Complete Short Fiction
- ISBN13: 9780141439693
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
Edited with an Introduction by Ian Small.
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3 Responses to “Complete Short Fiction”
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March 10th, 2010 at 8:02 pm
Oscar Wilde is a fantastic writer and person. In this book he devolops his thinking about the world so extrememly good, that he deveserves 5stars. I read a lot of plays by Wilde and some of his short stories and I can only come to one conclusion: This is the best writer ever with Shelley, Keats and Fitzgerald. You have got to love this one.
Rating: 5 / 5
March 10th, 2010 at 10:18 pm
People tend to remember Oscar Wilde for one, or two things, or both – his homosexuality and his cutting wit. His witticism is displayed mostly in his better known works such as “The importance of Being Earnest” in which one would find his established gems like “Never trust a woman who tells one her real age. A woman who would tell one that will tell one anything.” Another of his well known work was his “De Profundis” a melodramatic letter written from his imprisonment after his disastrous defamation trial involving his homosexuality. Penguin Classic’s “Complete Short Fiction” is a collection of short stories written with typical Wildean care-free abandon. But the stories, short and sweet, carry a sting. “The Devoted Friend” tells a charming tale with a moral, only for the reader to be told in the end that people don’t like stories with a moral. This and other stories in the first part of the book are fairy tales that parents will enjoy the subtleties that Wilde injects into each story, and still find the stories simple enough to read to their children. Readers will enjoy the rest of the book, which consist of a mixture of tales, and some, like “Lord Arthur Saville’s Crime”, for the dashes of Wildean wit: “I do not work for money; I live entirely for my art.” And do ghosts do when the people they haunt do not believe in ghosts? That’s “The Canterville Ghost”. The variety in this collection best exhibits the true heart of Oscar Wilde. It is a fine introduction to a newcomer to Wilde’s literary work. It is refreshing and leaves one in a pleasant and musing, mood. His “De profundis” tends to leave the reader drained; “The Importance of Being Earnest” may leave one with high expectations, and “Dorian Gray” might leave one exhilarated, exhausted, and scarred.
Rating: 4 / 5
March 10th, 2010 at 11:24 pm
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) is best known for such dramatic plays as “Salome”: “Lady Windemere’s Fan” and his masterpiece “The Importance of Being Earnest.” In this new Penguin collection, though, the spotlight is on his considerable abilities as a short story author of genius and wit.
The selections are taken from three short story collections produced by Wilde.
The Happy Prince and Other Tales from 1888:
The Happy Prince is a statue who along with a swallow teaches children the importance of kindness. The statue and the bird are good samaritans who are not understood by the cynical world around them.
The Nightingale and the Rose is a sad story of a nightingale who dies so that a young lover might have a red rose to present to his lady love. She rejects the suitor for a rich man.
The Selfish Giant deals with a greedy giant who is won over by the laughter of children. One of the children is the Christ.
The Devoted Friend tells of a young loving boy and a callous and insensitive miller friend who only wants to be served and not share with others.
The Remarkable Rocket deals with the hubris of a rocket who wants to be the star of the show only to come a cropper.
The Portrait of Mr. W.H. is a literary exploration as to the identity of the man Shakespeare dedicated the sonnets to in the sixteenth century.
In these fairy tales we see Wilde’s satire of late Victorian life.
A House of Pomengranates from 1891
The Young King shows how a prince becomes aware of suffering in society.
The Birthday of the Infanta reveals the cruelty inflicted on a dwarf.
The Fisherman and His Soul is a clever tale of the dichotomy between the needs of the body and the soul.
The Star Child deals with the education of a child who fell from the stars. He learns the importance of kindness to animals and human beings in need.
Lord Arthur Saville’s Crime and Other Stories from 1891
Lord Arthur Saville is told by a palm reader that he is fated to murder someone. This is an intriguing story which also contains many humorous and witty parts.
The Sphinx Without a Secret is a short story about a woman who invents a past to become more intriguing.
The Canterville Ghost is the best story in the collection. It deals with an American family who live in an old English mansion inhabited by an Elizabethan ghost who murdered his wife and was starved to death by the victim’s siblings.
The Model Millionaire is an O Henry type tale in which a kind man is rewarded for a good deed.
Peoms in Prose in 1894 are one page reflections on a variety of topics from the Last Judgement to ruminations on an Elder Tree.
Oscar Wilde’s kindness and love of humanity shine in this incandescent stories from fin de siecle London. They will entertain and instruct.
Rating: 5 / 5