Oscar Wilde, página 6 de 80

It is thought that a selection from Oscar Wildes early verses may be of interest to a large public at present familiar only with the always popular Ballad of Reading Gaol, also included in this volume. The poems were first collected by their author when he was twenty-six years old, and though never, until recently, well received by the critics, have survived the test of NINE editions. Readers will be able to make for themselves the obvious and striking contrasts between these first and last phases of Oscar Wildes literary activity. The intervening period was devoted almost entirely to dramas, prose, fiction, essays, and criticism.

Publicado em 1890, «O Retrato de Dorian Gray» é uma das obras-primas da literatura mundial e uma narrativa inigualável acerca da decadência moral e da perda da alma em troca dos prazeres mundanos.

Joven agraciado y bellísimo, dotado de "toda la pasión del espíritu romántico y toda la perfección de lo griego", Dorian Gray es, cuando lo retrata el distinguido pintor Basil Hallward, la encarnació

Em «De Profundis», uma carta para Lord Douglas Queensberry escrita na prisão, Wilde dá a conhecer um pouco do esteticismo, teoria artística da defesa da arte pela arte, e analisa a sua relação com os

"SALOMÉ" has made the authors name a household word wherever the English language is not spoken. Few English plays have such a peculiar history. Written in French in 1892 it was in full rehearsal by Madame Bernhardt at the Palace Theatre when it was prohibited by the Censor. Oscar Wilde immediately announced his intention of changing his nationality, a characteristic jest, which was only taken seriously, oddly enough, in Ireland. The interference of the Censor has seldom been more popular or more heartily endorsed by English critics. On its publication in book form "Salome" was greeted by a chorus of ridicule, and it may be noted in passing that at least two of the more violent reviews were from the pens of unsuccessful dramatists, while all those whose French never went beyond Ollendorff were glad to find in that venerable school classic an unsuspected asset in their educationa handy missile with which to pelt "Salome" and its author.

The chief advantage that would result from the establishment of Socialism is, undoubtedly, the fact that Socialism would relieve us from that sordid necessity of living for others which, in the present condition of things, presses so hardly upon almost everybody. In fact, scarcely anyone at all escapes.Now and then, in the course of the century, a great man of science, like Darwin; a great poet, like Keats; a fine critical spirit, like M. Renan; a supreme artist, like Flaubert, has been able to isolate himself, to keep himself out of reach of the clamorous claims of others, to stand under the shelter of the wall, as Plato puts it, and so to realise the perfection of what was in him, to his own incomparable gain, and to the incomparable and lasting gain of the whole world.

Wildes prose is distinguished by its extraordinary ease and clarity, and by the absencevery singular in his caseof the preciosity which he admired too much in other writers, and advocated with over-emphasis. Perhaps that is why many of his stories and essays and plays are used as English text-books in Russian and Scandinavian and Hungarian schools. Artifice and affectation, often assumed to be recurrent defects in his writings by those unacquainted with them, are comparatively rare. Wilde once boasted in an interview that only Flaubert, Pater, Keats, and Maeterlinck had influenced him, and then added in a characteristic way: But I had already gone more than half-way to meet them.

When Mr. Hiram B. Otis, the American Minister, bought Canterville Chase, every one told him he was doing a very foolish thing, as there was no doubt at all that the place was haunted. Indeed, Lord Canterville himself, who was a man of the most punctilious honour, had felt it his duty to mention the fact to Mr. Otis when they came to discuss terms."We have not cared to live in the place ourselves," said Lord Canterville, "since my grandaunt, the Dowager Duchess of Bolton, was frightened into a fit, from which she never really recovered, by two skeleton hands being placed on her shoulders as she was dressing for dinner, and I feel bound to tell you, Mr. Otis, that the ghost has been seen by several living members of my family, as well as by the rector of the parish, the Rev. Augustus Dampier, who is a Fellow of Kings College, Cambridge. After the unfortunate accident to the Duchess, none of our younger servants would stay with us, and Lady Canterville often got very little sleep at night, in consequence of the mysterious noises that came from the corridor and the library."

Much adapted for television and film, Oscar Wildes The Canterville Ghost tells the story of the Otises, a modern American family, who are looking to buy a house in the English countryside. Canterville Chase possesses all of the trappings of a standard haunted country house - including large suits of armour and Gothic panelled library walls. However, it soon becomes difficult to ignore the spooky signs that Sir Simon is haunting the house - the usual Halloween fare of rattling chains and bloodstains. Surprisingly, and hilariously, the Otises refuse to be scared; despite all of Sir Simons best flamboyant efforts and costume changes: stain remover is deployed to clean bloodstains and oil is applied to clanking chains. Instead, the poor revenant is faced with practical jokes from the two young twins in the family - and seeks solace by befriending fifteen-year-old Virginia instead, perhaps she holds the key to unlocking the mysteries of his being marooned on earth. Told from the unusual point of view of the ghost rather than the haunted party, it still bears the trademark Wildean moral message but the message is carried lightly in this entertaining, amusing and heart-warming Christmas story. With a new animated film featuring the voices of Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie (working together for the first time in thirteen years) hitting cinemas at Christmas, interest in this classic story is sure to be huge.

Oscar Wilde was one of the most successful playwrights of late Victorian London, and a bonafide cultural icon. 'The Canterville Ghost' was his first published story, and is now one of his most popular, having been adapted many times. Many of the earliest ghost stories, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

«Escribí mientras no conocía la vida. Ahora que entiendo su significado, ya no tengo que escribir. La vida no puede escribirse; sólo puede vivirse», nos dijo Wilde. Y como ésta son cientos las frases

¿Cuál es la diferencia entre el arte especialmente decorativo y la pintura? El arte decorativo pone de manifiesto su material; el arte imaginativo lo anula. El tapiz muestra sus hilos como parte de su belleza; un cuadro anula su lienzo, no deja ver nada de el. La porcelana hace resaltar su vidriado; la acuarela disimula el papel.Un cuadro no tiene mas significacion que su belleza ni otro mensaje que su alegria. Esta primera verdad en arte no la deben perder nunca de vista. Un cuadro es una cosa meramente decorativa

Dorian Gray is young and in great demand. He enjoys life to the full. He fervently desires to keep his youthful appearance forever. Instead of his, only his portrait on a painting should show the traces of aging. After Dorian Gray has separated from his fiancee because of an invalidity, she commits suicide. Then Dorian Gray notices some minor changes in the portrait painting. A hard pull is visible on the mouth. His wish has apparently come true. The traces of his actions no longer appear in his own face, but only in the portrait. Gray hides it in the attic of his house to be on the safe side...

Oscar Wildes autobiographical work on suffering, self-realization, and the artistic processDe Profundis (Latin for from the depths) is Oscar Wildes reconciliation from a life full of pleasure. In 1891 the author began an intimate relationship with the young aristocrat Lord Alfred Douglas, known to his friends as Bosie. This affair led to speculations about Wildes sexuality just as his career was reaching its apex. Ultimately, Bosies father, the powerful Marquess of Queensberry, accused Wilde of homosexuality. As this conduct was considered a gross indecency punishable by hard labor, this was a serious charge, and one that ultimately landed Wilde in prison. It wasnt until January of 1897 that Wilde began to write from his cell. De Profundis, a scathing indictment of his former lover, is the letter that Wilde wrote to Bosie from prison. In addition to detailing the wrongs visited on Wilde by Bosie and his family, De Profundis traces the spiritual growth that Wilde experiences in prison. Having lost everything he holds dear, Wilde transforms his hardship into art. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.

Dorian Gray is the subject of a full-length portrait in oil by Basil Hallward, an artist who is impressed and infatuated by Dorians beauty; he believes that Dorians beauty is responsible for the new mode in his art as a painter. Through Basil, Dorian meets Lord Henry Wotton, and he soon is enthralled by the aristocrats hedonistic worldview: that beauty and sensual fulfilment are the only things worth pursuing in life...

Everybody in the county knows that the great manor of Canterville Chase has been haunted for 300 years. But when the American minister Mr Otis moves in with his wife and family, they refuse to be frightened by something as Old World as a ghost.The Canterville Ghost vows to have his revenge and terrify them all to death with his most despicable deeds. But after the minister offers practical solutions such as Pinkertons Champion Stain Remover for the bloodstain in the sitting room, and the twin boys torture him by pelleting him with their peashooters, its the poor ghost who is left severely spooked.Can he possibly rescue his reputation, or will the family offer him a chance to finally lay his detachable head down forever?

This selection of essays by Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) demonstrate the varied power of his genius. Compiled from his lecture tours, newspaper articles, essays and epigrams, these writings show that beneath his trademark wit and love of paradox, Oscar Wilde was an original and remarkably modern writer.

ÓSCAR WILDE nació en Dublín en 1854 y murió en París en 1900, ciudad en la que vivió exiliado tras salir de la prisión de Reading tras su escandaloso juicio por sodomía. La Esfinge, la obra más ambiciosa y personal de Oscar Wilde, antes de entrar en prision, es un poema perfecto. Este joyel simbolista y barroco, con ecos de El cuervo de Poe, Las Flores del Mal de Baudelaire y Las tentaciones de san Antonio de Flaubert supone un revulsivo contra una sociedad anquilosada en sus formas de vida. Completa la entrega una precisa seleccion de los poemas de Oxford, donde Wilde afianzo sus convicciones y gustos y nacio su pasion por el esteticismo de las artes y la belleza