«Dorian Gray must be an interesting young man», said Harry. «I don't want you to meet him», replied Basil quickly. «You don't want me to meet him?» «No». Suddenly Basil's servant came out into the garden. «Mr Dorian Gray is here, sir. He is in the studio», he said. «I will have to meet Dorian now», said Harry, laughing. • Extra grammar and vocabulary exercises. • Notes about the life of Oscar Wilde. • Points for Understanding comprehension questions. • Glossary of difficult vocabulary. • AudioCD / download available for this title.»

«Sempre più Dorian Gray si innamorava della sua stessa bellezza, con sempre maggiore interesse seguiva il corrompersi della sua anima...» fino a uccidere la sua immagine e se stesso. Sinistra vicenda di magie, delitti e sdoppiamenti di personalità, «Il ritratto di Dorian Gray» non è solamente un romanzo dell'orrore e una profonda riflessione sul tema filosofico del doppio, ma il vero e proprio breviario del decadentismo e dell'estetismo fin-de-siècle.»

The poor old Canterville Ghost does not know what to do. His work is to frighten people, but the Americans who have just moved into Canterville Chase are not frightened by anything he does to them. Things get even worse when the young twins start to play tricks on him. The Canterville Ghost is three hundred years old. He is very tired, but he cannot rest. He would like to stop frightening people and go to sleep for ever more in the Garden of Death, but he cannot open the gate. As he wonders if anyone will help him, Virginia, the beautiful young daughter of the family, comes to talk to him. In this and six other short stories, love and selfishness meet in many different ways. The results are sometimes sad and sometimes funny, but always interesting.

Oscar Wilde took London by storm with his first comedy, Lady Windermere's Fan. The combination of dazzling wit, subtle social criticism, sumptuous settings and the theme of a guilty secret proved a winner, both here and in his next three plays, A Woman of No Importance, An Ideal Husband, and his undisputed masterpiece, The Importance of Being Earnest. This volume includes all Wilde's plays from his early tragedy Vera to the controversial Salome and the little known fragments, La Sainte Courtisane and A Florentine Tragedy. The edition affords a rare chance to see Wilde's best known work in the context of his entire dramatic output, and to appreciate plays which have hitherto received scant critical attention. Wilde's plays have never failed to delight audiences and are a lasting testimony to their author's supreme wit and theatrical genius.

This title comes with an introduction and notes by Anne Varty, Royal Holloway, University of London. De Profundis is Wilde's eloquent and bitter reproach from prison to his lover, Lord Alfred Douglas. He contrasts his behaviour with that of his close friend Robert Ross who became Wilde's literary executor. The Ballad of Reading Gaol is a deeply moving and characteristically generous poem on the horrors of prison life, which was published anonymously in 1898. This collection also includes the essay The Soul of Man under Socialism and two of his Platonic dialogues, The Decay of Lying and The Critic as Artist.

Epigrams, aphorisms, and other bon mots gathered from the celebrated wit's plays, essays, and conversation offer an entertaining selection of observations both comic and profound. Organized by category, the nearly 400 quotes range in subject from human nature, morals, and society to art, politics, history, and more.

In these delightful tales, Oscar Wilde employs all his grace, artistry and wit. The Happy Prince tells of the statue of a once pleasure-loving Prince which, with the help of a selfless Swallow helps people in distress. As well as The Nightingale and the Rose, The Devoted Friend and The Remarkable Rocket, this collection contains The Selfish Giant, a remarkable story of the redemptive power of love.

‘He saw a most wonderful sight. Through a little hole in the wall the children had crept in … the trees were so glad to have the children back again that they had covered themselves with blossoms’ Fairy tales, ghost stories, detective fiction and comedies of manners – the stories collected in this volume made Oscar Wilde’s name as a writer of fiction, showing breathtaking dexterity in a wide range of literary styles. Victorian moral justice is comically inverted in ‘Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime’ and ‘The Canterville Ghost’, and society’s materialism comes under sharp, humorous criticism in ‘The Model Millionaire’, while ‘The Happy Prince’ and ‘The Nightingale and the Rose’ are hauntingly melancholic in their magical evocations of selfless love. These small masterpieces convey the brilliance of Wilde’s vision, exploring complex moral issues through an elegant juxtaposition of wit and sentiment. This edition includes the complete texts of Wilde’s three volumes of short fiction, together with ‘The Portrait of Mr W. H.’. Ian Small’s introduction discusses Wilde’s life, the cultural and literary background to his fiction, and the complex ways in which it can be read.

Three of Oscar Wilde's most popular short stories. The Canterville Ghost. 'You'll be sorry you bought the house', people told Mr Hiram B Otis. 'Everyone knows that a ghost lives there'. But the Otises are a modern American family and they don't believe in ghosts. The Model Millionaire. Hughie Erskine has every talent except one. He can't earn money. And without money, he can't marry Laura Merton. But good luck can come from the strangest people. The Sphinx Without a Secret. Why does Lady Alroy behave so mysteriously? As Lord Gerald Murchison falls madly in love with her, he is concerned about her strange behaviour. Will he discover her secret?

«Poet and playwright Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) wrote sparkling comedies that were the toast of London's West End in the 1890s. The master of the witty epigram who could resist anything except temptation, Wilde was imprisoned by an unjust society and died in obscurity, but his enduring works continue to enchant readers and audiences. The Irish author's only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, appears in this splendid showcase of his philosophy and wit. Additional selections include Wilde's ever-popular comedies The Importance of Being Earnest and An Ideal Husband; his essay on aestheticism, «The Decay of Lying: An Observation»; his deeply moving prison letter, «De Profundis»; and fairy tales from A House of Pomegranates and The Happy Prince.»