Includes bibliographical references (pages 625-628).
Contents:
Aphorisms: Important of Being Earnest (three-act version). Lord Savile's crime -- Model Millionaire -- Canterville ghost -- Young king -- Birthday of the Infanta -- Fisherman and his soul -- Remarkable rocket -- Poems in prose: Artist -- Disciple -- Master -- House of judgment -- Teacher of wisdom -- Poems: Theocritus -- Harlot's house -- Impression de voyage -- Impression du matin -- Symphony in yellow -- Impression: le reĢveillon -- Impressions (1) Le jardin, (2) La mer, (3) Le Jardin des Tuileries -- Ballad of reading gaol -- Lectures: English Renaissance -- Decorative art in America -- Journalism: Impressions of America -- American invasion -- American man -- Mr. Whistler's ten o'clock -- Relation of dress to art : a note in black and white on Mr. Whistler's lecture -- London models -- Dinners and dishes -- To read, or not to read -- Balzac in English -- Poets and the people -- Poetry and prison -- Gospel according to Walt Whitman -- Mr. Pater's last volume [appreciation] -- Essays: Decay of lying -- Critic as artist, part I -- Critic as artist, part II -- Truth of masks -- Soul of man under socialism -- Aphorisms: Few maxims for the instruction of the over-educated -- Phrases and philosophies for the use of the young -- Preface to The picture of Dorian Gray -- Important of Being Earnest (three-act version).
Summary:
A renowned eccentric, dandy, and man-about-town, Oscar Wilde was foremost a dazzling wit and dramatic genius whose plays, poems, essays, and fiction contain some of the most frequently quoted quips and passages in the English language. This volume features a wide selection of Wilde|s literary output, including the comic masterpiece The Importance of Being Earnest, an immensely popular play filled with satiric epigrams that mercilessly expose Victorian hypocrisy; The Portrait of Mr. W. H., a story proposing that Shakespeare|s sonnets were inspired by the poet|s love for a young man; The House of Pomegranates, the author|s collection of fairy tales; lectures Wilde delivered, first in the United States, where he exhorted his audiences to love beauty and art, and then in England, where he presented his impressions of America; his two major literary-theoretical works, |The Decay of Lying| and |The Critic as Artist|; and a selection of verse, including his great poem The Ballad of Reading Gaol, in which Wilde famously declared that |each man kills the thing he loves." -- www.barnesandnoble.com
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.