Does anyone read Oscar Wilde?

Answer 1

Some of his work, yes - darn that man was a quick wit!

Answer 2

Wilde is an eternal, an artist who transcended his era. His plays are what he is best known for, though he also wrote poetry (I love the one quoted above by anon), novels, short stories, essays ("The Critic as Artist" is one of my faves) and criticism.

As brilliant a writer as he was, he is also said to have been one of the most fascinating conversationalists that ever walked the earth. I always wonder that Wilde was (apparently) never recorded by Edison or someone (he lived until 1900 so it could have happened).

My favorite quote about Oscar is by Dorothy Parker:

"If with the literate I am
Impelled to try an epigram,
I never seek to take the credit;
We all assume that Oscar said it."

Answer 3

I do. I love Oscar Wilde, especially the Picture of Dorian Gray.

Answer 4

Yes!! I think that he did some amazing work. I love The Importance of Being Ernest and The Ideal Husband! I still have to read The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Answer 5

I haven't read anything by him in a long time, but I really like An Ideal Husband and the Importance of Being Earnest. They were both made into good movies too.

Answer 6

I read the poem "The Harlot's House" in my British Literature course last semester. That was only poem we read by him, but I did enjoy it. A harlot, in case you do not know, is a prostitute.

We caught the tread of dancing feet,
We loitered down the moonlit street,
And stopped beneath the harlot's house.

Inside, above the din and fray,
We heard the loud musicians play
The 'Treues Liebes Herz' of Strauss.

Like strange mechanical grotesques,
Making fantastic arabesques,
The shadows raced across the blind.

We watched the ghostly dancers spin
To sound of horn and violin,
Like black leaves wheeling in the wind.

Like wire-pulled automatons,
Slim silhouetted skeletons
Went sidling through the slow quadrille,

Then took each other by the hand,
And danced a stately saraband;
Their laughter echoed thin and shrill.

Sometimes a clockwork puppet pressed
A phantom lover to her breast,
Sometimes they seemed to try to sing.

Sometimes a horrible marionette
Came out, and smoked its cigarette
Upon the steps like a live thing.

Then, turning to my love, I said,
'The dead are dancing with the dead,
The dust is whirling with the dust.'

But she--she heard the violin,
And left my side, and entered in:
Love passed into the house of lust.

Then suddenly the tune went false,
The dancers wearied of the waltz,
The shadows ceased to wheel and whirl.

And down the long and silent street,
The dawn, with silver-sandalled feet,
Crept like a frightened girl.

-Oscar Wilde

Answer 7

The above innovations are spectacular. in case you % to bypass added, there is an marvelous biography of Oscar Wilde by using the grasp biographer Richard Ellmann. in case you fairly relish Wilde, you will love this!

Answer 8

I love The Ballad of Reading Gaol and The Importance of Being Earnest. What a great writer, you can melt into his words and they are so visual.

Answer 9

Haven't in awhile, but reread The Selfish Giant not too long ago. I've read Portrait of Dorian Grey a few years ago, and I still enjoy the plays. Of course, his bon mots are always in vogue. . . even if he didn't say some of them.

Answer 10

Yes, he's hilarious! I love his wit and his one-liners are some of my favorite quotes. My favorite (so far, I haven't read all of his work yet) is "The Importance of Being Earnest."