The works of Oscar Wilde

This 1909 comprehensive edition preserves the diverse output of Oscar Wilde, spanning his social comedies, philosophical fiction, and poetry. The collection includes the full text of The Picture of Dorian Gray, tracing the moral decline of a man whose portrait ages while he remains young. It also features stage plays like The Importance of Being Earnest and Lady Windermere's Fan, which utilize witty dialogue to satirize Victorian social hierarchies and marriage customs. Further contents include the long poem The Ballad of Reading Gaol, detailing the psychological reality of imprisonment, and various fairy tales that focus on the nature of sacrifice and beauty.

Readers of classic English literature find this volume useful for examining the transition between Victorian moralism and the Aesthetic movement. Students and researchers use these texts to study Wilde’s specific use of the epigram and his theories on art as an entity independent of social utility. By working through the plays and essays, the reader gains a technical understanding of high-society satire and the linguistic structures of late nineteenth-century wit. The book serves as a primary source for those investigating the intersection of public scandal and private creative expression during this era.