Beautiful and Impossible Things: Selected Essays of Oscar Wilde

by Oscar Wilde, Gyles Brandreth (Introduction)

This selection of Oscar Wilde’s writings provides a fresh perspective on his character and thinking. Compiled from his lecture tours, newspaper articles, essays and epigrams, these pieces show that beneath the trademark wit, Wilde was a deeply humane and visionary writer, as challenging today as he was in the late 1800s. This edition includes essays on interior design, prison reform, Shakespeare, the dramatic dialogue Decay of Lying and the seminal Soul of Man.

Genres: Essays, Nonfiction, Classics

228 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 24, 2017

About the author

Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is best remembered for his epigrams and plays, his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, and his criminal conviction for gross indecency for homosexual acts.
Wilde's parents were Anglo-Irish intellectuals in Dublin. In his youth, Wilde learned to speak fluent French and German. At university, he read Greats; he demonstrated himself to be an exceptional classicist, first at Trinity College Dublin, then at Magdalen College, Oxford. He became associated with the emerging philosophy of aestheticism, led by two of his tutors, Walter Pater and John Ruskin. After university, Wilde moved to London into fashionable cultural and social circles.
Wilde tried his hand at various literary activities: he wrote a play, published a book of poems, lectured in the United States and Canada on "The English Renaissance" in art and interior decoration, and then returned to London where he lectured on his American travels and wrote reviews for various periodicals. Known for his biting wit, flamboyant dress and glittering conversational skill, Wilde became one of the best-known personalities of his day. At the turn of the 1890s, he refined his ideas about the supremacy of art in a series of dialogues and essays, and incorporated themes of decadence, duplicity, and beauty into what would be his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890). Wilde returned to drama, writing Salome (1891) in French while in Paris, but it was refused a licence for England due to an absolute prohibition on the portrayal of Biblical subjects on the English stage. Undiscouraged, Wilde produced four society comedies in the early 1890s, which made him one of the most successful playwrights of late-Victorian London.
At the height of his fame and success, while An Ideal Husband (1895) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) were still being performed in London, Wilde issued a civil writ against John Sholto Douglas, the 9th Marquess of Queensberry for criminal libel. The Marquess was the father of Wilde's lover, Lord Alfred Douglas. The libel hearings unearthed evidence that caused Wilde to drop his charges and led to his own arrest and criminal prosecution for gross indecency with other males. The jury was unable to reach a verdict and so a retrial was ordered. In the second trial Wilde was convicted and sentenced to two years' hard labour, the maximum penalty, and was jailed from 1895 to 1897. During his last year in prison he wrote De Profundis (published posthumously in abridged form in 1905), a long letter that discusses his spiritual journey through his trials and is a dark counterpoint to his earlier philosophy of pleasure. On the day of his release, he caught the overnight steamer to France, never to return to Britain or Ireland. In France and Italy, he wrote his last work, The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898), a long poem commemorating the harsh rhythms of prison life.

Reviews

[Gerhard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eclectic but interesting sample of Wilde's writing, from musings on furniture and decor essentials to the role of scenery in theatre, a fascinating (albeit alarming) defense of socialism, the role of art in society, and even a moving letter written in Reading. A wonderful reminder of Wilde's roving, fierce intellect, and seemingly effortless ability to coin a telling phrase.

[Zara Chauvin · Rating 4 out of 5]

An incredibly witty and frivolous man, it’s hard to disagree with what he says but hard also to see the point of writing it.

Loved his directions on interior design, sharply instructing us how to decorate elegantly and beautifully.
Didn’t love his several essays on Shakespearean interpretations and critique of the acting - got bored.
His essay ‘The Decay of Lying’ (‘Bring back the art of lying’) was…. Intriguing.
Loved the essay on socialism (minus a brief detour into racism), and the essay against youth incarceration was worth writing too.

[Rodrigo · Rating 4 out of 5]

God I love Wilde a master in the etiquette of destruction and the style of innovation.

[Isa · Rating 3 out of 5]

a worthy read for any fan of oscar wilde

some of the essays were difficult to get through, but others revealed a lot of really interesting ideas of his that went on to inspire later work

also the last piece - a letter detailing wilde’s observations of the british prison system - still remains painfully relevant today

[Carson T · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book took a while to pick up steam (I wasn't sold on the importance of "The House Beautiful") but certainly as Wilde's topics got a bit more serious, political, and existential, (socialism, death, etc.) it got very interesting.

[Emilie · Rating 5 out of 5]

So. Fucking. Quotable. RIP Oscar Wilde you would have loved Twitter

[Estela-Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I often search for essays when I’m craving inspiration, a different rhythm, and depth into eclectic topics. This collection didn’t disappoint and what will stay with me is this: “Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life.”

[Asanka · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was not a fan of poets until recently. But, I keep falling for the writings of this Irish man lately. Here's an excerpt from his essay, "The Soul of Man under Socialism (1891)"

---------------
The fact is, that civilisation requires slaves. The Greeks were quite right there. Unless there are slaves to do the ugly, horrible, uninteresting work, culture and contemplation become almost impossible. Human slavery is wrong, insecure and demoralising. On mechanical slavery, on the slavery of the machine, the future of the world depends. And when scientific men are no longer called upon to go down to a depressing East End and distribute bad cocoa and worse blankets to staving people, they will have delightful leisure in which to devise wonderful and marvelous things for their own joy and the joy of everyone else. There will be great storages of force for every city, and for every house if required, and this force man will convert into heat, light, or motion, according to his needs. Is this Utopian? A map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth even glancing at, for it leaves out the one country at which Humanity is always landing. And when Humanity lands there, it looks out, and, seeing a better country, sets sail. Progress is the realisation of Utopias.
- "The Soul of Man under Socialism" by Oscar Wilde (1891)

[Lily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of these essays were a slog (about beautiful homes, sassy and savage theater reviews), but the ones about socialism and individualism, social justice to imprisoned children, and of course the aphorisms at the end were redeeming.

[Annemieke Windt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have loved reading Oscar Wilde for years. But I found that I had a hard time with some of the writings in this book. But the case of Warden Martin showed a depth and humanity in Oscar Wilde that is moving and although I love witty Wilde, this one moved me.

[Fiona · Rating 3 out of 5]

Over the years, I have relished reading a number of Oscar Wilde's plays and stories, and have also spent many an enjoyable hour reading Notting Hill Editions titles, so I came to this book with great expectations. Unfortunately, these were not met. Such a mixed bag of entries in this book. There were a few that were witty and wonderful, some mediocre and others that felt like I was wading through mud as I forced myself to read through them. This collection had such great possibilities, making the disappointment so much greater. What a let down.

[Alana · Rating 4 out of 5]

what’s not to like? really into socialism, strove to get children and the insane out of jail, quips directed at the offenders of bad interior decor. his smoke too aesthetic, dinner table conversation too witty, his dude too bad, cloaks instead of coats too tough. they had to take him out!!! and they did :(

[Liberty Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

“And, right or wrong, rational or absurd, Oscar Wilde is always fascinating. He is the man you hope will walk into the room and come to sit at the spare place at your table.”
god i would have loved to have met him

[judith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this. It felt like I was inside his mind

[Nitin Goel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brimming with original and imaginative ideas written in a highly readable style. Must read.

[jay]

oh what i would’ve given to sit at a cafe with oscar wilde and talk about everything and nothing

[Liv Townsend · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really random selection of essays - starts with commentary on American interior design and finished with socialism and prison reform. pretty interesting though!!

[Asha Shinde · Rating 4 out of 5]

Man had opinions and while I do not necessarily agree with all of them I am here for it

[Molly]

I love Oscar Wilde but wow this was a struggle for me. Oscar at his most annoying and nonsensical :( Sorry dude