«Art contrasted with Nature, and outer ugliness with inner beauty, are just two of the themes featured in this collection of 6 tales, including The Canterville Ghost, The Remarkable Rocket, and — for all those who «have kept the childlike faculties of wonder and joy» — The Happy Prince and The Selfish Giant.»

This play is set in the dazzling social world of 1890s London. It is the world of the aristocrat and the dandy – and it is also the world of shabby political and financial intrigue. Oscar Wilde’s play combines farce, verbal wit and satire in this gripping comedy. The play also contains an argument on the nature of love, and the need for women to forgive rather than idealise their husbands.

Acknowledged as Wilde's most perfect comedy, brilliant and subversive, The Importance of Being Earnest has even been considered to anticipate the 'drama of the absurd' of the twentieth century. Guided activities and introduction help the student to appreciate this masterpiece.

Help your students read their way to better English with this new edition of the world's best graded readers — now with a new range of World Stories, fully revised Factfiles, more audio, and new tests. The new edition includes the original Bookworms stories, plus the Starters, Playscripts and Factfiles, making it easy for you to see the full choice of books at each Stage. The highly acclaimed seven-stage system of grading, from Starter to Stage 6, remains the same, helping you to find the right level for all your students. There has been a ghost in the house for three hundred years, and Lord Canterville's family have had enough of it. So Lord Canterville sells his grand old house to an American family. Mr Hiram B. Otis is happy to buy the house and the ghost — because of course Americans don't believe in ghosts. The Canterville ghost has great plans to frighten the life out of the Otis family. But Americans don't frighten easily — especially not two noisy little boys — and the poor ghost has a few surprises waiting for him.

The Oxford Bookworms Library provides superb reading and student / teacher support for the classroom, and is also highly recommended for schools running Extensive Reading Programmes, offering the right range of books that encourage students to read for pleasure. 'When we are happy, we are always good', says Lord Henry, 'but when we are good, we are not always happy'. Lord Henry's lazy, clever words lead the young Dorian Gray into a world where it is better to be beautiful than to be good; a world where anything can be forgiven — even murder — if it can make people laugh at a dinner party.

«Wilde's works are suffused with his aestheticism, brilliant craftsmanship, legendary wit and, ultimately, his tragic muse. He wrote tender fairy stories for children employing all his grace, artistry and wit, of which the best-known is «The Happy Prince». Counterpoints to this were his novel «The Picture of Dorian Gray», which shocked and outraged many readers of his day, and his stories for adults which exhibited his fascination with the relations between serene art and decadent life. Wilde took London by storm with his plays, particularly his masterpiece «The Importance of Being Earnest». His essays — in particular «De Profundis» — and his «Ballad of Reading Gaol», both written after his release from prison, strikingly break the bounds of his usual expressive range. His other essays and poems are all included in this comprehensive collection of the works of one of the most exciting writers of the late nineteenth century.»

ENDURING LITERATURE ILLUMINATED. BY PRACTICAL SCHOLARSHIP. The classic Gothic tale of horror that explores the pleasures and dangers of a life of decadence. EACH ENRICHED CLASSIC EDITION INCLUDES: — A concise introduction that gives readers important background information — A chronology of the author's life and work — A timeline of significant events that provides the book's historical context — An outline of key themes and plot points to help readers form their own interpretations — Detailed explanatory notes — Critical analysis, including contemporary and modern perspectives on the work — Discussion questions to promote lively classroom and book group interaction — A list of recommended related books and films to broaden the reader's experience Enriched Classics offer readers affordable editions of great works of literature enhanced by helpful notes and insightful commentary. The scholarship provided in Enriched Classics enables readers to appreciate, understand, and enjoy the world's finest books to their full potential. SERIES EDITED BY CYNTHIA BRANTLEY JOHNSON.

'The Young King' tells how a shepherd boy becomes a king and realises that money is not worth human suffering. In 'The Star Child' a baby is found in the forest and discovers his true identity after many adventures. 'The Nightingale and the Rose' is a tale of a nightingale who sacrifices her life to create the perfect red rose for a student in love.

Wilde, glamorous and notorious, more famous as a playwright or prisoner than as a poet, invites readers of his verse to meet an unknown and intimate figure. The poetry of his formative years includes the haunting elegy to his young sister and the grieving lyric at the death of his father. The religious drama of his romance with Rome is captured here, as well as its resolution in his renewed love of ancient Greece. He explores forbidden sexual desires, pays homage to the great theatre stars and poets of his day, observes cityscapes with impressionist intensity. His final masterpiece, The Ballad of Reading Gaol, tells the painful story of his own prison experience and calls for universal compassion. This edition of Wilde's verse presents the full range of his achievement as a poet.

When Mr Hiram B. Otis decides to buy Canterville Chase, everyone tells him that he is crazy because the house is haunted by a ghost. And when the American family comes to live there, strange things begin to happen: a bloodstain that changes colour, mysterious noises in the night, a journey to the Garden of Death.

«Wilde's works are suffused with his aestheticism, brilliant craftsmanship, legendary wit and, ultimately, his tragic muse. He wrote tender fairy stories for children employing all his grace, artistry and wit, of which the best-known is «The Happy Prince». Counterpoints to this were his novel «The Picture of Dorian Gray», which shocked and outraged many readers of his day, and his stories for adults which exhibited his fascination with the relations between serene art and decadent life. Wilde took London by storm with his plays, particularly his masterpiece «The Importance of Being Earnest». His essays — in particular «De Profundis» — and his «Ballad of Reading Gaol», both written after his release from prison, strikingly break the bounds of his usual expressive range. His other essays and poems are all included in this comprehensive collection of the works of one of the most exciting writers of the late nineteenth century.»

Wilde's only novel, first published in 1890, is a brilliantly designed puzzle, intended to tease conventional minds with its exploration of the myriad interrelationships between art, life, and consequence. From its provocative Preface, challenging the reader to believe in 'art for art's sake', to its sensational conclusion, the story self-consciously experiments with the notion of sin as an element of design. Yet Wilde himself underestimated the consequences of his experiment, and its capacity to outrage the Victorian establishment. Its words returned to haunt him in his court appearances in 1895, and he later recalled the 'note of doom' which runs like 'a purple thread' through its carefully crafted prose.

A story on love and friendship by Oscar Wilde. The story is about a fisherman who catches a mermaid. He lets her go because she promises to help him fish. Each day the mermaid appears and sings her song, so he falls in love with her! However, she cannot marry him until he has lost his human soul.

A selection of twelve thematically-paired stories by a wide range of authors including Oscar Wilde, Ernest Hemingway, Arthur C. Clarke, Kate Chopin, Maeve Binchy, Penelope Lively, Richard Hughes and Ed McBain. The stories are presented in six highly contemporary themes – children, love, mystery, murder, money, war – and accompanied by fascinating articles from English-language newspapers and newsmagazines. Designed to help students progress from intermediate to advanced level, this book encourages class discussion and enables students to improve their ability to put forward an argument in English. The graded chapters help students keep track of the progress they make.