Oscar Wilde - The Major Works (Oxford World's Classics) [Paperback]

Oscar Wilde (Author), Isobel Murray (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 15, 2008 | Series: Oxford World's Classics

Oscar Wilde's dramatic private life has sometimes threatened to overshadow his great literary achievements. His talent was prodigious: the author of brilliant social comedies, fairy stories, critical dialogues, poems, and a novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray. In addition to Dorian Gray, this volume represents all these genres, including such works as Lady Windermere's Fan and The Importance of Being Earnest, 'The Happy Prince', 'The Critic as Artist', and 'The Ballad of Reading Gaol'.
About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Isobel Murray is a Senior Lecturer in English at Aberdeen University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 672 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (June 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0199540764
• ISBN-13: 978-0199540761
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.2 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #423,331 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

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1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Nice Selection, July 21, 2011

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This review is from: Oscar Wilde - The Major Works (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)

I have this title in the hardcover edition of 1989, with it's lovely green jacket. The Introduction is excellent and informed. I am fascinated at the wee selection of poems -- there are three only, and two of them are in the decadent vein in which Oscar penned his only novel and "Salome." I have just this moment finished listening to Stephen Fry's reading of "The Ballad of Reading Goal" on the Dove Audio 4-cassette box that includes the poem and the entire "De Profundis;" & I must disagree with Quentin Crisp, who called the ballad "bad poetry." It is uneven, yet it still retains much power, and some lines are extremely effective. "The Harlot's House" is probably my favourite poem, and is a work that continues to inspire my own fictive work. It is deliciously macabre. I return to this poet time and time again. Some find his life and his tragedy more interesting than his Work, but now in the twilight of my life I return more often to the poems and plays and essays than to the biographies. Peace unto his Shade.