Playwright, novelist, essayist, poet and epigrammatist,
Oscar Wilde was Ireland's greatest and most inspired wit. Renowned equally for his espousal of aestheticism and art for art's sake, he became notorious for his affairs with Lord Alfred Douglas and others. Today he is remembered for the brilliance of his writing, and this complete edition of his works contains all his plays, his only novel, The Portrait of Dorian Gray, as well as his essays, poems and stories for children, The Happy Prince and Other Tales, and his more worldly stories for adults, Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories. The juxtaposition of his jeux d'esprits such as The Soul of Man under Socialism and The Portrait of Mr. W.H. contrast sharply with The Ballad of Reading Gaol and De Profundis, while Lady Windermere's Fan, A Woman of No Importance, An Ideal Husband and The Importance of Being Earnest still enchant readers and theatre audiences today.
