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'I have nothing to declare,' Wilde once told an American customs official, 'except my genius.' A good part of that genius is evident in the essays and poems included in this volume. There is the intellectual genius of The Soul of Man under Socialism, in which he clearly foresaw the dangers of economic bureaucracy and state-worship: for Wilde socialism meant liberation and individuality, not enslavement. Then there is the emotional genius of De Profundis, the long, introspective and often hostile letter he addressed to Lord Alfred Douglas from prison. And there is the poetical genius of The Ballad of Reading Gaol, in which Wilde's generous nature could movingly express for another's misery the sorrow he found it hard to express for his own. This collection contains, too, many examples of that humorous and epigrammic genius which captured the London theatre and which, by suddenly casting light from an unexpected angle, widened the bounds of truth.

Five of Oscar Wilde's wittiest and best-known plays, including Lady Windermere's Fan, his first great stage success, and Lord Alfred Douglas's translation of Salome, which Wilde originally wrote in French. Of The Importance of Being Ernest, his most famous play, Wilde wrote: 'It is exquisitely trivial, a delicate bubble of fancy, and it has its philosophy... that we should treat all the trivial things of life seriously, and all the serious things of life with sincere and studtied triviality.'

Las tres obras seleccionadas en el presente volumen: El Fantasma de Canterville, El Pescador y su alma y El cumpleaños de la Infanta, componen una excelente muestra de narrativa corta de Oscar Wilde, un genero para el que estaba especialmente dotado y que destaca por su peso especifico en su produccion literaria.La belleza, a la que el autor consagra desde muy joven su existencia y su alma, se pasea por estas tres pequeñas muestras como el fantasma de Canterville lo hacia por los corredores del castillo. Ella es el denominador comun de estos relatos de diversa tematica e inspiracion, a ellos da vida y en ellos - y esta es la razon ultima que movio a Wilde a escribirlos - deja su marca imperecedera.

Oscar Wilde es una de las figuras más brillantes de la literatura inglesa. El retrato de Dorian Gray (1891), es una de sus obras más famosas. Encuadrada en lo que se dio en llamar movimiento decadente o simbolista de la mitad del siglo XIX, reivindicaba un credo estilistico puro y absoluto, una primacia de lo artistico sobre lo objetivo. Dorian Gray, un joven hermoso como un atleta griego, se dedica a apurar el caliz de todos los placeres, mientras su retrato es el que envejece y recibe en su imagen las huellas de la depravacion.

Bound in genuine bonded leather with ribbon marker and gilt-edged paper, this omnibus collects Oscar Wilde's fictions.The ever-quotable Oscar Wilde once said, "Anybody can make history. Only a great man can write it." From his outsize celebrity in Victorian London to his authorship of fiction, drama and poetry that uniquely captured his era, it's fair to say that Wilde succeeded on both counts.

Dorian Gray, un giovane di straordinaria bellezza, si e fatto fare un ritratto da un pittore. Ossessionato dalla paura della vecchiaia, ottiene, con un sortilegio, che ogni segno che il tempo dovrebbe lasciare sul suo viso, compaia invece solo sul ritratto. Avido di piacere, si abbandona agli eccessi piu sfrenati, mantenendo intatta la freschezza e la perfezione del suo viso. Poiche Hallward, il pittore, gli rimprovera tanta vergogna, lo uccide. A questo punto il ritratto diventa per Dorian un atto d'accusa e in un impeto di disperazione lo squarcia con una pugnalata. Ma e lui a cadere morto: il ritratto torna a raffigurare il giovane bello e puro di un tempo e a terra giace un vecchio segnato dal vizio. Introduzione di Franco Marenco.

Between 1891 and 1895 Oscar Wilde produced a sequence of distinctive plays which spearheaded the dramatic renaissance of the 1890s, and retain their power today. The social comedies, Lady Windermere's Fan, A Woman of No Importance and An Ideal Husband offer a moving as well as witty dissection of society and its morals, with a sharp focus on sexual politics. By contrast, the experimental, symbolist Salome, written originally in French, was banned for public performance by the English censor. Wilde's final dramatic triumph was his 'trivial' comedy for serious people, The Importance of Being Earnest, probably the greatest farcical comedy in English. Aubrey Beardsley, the illustrator of Salome, emphasized the grotesque, the decadent, and the erotic. His contribution to the development of the Art Nouveau and poster styles was significant.

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.

Sólo publicó tres breves series de aforismos, pero dejó dispersa por su obra una gran cantidad de sentencias memorables que se reúnen aquí por primera vez en castellano. Oscar Wilde (Dublín, 1854-

¿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

Tal vez sea El fantasma de Canterville el cuento más conocido y celebrado de Oscar Wilde, como inolvidables son las cóleras de ese pobre fantasma anacrónico, que no sólo no logra asustar a sus inquilinos, sino que acaba siendo juguete y victima de dos niños terribles. Inolvidable es tambien El crimen de lord Arthur Savile, esa pequeña obra maestra que cuenta la divertida historia de un buen lord, desesperado porque nunca le sale bien el crimen que quiere cometer cuanto antes para librarse de un ominoso destino. La esfinge sin secreto y El modelo millonario cierran este volumen delicioso, donde campean el humor, la ironia y la elegancia de la prosa de Wilde.

Dos ensayos del que fuera un crítico literario visionario, además de un genial dramaturgo y cuentista.A pesar de ser conocido fundamentalmente como el  irreverente e ingenioso dramaturgo y cuentista

Who would have thought a comedy of manners written more than a hundred years ago would still be so apt and so funny? Oscar Wilde was a genius of play writing, and his deftness, wit and sharp eye for social satire keep audiences in thrall to this day. Alongside Earnest, discover a biblical tragedy retold, Lady Windemere and her infamous fan and Wilde's take on an ideal husband, in this selection of Wilde's most important plays.