COMPLETE SHORT STORIES, THE

- Oscar Wilde's shorter fiction includes memorable fairy-tales, witty comedies, and daring narrative experiments: all are contained in this enchanting collection.

- Includes best-loved stories such as 'The Happy Prince', 'The Selfish Giant', and 'Lord Arthur Savile's Crime' as well as the innovative 'Portrait of Mr W. H.', about the mysterious dedicatee of Shakespeare's sonnets.

- An Appendix reprints an important passage from the book-length version of 'The Portrait of Mr W. H.' on the Neo-Platonic ideal of friendship between men, an important key to the short story's meaning.

- The Introduction argues for Wilde's originality and literary achievement as a short-story writer, emphasizing his literary skill, and discussing the periodicals in which they first appeared, their intended readership, and their enduring value.

- Includes a useful and up-to-date bibliography and extensive and helpful explanatory notes.

New to this edition

- Engaging and informative Introduction by John Sloan.

- Detailed and informative Note on the Text.

- Useful and up-to-date Select Bibliography.

- Full chronology of Oscar Wilde.

- Appendix containing an important passage from the book-length version of 'The Portrait of Mr. W. H.' that holds an important key to the meaning of the short story.

- Extensive and helpful Explanatory Notes.

'Wilde did not converse - he told tales.'

Oscar Wilde was already famous as a brilliant wit and raconteur when he first began to publish his short stories in the late 1880s. They have never lacked readers and admirers, George Orwell and W. B. Yeats among them. The stories give free rein to Wilde's originality, literary skill, and sophistication. They include poignant fairy-tales such as 'The Happy Prince' and 'The Selfish Giant', and the extravagant comedy and social observation of 'Lord Arthur Savile's Crime' and 'The Canterville Ghost'. They also encompass the daring narrative experiments of 'The Portrait of Mr. W. H.', Wilde's fictional investigation into the identity of the dedicatee of Shakespeare's sonnets, and the 'Poems in Prose', based on the Gospel stories.

This edition demonstrates the centrality of Wilde's shorter fiction in his literary career, and his continuing development and experimentation with the short story format. Combining myth, romance, and irony, Wilde's stories enthral and challenge the reader.

ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Readership: Readers of fiction, short stories, fairy tales, classic fiction, Oscar Wilde; students of nineteenth-century literature, the fin-de-si?cle, Irish studies.