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The complete shorter fiction of Oscar Wilde
'Wilde did not converse - he told tales.' Oscar Wilde was already famous as a brilliant wit and raconteur when he first began to publish his short stories in the late 1880s. They have never lacked readers and admirers, George Orwell and W. B. Yeats among them. ...
Kindle Edition
Published November 1, 2022
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About the author
Oscar Wilde
5,233 books38.5k followersOscar 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 22, 2024
There are so many stories here that it is hard to give it a comprehensive rating. So, I will review by each larger work compiled into this text:
The Happy Prince and Other Tales (1888):
I loved these stories! They seemed to be for a younger audience, but I loved the whimsy and fun involved. They were just enjoyable and well written. 5 stars.
The portrait of Mr. W.H. (1889):
A longer story. I enjoyed it, but it dragged on at times. I liked the exploration of one theory of who Mr. W.H. is (the mystery person who Shakespeare dedicated his sonnets to). 4.5 stars.
A House of Pomegranates (1891):
This is where the collection started to drag on for me. A lot of these stories I just found boring or uninteresting. The Star-Child would be the stand out story here. 3 stars.
Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime and Other Stories (1891):
I really enjoyed the story of Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime and The Canterville Ghost. Both were interesting, entertaining, and well written. The other two stories were fine, but quite forgettable. 4 stars.
Poems in Prose (1894):
Just not my favorite. 2.5 stars.
Overall score: 4 stars. Enjoyable read for the most part, but some stories were just boring or not for me.
The Happy Prince and Other Tales (1888):
I loved these stories! They seemed to be for a younger audience, but I loved the whimsy and fun involved. They were just enjoyable and well written. 5 stars.
The portrait of Mr. W.H. (1889):
A longer story. I enjoyed it, but it dragged on at times. I liked the exploration of one theory of who Mr. W.H. is (the mystery person who Shakespeare dedicated his sonnets to). 4.5 stars.
A House of Pomegranates (1891):
This is where the collection started to drag on for me. A lot of these stories I just found boring or uninteresting. The Star-Child would be the stand out story here. 3 stars.
Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime and Other Stories (1891):
I really enjoyed the story of Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime and The Canterville Ghost. Both were interesting, entertaining, and well written. The other two stories were fine, but quite forgettable. 4 stars.
Poems in Prose (1894):
Just not my favorite. 2.5 stars.
Overall score: 4 stars. Enjoyable read for the most part, but some stories were just boring or not for me.
March 26, 2023
It's Oscar Wilde, so obviously it's awesome.
March 24, 2025
I love reading works from previous eras as you need to get yourself into a quite different headspace to accommodate the language, social mores, expectations and the roles people are expected to play.
Wilde, in his typical style, has a shot at the establishment while exposing inequality, inhumanity, and a bunch of complex moral issues using his wit and style. Issues we are still grappling with today.
My favourites had to be The Nightingale and The Rose, The Remarkable Rocket, The Happy Prince, The Selfish Giant and The Model Millionaire.
An enjoyable piece of literary history.
Wilde, in his typical style, has a shot at the establishment while exposing inequality, inhumanity, and a bunch of complex moral issues using his wit and style. Issues we are still grappling with today.
My favourites had to be The Nightingale and The Rose, The Remarkable Rocket, The Happy Prince, The Selfish Giant and The Model Millionaire.
An enjoyable piece of literary history.
November 25, 2024
Wilde uses an array of literary styles and stage direction to discuss the issues such as feminism, gender roles, identity and social expectation in his plays. This book of fiction contains only some of his more popular works and is a classic needed on everyone's shelves.
March 30, 2025
What else can you say about Oscar Wilde? He was an absolutely brilliant man; with a brilliant mind.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews