Shorter Fiction

Resumen del libro

Oscar Wilde is remembered today primarily as a brilliant and witty playwright and the author of the novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray. As a result, his shorter pieces of fiction have tended to be neglected, which is a shame for they not only display the same kind of scathing wit, imaginative flourish and engaging narratives as his other work, but present a wider range of subjects and ideas. As well as such comic tales as The Canterville Ghost and Lord Arthur Savile's Crime, there are the marvellous fairy stories and fantasies such as The Selfish Giant, The Happy Prince and The Star Child. The challenge and pleasure of these stories is the simultaneous appeal to both child and adult with their themes of Love, Truth and Sacrifice which are as relevant today as when they were written. In this collection are to be found some of the brightest gems from the treasure trove of Oscar Wilde's writings.

Biografía del autor

Novelista, poeta, crítico literario y autor teatral de origen irlandés, gran exponente del esteticismo, Oscar Wilde conoció el éxito desde sus comienzos gracias al ingenio punzante y epigramático que derrochó en sus obras, dedicadas casi siempre a fustigar a sus contemporáneos. Defensor del arte por el arte, sus relatos repletos de diálogos vivos y cargados de ironía provocaron feroces críticas de los sectores conservadores, que se acentuaron cuando Wilde fue acusado y condenado por su homosexualidad, lo que originó el declive de su carrera literaria y de su vida personal. Entre sus obras destacan las cuatro comedias teatrales El abanico de lady Windermere (1892), Una mujer sin importancia (1893), Un marido ideal (1895) y La importancia de llamarse Ernesto (1895), El fantasma de Canterville o El retrato de Dorian Gray, su única novela.