Oscar Wilde: The Fisherman & His Soul & Other Fairy Tales (Bloomsbury Poetry Classics) [Hardcover]

Oscar Wilde (Author)

Book Description

Series: Bloomsbury Poetry Classics | Publication Date: July 15, 1998

Every evening the young
fisherman went out upon
the sea and threw his
nets into the water.

Bloomsbury Poetry Classics are selections from the work of some of our greatest poets. The series is aimed at the general reader rather than the specialist and carries no critical or explanatory apparatus. This can be found elsewhere. In the series the poems introduce themselves, on an uncluttered page and in a format that is both attractive and convenient. The selections in this book have been made by Giles Gordon.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Had Oscar Wilde not become famous for his plays, especially that perfect English comedy The Importance of Being Earnest, and-at least at the time-infamous for his trials and his imprisonment, he would have become famous for having published two magical, mesmerizing collections of fairy tales for older children, The Happy Prince (1888) and The House of Pomegranates (1891). This volume gathers together all the tales from the two books, tales that Oscar Wilde originally told to his own sons, including "The Happy Prince," "The Devoted Friend," "The Birthday of the Infanta," and "The Young King," as well as the heartbreaking title story "The Fisherman and His Soul."

Product Details

• Hardcover: 96 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press (July 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312190867
• ISBN-13: 978-0312190866
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 4.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,666,463 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.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Of the soul and the heart, March 14, 2005

By 

Gary Selikow (Great Kush) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Classics:the Fisherman and His Soul (Bloomsbury Classic) (Hardcover)

For the love of a mermaid, a young fisherman sends his soul away, after enlisting the aid of a young witch.

The soul travels the world to many exotic locations, using extraordinary powers to gather treasures together. But because the soul was sent away without a heart it became cruel and twisted, and when it re-entered the fisherman, it makes him do evil things.

Written in a rich poetic style reminiscent of Coleridge's Kubla Kahn, it is part of Oscar Wilde's anthology of fairy tales called " A House of Pomegranates". Could Tolkien and CS Lewis have been influenced by this phenomenal work?

Perhaps the message of this tale is that the soul must never be separated from the heart.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Soul and The Heart, July 10, 2003

By 

"redkitten20" (Simi Valley, California United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Oscar Wilde: The Fisherman & His Soul & Other Fairy Tales (Bloomsbury Poetry Classics) (Hardcover)

I thought this story was a very interesting one. The story is very desciptive, and it makes you think. From the moment he captures his "love" to the part to part where the priest finally blesses the sea. The only thing that me wonder was about the author maybe he doubted needing a soul, or maybe he really thought that love wasn't worth giving up everything for. Once you read the story it'll be up to decide.

2 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Fisherman and his soul, April 14, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Oscar Wilde: The Fisherman & His Soul & Other Fairy Tales (Bloomsbury Poetry Classics) (Hardcover)

I think the most attrative parts of this story is the descriptive paragraphs.