Wilde (Collins Classics). The original French text of Salome you may find at Salome: Drame en un acte (Collected Works of Oscar Wilde) in order to perform your own translation into English which will undoubtedly replace Al's. It is also available in a Spanish translation at Salome - Bajo El Monte and a fine selection of his short stories at El Fantasma de Canterville y Otros Cuentos (Serie Roja Alfaguara) (Serie Roja Alfaguara).

Please read this book and know the extent of the destructive power of an offended British aristocracy, a destiny, as Merlin here indicates, as inexorable as any ancient Greek drama. Merlin's assessments of his grandfather's oeuvre are also excellent and right on, although too brief! Find further critical work by himself as well as by his father Vyvyan Holland, whose photographs as a small boy are so telling here.

QUITE TOO UTTERLY ECSTATIC!!!!!
What a Gem! If you are a fan of Oscar Wilde then this book is indispensable.
My only gripe is that it is too small. A larger format would have shown off the many Napoleon Sarony photos (the largest collection in one publication) If the publisher and Mr Holland ever read this....I'd gladly shell out for a large format edition. Other than that, I'm quite too utterly ecstatic about the book.......WELL DONE!

"...walks between passion and poetry..."
This volume is more touching and insightful than most
works about Oscar Wilde tend to be.It is filled with
the narrative commentary of Wilde's grandson,
Merlin Holland, who gives honest opinions as well
as factual detail about the various stages of
Oscar Wilde's life.
The treasures, however, are the multitudes of
photographs, memorabilia, and paintings that are
included -- as well as drawings, satirical cartoons
(mostly lampooning Oscar, both at Oxford and later
in life), and wonderful notations under the items.
The most interesting photographs, for me, are
the ones which were done by Napoleon Sarony. They
seem to touch a more thoughtful, poetic, dreamy
Oscar, rather than the posing bon vivant or the
deliberately provocative aesthete/decadent.
The volume does well to have one of those photos
on the cover, as well as having a different photo
beside the title page.The grotesque photos,
that almost make one cringe, though, are of
Oscar in a skirted Greek national costume
(with boots!) from April 1877; Oscar in a
checkered suit and bowler hat at Oxford in
1878, and Oscar at age 2 in a blue velvet
dress, a daguerreotype which has been color
tinted.The weirdest photos are of the
"blond tiger/panther" Lord Alfred Douglas,
would-be "friend" and lover of Oscar.His
eyes look vacant, haunted, cold in most of
the photos , except for the one on page 147,
in which he looks touchingly sensitive and
lonely...the caption below the picture says
it all: "Douglas aged 23. 'Your slim gilt
soul walks between passion and poetry.I know
Hyacinthus, whom Apollo loved so madly, was you
in Greek days,' Wilde wrote to him around that
time."
Truly a remarkable album of memories.

A Little Gem for Folks Wild for Wilde
This is a sparkling gem for all fans of Oscar Wilde.It is a brilliant retelling of Oscar's life through pictures.Filled with everything from photographs of Wilde the aesthete to hilarious caricatures of him from Punch magazine to some of Wilde's own drawings and notes, this fabulous little book has it all.Many of the items I have not seen in any other volume.It goes wonderfully well coupled with Richard Ellman's gorgeous biography or it stands tall on its own.All and all, a marvelous book that I cannot possibly recommend highly enough.

Marvelous little book
Cutting to the chase, the real prize in this marvelous little book are the photographs. For once, we get something other than the usual lot that appear in books with a Wilde connection. Mr. Holland has achieved through his pictures (most seem to be from the family collection) something which most texts don't do..... a feel for the whole of Wilde the man. There is a human dimension to this slim volume that one does not find elsewhere. There are pictures of ancestors, parents, editorial cartoons, advertisements, all in relatively strict chronological order, from the child in a dress (as was customary for little boys in the period) to the student, the developing fop, the lampooned character, the ludicrous pairing with Bosie... who looks perpetually bored and thoroughly uninteresting... to the depressing denouement, death bed and funerary monuments.

The text reveals nothing new but it is elegantly written. Both of Wilde's children were devoted to the memory of their father. It is evident that the grandson was raised in like manner.

Of Wilde's two boys, Cyril died in WWI without issue. Mr. Holland is the grandson of the other, Vyvyan.

If you are interested in the period, England and Ireland in late 19th century, Wilde, gay history, etc. buy this book. It is worth infinitely more than it costs. ... Read more

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