It would be unfair to expect other people to be as remarkable as oneself. Sharp, hilarious and endlessly insightful, this collection of Oscar Wilde's wit and wisdom spans topics as diverse as art, technology and human nature. It is one of 46 new books in the bestselling Little Black Classics series, to celebrate the first ever Penguin Classic in 1946. Each book gives readers a taste of the Classics' huge range and diversity, with works from around the world and across the centuries — including fables, decadence, heartbreak, tall tales, satire, ghosts, battles and elephants.

Dorian Gray is having his picture painted by Basil Hallward, who is charmed by his looks. But when Sir Henry Wotton visits, and seduces Dorian into the worship of youthful beauty with an intoxicating speech, Dorian makes a wish he will live to regret: that all the marks of age will now be reflected in the portrait, rather than on Dorian's own face. The stage is now set for a masterful tale about appearance, reality, art, life, truth, fiction and the ultimate burden of conscience.

'He was not blind to the fact that murder, like the religions of the Pagan world, requires a victim as well as a priest...' This selection includes three of Wilde's brilliant short stories, all reflecting his inimitable wit and sparkling style. Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th-century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions. Oscar Wilde (1854-1900). Wilde's works available in Penguin Classics are De Profundis and Other Prison Writings, The Complete Short Fiction, The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays, The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Soul of Man Under Socialism and Selected Critical Prose.

When the Selfish Giant decides to build a wall around his garden to prevent the children from playing in it, it becomes barren and stuck in perpertual winter. It takes a wonderful event and the heart of a young boy for him to realize the error of his ways. A classic tale for children, The Selfish Giant is presented here with all of Oscar Wilde's other fairy stories — The Happy Prince, The Nightingale and the Rose, The Devoted Friend, The Remarkable Rocket, The Young King, The Birthday of the Infanta, The Fisherman and His Soul and The Star-Child — brought to life by Philip Waechter's bright and imaginative illustrations.

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 and illustrated by Aubrey Beardsley, was banned for public performance by the English censor. His final dramatic triumph was his trivial comedy for serious people, The Importance of Being Earnest — probably the greatest farcical comedy in English.

Wilde's only novel, first published in 1890, posits the idea that the only thing worth pursuing in life is beauty. The novel's protagonist, entranced by the perfection of his portrait and realising that his beauty will one day fade, makes a Faustian bargain whereby the figure on the canvas ages in his place. Gray embarks upon a hedonistic spree of debauchery and cruelty, which mark's only the portrait's face, while his exquisite beauty remains intact.

«Oscar Wilde' s legendary wit dazzles in «The Importance of Being Earnest», one of the greatest and most popular works of drama to emerge from Victorian England. A light-hearted satire of the absurdity of all forms and conventions, this comic masterpiece features an unforgettable cast of characters who, as critic Max Beerbohm observed, «speak a kind of beautiful nonsense — the language of high comedy, twisted into fantasy». This collection also includes Oscar Wilde' s most famous comedies, «Lady Windermere' s Fan», «A Woman of No Importance», and «An Ideal Husband», as well as his poetic tragedy «Salomé « — all written between 1891 and 1895, Wilde' s most creative period. George Bernard Shaw said of Oscar Wilde that he is «our most thorough playwright. He plays with everything: with wit, with philosophy, with drama, with actors and audience, with the whole theater».»

Classic Stories which have been carefully graded for each level according to vocabulary, grammatical structures, sentence length and plot complexity. The ideal springboard for the development of learner's reading, writing, listening and speaking skills. In this story, set in Victorian England, a wicked old ghost tries in vain to terrify an American family who have settled in his house.

Classic Stories which have been carefully graded for each level according to vocabulary, grammatical structures, sentence length and plot complexity. The ideal springboard for the development of learner's reading, writing, listening and speaking skills. When the handsome Dorian Gray has his portrait painted, he jokes that it is unfair for him to grow old and the portrait to stay young.

This volume features a wide selection of Wilde’s literary output, including the comicmasterpiece The Importance of Being Earnest, an immensely popular play...

Dorian Gray, un giovane di straordinaria bellezza, si è 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 più sfrenati, mantenendo intatta la freschezza e la perfezione del suo viso. Poiché 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 è 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. Prefazione di Aldo Busi.

«Certi libri vanno letti al momento giusto, cioè da giovani. «Il ritratto di Dorian Gray» è uno di questi, e lo è per due motivi: perché offre il primo assaggio della corruzione; e perché mette alla prova, inscena una tentazione che vale per un'età, e una soltanto. Dopo, sarebbe una sfida troppo facile, e anzi verrebbe da desiderare, cercare, rincorrere una proposta simile, e anche i suoi effetti collaterali. Può un libro rappresentare una tentazione e portare alla rovina? La risposta è in questo stesso romanzo. Il volume è corredato da esclusivi contenuti extra, spunti e approfondimenti nella cultura contemporanea: film e serie TV, musica, arte, libri, fumetti e graphic novel.»

El nino estrella cuenta la misteriosa aparicion en un bosque nevado de un nino caido del cielo, que revolucionara la aldea de lenadores que lo acogen. Wilde escribe sobre la bondad y la maldad, sobre el egoismo y sus consecuencias, sobre la lucha por enmendar los errores llevada al extremo, hasta arriesgar la propia vida; y sobre la recompensa que puede obtener esa lucha. Una recompensa material y, sobre todo, moral. Oscar Wilde nacio en Dublin, Irlanda, en 1854, y murio en Paris en 1900. De su obra destacan El retrato de Dorian Gray y Salome, pero sus cuentos infantiles son geniales. Gadir ya publico El principe feliz. El nino estrella, otro de sus relatos clasicos, esta ilustrado por Eugenia abalos.

Helbling Readers Red Series is aimed at young teenagers. It includes a selection of adapted classics and original fiction to get your students reading for pleasure right from beginner level.

«A universal favorite, «The Importance of Being Earnest» displays Oscar Wilde's theatrical genius at its brilliant best. Subtitled «A Trivial Comedy for Serious People», this hilarious attack on Victorian manners and morals turns a pompous world on its head, lets duplicity lead to happiness, and makes riposte the highest form of art. Also included in this special collection are Wilde's first comedy success, «Lady Windermere's Fan», and his richly sensual melodrama, «Salome.»

'I am jealous of everything whose beauty does not die. I am jealous of the portrait you have painted of me... Why did you paint it? It will mock me some day — mock me horribly!' Enthralled by his own exquisite portrait, Dorian Gray exchanges his soul for eternal youth and beauty. Influenced by his friend Lord Henry Wotton, he is drawn into a corrupt double life, indulging his desires in secret while remaining a gentleman in the eyes of polite society. Only his portrait bears the traces of his decadence.

Including The Importance of Being Earnest, An Ideal Husband, A Woman of No Importance, Lady Windermere's Fan, and Salome, this collection showcases Wilde's brilliance and timeless wit.

This is a beautifully bound gift edition of these haunting and beautiful stories. And the Giant's heart melted as he looked out. 'How selfish I have been!' he said; '...I will knock down the wall, and my garden shall be the children's playground for ever and ever'. The five stories in his collection for children show Wilde at his best; moving, witty and wise. In The Happy Prince , a grand but lonely statue recruits a swallow to help him give to people in need; In The Nightingale and the Rose, a small bird makes a great sacrifice for love; The Selfish Giant is a beautiful story of the triumph of kindness; The Devoted Friend is a morality tale told to a pompous water rat; and The Remarkable Rocket charts the rise and fall of a particularly arrogant firework at a royal wedding.

Twenty-four important works, focusing on Wilde's poetic legacy, offer important clues to themes and subjects that preoccupied this gifted writer in other works. Includes The Ballad of Reading Gaol, a powerful indictment of the degradation and inhumanity of prison life; The Sphinx, The Grave of Keats, The Harlot's House, and 20 others.