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With an Introduction and Notes by John M.L. Drew, University of Buckingham.Wilde's only novel, first published in 1890, is a brilliantly designed puzzle, intended to tease conventional minds with its exploration of the myriad interrelationships between art, life, and consequence. From its provocative Preface, challenging the reader to believe in 'art for art's sake', to its sensational conclusion, the story self-consciously experiments with the notion of sin as an element of design.Yet Wilde himself underestimated the consequences of his experiment, and its capacity to outrage the Victorian establishment. Its words returned to haunt him in his court appearances in 1895, and he later recalled the 'note of doom' which runs like 'a purple thread' through its carefully crafted prose.
Dorian Gray gives his soul for eternal youth. While his portrait changes hideously, reflecting his crimes and corruption, he remains outwardly flawless. This new edition uses the 1891 expanded text and shows how Wilde transformed his many sources.
The abridged downloadable audiobook edition of Oscar Wildes classic tale of corrupted innocence and debauchery, The Picture of Dorian Gray, read by John Moffatt. Enthralled by his own exquisite portrait, Dorian Gray exchanges his soul for eternal youth and beauty. Influenced by his friend Lord Henry Wotton, he is drawn into a corrupt double life; indulging his desires in secret while remaining a gentleman in the eyes of polite society. Only his portrait bears the traces of his decadence. The novel was a succs de scandale and the book was later used as evidence against Wilde at the Old Bailey in 1895. It has lost none of its power to fascinate and disturb.
'It would be unfair to expect other people to be as remarkable as oneself'Wilde's celebrated witticisms on the dangers of sincerity, duplicitous biographers, the stupidity of the English - and his own genius. One of 46 new books in the bestselling Little Black Classics series, to celebrate the first ever Penguin Classic in 1946. Each book gives readers a taste of the Classics' huge range and diversity, with works from around the world and across the centuries - including fables, decadence, heartbreak, tall tales, satire, ghosts, battles and elephants.
Wilde's short fiction includes such masterpieces as 'The Happy Prince', 'The Selfish Giant', 'Lord Arthur Savile's Crime' and 'The Canterville Ghost', as well as the daring narrative experiments of 'The Portrait of Mr. W. H.' and 'Poems in Prose'. This edition shows how they continue to the enthral and challenge the reader.
Horror hides behind an attractive face in 'The Picture of Dorian Gray', Oscar Wilde's tale of a notorious Victorian libertine and his life of evil excesses.
The handsome but susceptible Dorian Gray is pulled into the hedonism of London's high society, where he falls under the pernicious influence of Lord Henry Wotton. Oscar Wilde's nightmarish tale gorges on sin, corruption and vanity, with a series of dark twists and a desperate Faustian deal. With a new biography and a detailed new glossary.
Over 120 years after Oscar Wilde submitted The Picture of Dorian Gray for publication, the uncensored version of his novel appears here for the first time in a paperback edition. This volume restores material, including instances of graphic homosexual content, removed by the novel's first editor, who feared it would be "e;offensive"e; to Victorians.
Selection includes The Portrait of Mr W.H., Wilde's defence of Dorian Gray, reviews, and the writings from 'Intentions' (1891): 'The Decay of Lying, 'Pen, Pencil, Poison', and 'The Critic as Artist'.Wilde is familiar to us as the ironic critic behind the social comedies, as the creator of the beautiful and doomed Dorian Gray, as the flamboyant aesthete and the demonised homosexual. This volume presents us with a different Wilde. Wilde emerges here as a deep and serious reader of literature and philosophy, and an eloquent and original thinker about society and art.
Since then the stories have been constantly reprinted and, despite the author's disclaimer, children have made the tales their own, a particular favourite being 'The Selfish Giant' - the highly moral story of the giant who banished children from his garden, so that spring never came.
‘600 Quotations from the Great Writers of the 20th Century’ features the wit and wisdom of some of the 20th Century’s greatest writers and minds. A cherry-picked selection, the collection includes quotes from the likes of famous Irish poet and playwright, Oscar Wilde, American-Lebanese writer and poet Khalil Gibran, Winston Churchill, Britain’s celebrated prime minister, and many more.An entertaining and inspiring compilation of their best quotes, ‘600 Quotations from the Great Writers of the 20th Century’ is ideal for those interested in an extra boost of inspiration throughout their day.Young Jewish refugee Anne Frank (1929-1945) is famous for her diaries that detailed her attempts to hide from the Nazi’s in German-occupied Amsterdam. Winston Churchill (1874-1965) is the charismatic and oft-quoted, British Prime Minister that led the country to victory over Nazi Germany in the second World War. Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) is one of the most celebrated writers in history and is best known for his novel ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’.The Austrian novelist and biographer Stefan Zweig (1881-1942) was one of the most famous authors throughout the 1920s and 1930s. Born in France, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900-1944) was a writer and journalist, best known for his novella ´The Little Prince´. Khalil Gibran (1883-1931) was a Lebanese-American author and philosopher, best remembered for his prose poetry fable ´The Prophet´.
600 citations des grands écrivains du XXe siècle
Introducing Little Clothbound Classics: irresistible, mini editions of short works by the world's greatest writers, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-SmithA Penguin Classic HardcoverWith warmth, tenderness and quiet wit, Oscar Wilde's fables and fairy tales have moved and delighted for generations. In far-off kingdoms and ocean realms, in the company of giants and nightingales, Wilde speaks of heartbreak and redemption, of cruelty and compassion, of love lost, of love gained, of love lasting. Included in this selection are stories from The Happy Prince and A House of Pomegranates.
Oscar Wilde is remembered as one of the wittiest minds ever, thanks to his provocative style and humor. In the 1890s, he was one of London's most popular playwrights; his masterpieces are The Importance of Being Earnest and the dark and fantastical Picture of Dorian Gray. His writings entwine themes of beauty, decadence and duplicity, which made him a more than colorful agent provocateur in the Victorian society. This would eventually lead to a very public trial after he was accused of sodomy. His defense, punctuated with witticism, often left the court roaring with laughter, but the evidence was against him, and he was eventually sent to prison. We have selected for you 100 of his funniest and most provocative quotes, for you to relent in his humor and spice up your conversation with surprises and puns.
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