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'. Contents: Fiction Lord Arthur Savile's Crime The Happy Prince The Devoted Friend The Picture of Dorian Gray Critical Dialogues The Decay of Lying The Critic as Artist Part I The Critic as Artist Part II Plays Salome Lady Windermere's Fan An Ideal Husband The Importance of Being Earnest Poems The Harlot's House The Sphinx The Ballad of Reading Gaol Poems in Prose The Artist The Disciple The House of Judgement Aphorisms A Few Maxims for the Instruction of the Over-Educated Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young
Author
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish playwright, poet, and author of numerous short stories, and one novel. Known for his biting wit, and a plentitude of aphorisms, he became one of the most successful playwrights of the late Victorian era in London, and one of the greatest celebrities of his day. Several of his plays continue to be widely performed, especially The Importance of Being Earnest. As the result of a widely covered series of trials, Wilde suffered a dramatic downfall and was imprisoned for two years hard labour after being convicted of "gross indecency" with other men. After Wilde was released from prison he set sail for Dieppe by the night ferry. He never returned to Ireland or Britain, and died in poverty.
