Complete Works of Oscar Wilde (Collins Classics) [Paperback]

Oscar Wilde (Author), Merlin Holland (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 4, 2003 | Series: Collins Classics

The Collins Complete Works of Oscar Wilde is the only truly complete and authoritative single-volume edition of Oscar Wilde’s works, and is available in both hardback and this paperback edition.

Continuously in print since 1948, the Collins Complete Works of Oscar Wilde has long been recognised as the most comprehensive and authoritative single-volume collection of Wilde’s texts available, containing his only novel, The Portrait of Dorian Gray, as well as his plays, stories, poems, essays and letters, all in their most authoritative texts.

Illustrated with many fascinating photographs, the book includes introductions to each section by Merlin Holland (Oscar’s grandson), Owen Dudley Edwards, Declan Kiberd and Terence Brown.

Also included is a comprehensive bibliography of works by and about Oscar Wilde, and a chronological table of his life and work.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Collins is perhaps the single best edition of Wilde's complete works. Along with the author's full canon of plays, poems, essays, and novels, this also contains numerous appendixes of biographical information and chronologies of Wilde's work as well as examples of his famous one-liners divided into categories. This Centenary Edition was edited by his grandson Merlin, who made revisions to the text. (See also son Vyvyan Holland's autobiography, above.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

“Collins is perhaps the single best edition of Wilde’s complete works.” -- Library Journal

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 1216 pages
• Publisher: Collins (August 4, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0007144369
• ISBN-13: 978-0007144365
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 1.7 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #92,899 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Oscar Fingall O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was born in Dublin in 1854. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin and Magdalen College, Oxford where, a disciple of Pater, he founded an aesthetic cult. In 1884 he married Constance Lloyd, and his two sons were born in 1885 and 1886.
His novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), and social comedies Lady Windermere's Fan (1892), A Woman of No Importance (1893), An Ideal Husband (1895), and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895), established his reputation. In 1895, following his libel action against the Marquess of Queesberry, Wilde was sentenced to two years' imprisonment for homosexual conduct, as a result of which he wrote The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898), and his confessional letter De Profundis (1905). On his release from prison in 1897 he lived in obscurity in Europe, and died in Paris in 1900.

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#53 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Classics

#53 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Classics

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

94 of 98 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential Oscar May 23, 2002

By Bill R. Moore

Format:Hardcover

Oscar Wilde was a self-described man of paradox. He was, simultaneously, a man very much of his time, and also very ahead of his time. He was a highly moral man who wrote clever epigrams about how good it is to be wicked ("Wickedness is a myth invented by good people to account for the curious attractiveness of others.") He was a happily married man who happily loved his two children but also led a gay life on the side and wrote hilarous satires of love and marriage ("Men marry because they are tired; women, because they are curious: both are disappointed.") This huge book, which contains practically everything that Wilde ever wrote, shows the man in all his glory. After the introduction by his son, we are first launched into Oscar's stories. His one novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, is a classic and a masterpiece. A devastating moral tale, this one deserves to be in everyone's library. His shorter pieces, however, are of a more questionable quality. Consisting mostly of moral ancedotes dressed up in the thinly-veiled guise of fairy tales for children, these works are the least exciting part of Wilde's oeuvre and of this book, and seem to lean heavily on his oft-spouted crutch of "Art for Art's sake." After the stories, we meet Wilde in the guise he was destined for: that of a dramatist. His play were an integral and ackwnoledged part of his genius, and their influence upon modern drama was enormous. His type of high, farcial "drawing room" comedy has left a permanent mark on the stage. It is easy to see how even the modern Hollywood sitcom sprung from these plays of Wilde's. However funny and biting the satire may be, though, the high point of Oscar Wilde's plays was always his epigram-laced dialogue - whatever the plot may be. Probably the finest - and most biting - aphorist the English language has ever produced, Wilde is probably quoted - whether people realize it or not - more often than any other source in the language, aside from The Bible and Shakespeare. The Importance of Being Earnest and Salome are his ackwnoledged masterpieces, but other plays - such as A Woman of No Importance and An Ideal Husband - are very good plays as well. He also has some very fine and underrated less original works, such as The Duchess of Padua that are quite well worth reading. From here, we move into Wilde's poems. Although, as he himself admits, they sometimes contain "more rhyme than reason", there is no doubting that Wilde was a master of language, and a fine poet. He won the Newdigate Prize for Poetry while at Oxford, and his "Ballad of Reading Gaol" is one of the finest poems in existence. What's left are his essays and letters. The most famous of them - indeed, one of the most famous letters ever written - is De Profundis, his strangely moving and tragic love/hate letter to Lord Alfred Douglas from prison. This is a shocking and immensely moving piece of work, and deserves to be read by one and all for its unique look into the human psyche - particuarly that of a man under intense suffering, and possibly on the brink. The letter is fascinating, and should put a different spin on Wilde than many people inaccurately have of the man - he was obviously of a very high moral character. Several interesting essays are also included - among them are The Critic As Artist and The Decay of Lying, two masterful pieces of Plato-istic dialogue, putting Wilde's severe wit and intimidating intellectualism on full display for all to see. One may wonder how much he actually believes of what he writes, but what he writes is brilliant. Another interesting essay is The Portrait of Mr. W.H., in which Wilde puts forth an interesting and unique theory about Shakespeare's sonnets. Also, while Wilde was not generally known for his political opinions, it is quite interesting to read his essay on political and social reform, The Soul of Man Under Socialism, as well as two letters he wrote about proposed reformations of the prison system.

All in all, this is a collection of masterful writings from one of the most tragically overlooked and underrated writers in the whole of literature. As another reviewer has pointed out, while Wilde rarely gets the credit he deserves for his work - and is often ignored, overlooked, or simply dismissed - his works are also widely and frequently plagarised - not to mention quoted legitimately - and were obviously extremely influential. You owe it to yourself to read the man's writings if you are not familar with his works; I guarantee you you won't regret it.

52 of 54 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars unworthy book design May 11, 2000

By MamaMorgs

Format:Paperback

I gave this book 5 stars because the content of the book is superb - it is Oscar Wilde we're talking about here, after all. But I would like to comment on the actual publication itself. I can't believe that this is the best that Collins could come up with for a centenary edition. The paper is far too thin and the size of the book is also too small. The old Collins Complete Works edited by Vyvyan Holland was a much more attractive volume.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Actually a Complete Edition June 7, 2005

By Grantaire

Format:Paperback

The Collins edition of Oscar Wilde's complete works is the only one I've ever found that actually is *complete*. It contains not only all of his plays, fairy tales, and short stories, but also most of his essays (some brilliant writing) and *all* his poems. Many books say they do, but there are a few tiny gems that oft go unnoticed (such as "Love Song" and a lovely little piece with no name). A truly wonderful edition of a truly wonderful writer, or, as Wilde himself might say, "Quite utterly lovely." Also, if I am not mistaken, contains several pages of pictures of Wilde and his family.