Nattergalen og rosen og Sfinksen uden hemmeligheder

by Oscar Wilde

Musikerne vil sidde på galleriet og spille på deres strengeinstrumenter,” sagde den unge student, ”og min elskede vil danse til tonerne af harpe og violin. Hun vil være så let til bens, at hendes fødder knap nok rører gulvet, og bejlere i farvestrålende klæder vil flokkes om hende. Men mig vil hun ikke danse med, for jeg har ikke nogen rød rose at give hende.” Han kastede sig ned i græsset, skjulte ansigtet i hænderne og græd.

I den vemodige fortælling Nattergalen og rosen retter Oscar Wilde blikket mod den overfladiskhed, som gennemsyrer samfundet og mennesket. Samme tema finder vi i romanen Billedet af Dorian Gray, som måske er det værk, Wilde er mest berømt for i dag. Novellen kan læses som et svar til H.C. Andersens eventyr Nattergalen. Fælles for fortællingerne er kritikken af den samtid, de er opstået i. Men Wilde modsætter sig Andersens syn på opofrelsen og hans forkærlighed for det naturlige over det kunstige og lader sin historie tage en helt anden drejning. Vi får en anden smagsprøve på Oscar Wildes kortprosa i Sfinksen uden hemmeligheder, fortællingen om en mystisk kvinde, som lader til at bære på en dunkel hemmelighed.

Genres: Classics, Short Stories, Fiction, Fairy Tales

23 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1888

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

[John Hatley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two short, bittersweet tales of love by one of Britain's greatest authors.

[Tone · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Nightingale and the Rose is easily a 5/5
The sphinx without a secret is more an 3/5
Both beautiful, but the Nightingale has a special place in my heart

[Regitze Xenia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jeg kan væsentligt bedre lide “Nattergalen og rosen” end “Sfinxen uden hemmeligheder”.

[Inês · Rating 4 out of 5]

A primeira história foi mais gira que a segunda. A ler de facto fiquei a pensar que já a tinha lido antes mas depois descobri que foi a resposta a um conto de H.C. Andersen e tudo fez sentido. Gostei muito da forma de escrita dele, quando li o retrato de dorian gray não dei tanta atenção como deveria ter dado, talvez

[Ella Lindevall · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Nightingale and the Rose 5⭐️ lätt. The Sphinx Without a Secret 2-3⭐️

[Jonathan Lindeblad · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Nightingale and the Rose: ⭐️⭐️
The Sphinx Without a Secret: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Sofie Jonsson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Nightingale and the Rose: 5 stars
The Sphinx Without a Secret: 3 stars

[Hildegard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Så flot skrevet. Wow.

[sofia · Rating 5 out of 5]

[Lærke Nystrup · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nattergalen og rosen 4,5⭐
Sfinksen uden hemmeligheder 2⭐

[charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

i also should be studying metaphisycs.

[Pips · Rating 4 out of 5]

As always, The Nightingale and The Rose touched me profoundly and saddened me as much as when I read it when I was young.
The idea of short stories in a box is very nice and the selection of authors is great. This set makes for a perfect gift to introduce someone into literature.

[Frida Funk · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The nightingale and the rose" is one of my favorite stories written by Wilde, and one of my favorite short stories over all. It's a beautiful book and I enjoy the addition of the second short story as well even though it's not as captivating as the first.