(Book Jacket Status: Not Jacketed)

Introduction by Terry Eagleton

Oscar Wilde has been acknowledged as the wittiest writer in the English language. This collection proves that he was also one of the most versatile. Effortlessly achieved, each revealing a different aspect of his brilliance, all of the plays, prose writings, and poems gathered here support Wilde's belief that entertainment provides the best kind of edification. The works gathered here include Wilde's once-controversial and now classic novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, the rioutously (sic) comic plays “The Importance of Being Earnest” and “Lady Windermere's Fan,” and the famous poem he wrote after being released from prison, “The Ballad of Reading Gaol.” This expanded new edition now includes the complete version of Wilde's moving letter from prison, De Profundis, and his teasing parable about Shakespeare, The Portrait of Mr. W. H. Other notable included writings are the semi-comic mystery story “Lord Arthur's Savile's Crime” and the essay The Soul of Man Under Socialism.

A Woman of No Importance, for all its charm, exposes an aristocratic world that is smug, snobbish and morally bankrupt. An Ideal Husband portrays a glittering diplomatic gathering which is revealed as a masquerade to cover up the shady past of a prominent establishment figure. Lady Windermere's Fan is a brilliant critique of conventional morality. In The Importance of Being Earnest every character is revealed to be leading a hypocritical double life, while Salome and A Florentine Tragedy use historical settings to explore issues of sex, gender and power.

A Woman of No Importance, for all its charm, exposes an aristocratic world that is smug, snobbish and morally bankrupt. An Ideal Husband portrays a glittering diplomatic gathering which is revealed as a masquerade to cover up the shady past of a prominent establishment figure. Lady Windermere's Fan is a brilliant critique of conventional morality. In The Importance of Being Earnest every character is revealed to be leading a hypocritical double life, while Salome and A Florentine Tragedy use historical settings to explore issues of sex, gender and power.

Un principe bello e ingenuo, un usignolo pronto a sacrificarsi per una rosa, un gigante egoista, e castelli infestati da fantasmi scorbutici: personaggi e mondi fantastici, creati da Wilde con il primo intento di educare e divertire i figli Cyril e Vyvyan, ma anche fedelissimi ritratti delle contraddizioni morali che riempivano la vita della borghesia vittoriana. Lo stesso scrittore definiva i suoi racconti come 'studi in prosa volti in forma fantastica e intesi in parte per i bambini e in parte per coloro che hanno mantenuto la capacità di gioire e stupirsi'. In questa raccolta viene proposta la serie completa dei racconti di Wilde, narrazioni sempre limpide e avvincenti, in cui fiaba e mito si incontrano e affascinano il lettore con il talento brioso e parodistico di uno dei più grandi autori dell'Ottocento inglese.