Search results for ""author oscar wilde""

Oscar Wilde’s children’s stories explore timeless themes of good and evil, freedom and responsibility, love and death, beauty and self-sacrifice. Featuring princesses, ogres and talking animals, the questions they pose are as pertinent now as they were at the turn of the century. What is love? asks ‘The Happy Prince’. How do you get what you need? asks ‘The Nightingale and the Rose’. How do you win friends (and avoid alienating people)? asks ‘The Selfish Giant’. Can you have too much compassion? asks ‘The Devoted Friend’. How can you set the world on fire? asks ‘The Remarkable Rocket’. Wilde’s stories have given pleasure to generations of readers. By turns moving and funny, they gently teach free thinking rather than giving prescriptive lessons. This beautiful collectors’ edition with original watercolour illustrations and decorative motifs from the 1913 edition by Charles Robinson and an introduction by Wilde expert Michèle Mendelssohn is certain to surprise and delight adults and children alike.

Read more less

"Quick, quick," cried the Ghost, "or it will be too late."Wilde's clever parody provides an entertaining twist on the traditional gothic horror story. A materialistic American family moves into the English mansion of Canterville Chase, much to the annoyance of the resident ghost!This brilliant and often overlooked story is a wonderful commentary on how Wilde saw "free" America challenging "traditional" England - all under the guise of a charming, heartwarming and comical book.The book includes an illustrated Character List (like a Dramatis Personae), over 120 pages of story artwork, and fascinating support material that details the life and work of Oscar Wilde - all beautifully presented in color.Designed to encourage readers to enjoy classical literature, titles in the Classical Comics range stay true to the original vision of the authors. This title has been moderately and sympathetically abridged from the original text to fit within the graphic novel format, but still features the entire Wilde dialogue.Like all of their titles, this Classical Comics production remains true to the original novel, and features incredible artwork that will engage any reader.To support the use of this title in the classroom, photocopiable teachers resources are available that offer lesson plans and activities from 6th grade and up: ISBN 978-1-906332-78-5

Read more less

One of the nineteenth century’s most successful and most frequently revived plays, An Ideal Husband has divided critics more than any other of Wilde’s plays. Treating political intrigue, financial fraud, blackmail, scandal and spin, and the role of women in public life, it is a play which engaged with issues of vital importance to its late-Victorian audience, which continue to resonate today. Sos Eltis, a specialist in Victorian drama and its relation to women's issues, provides a stimulating new perspective on An Ideal Husband, through an introduction that looks at its relation with contemporary social purity campaigns, women's rights, and political scandals. The introduction also gives a substantial performance history, with particular reference to the play's film versions and the influential Peter Hall theatre production.

Read more less

With an Introduction and Notes by Anne Varty, Royal Holloway, University of London. Oscar Wilde took London by storm with his first comedy, Lady Windermere's Fan. The combination of dazzling wit, subtle social criticism, sumptuous settings and the theme of a guilty secret proved a winner, both here and in his next three plays, A Woman of No Importance, An Ideal Husband, and his undisputed masterpiece, The Importance of Being Earnest. This volume includes all Wilde's plays from his early tragedy Vera to the controversial Salome and the little known fragments, La Sainte Courtisane and A Florentine Tragedy. The edition affords a rare chance to see Wilde's best known work in the context of his entire dramatic output, and to appreciate plays which have hitherto received scant critical attention. Wilde’s plays have never failed to delight audiences and are a lasting testimony to their author’s supreme wit and theatrical genius.

Read more less

This volume in CSA Word's famous Short Story compilation series focuses on the very best in timeless short fiction.

Read more less

With an Introduction and Notes by John M.L. Drew, University of Buckingham. 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 believe 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.

Read more less