Coates gives the reader the essentials in this "uncovered" edition. While I would have preferred an index, this collection serves as a wonderful primary source for the student of gay history, and a great read for anyone interested in Oscar Wilde or one of the earliest modern legal defenses of homosexuality. Despite surprising claims that the "love that dare not speak its name" defense is *not* a defense of homosexuality, even the most cursory read will show it is a brilliant defense of homosexual love in the classical (age-differentiated) sense, which was the very type of romantic/sexual relationship Oscar Wilde and Bosie Douglas had formed.

A gay Londoner of the 80s goes searching for his roots and finds Oscar Wilde, a complex figure early on in the history of the cultural and social construction of twentieth-century homosexuality. If you're interested in Wilde, this is a very good book to read along with Richard Ellman's more standard biography.

This book is the best catagorization of the wit and humor of Oscar Wilde. It gives easy access to the width of his wit. MM

One of the stories that I will always cherish, that I remember being told in my youth, is this one. I've heard it many times : at home from my mother (saturday morning, in a low soft voice, in the kitchen, drinking soup), in the classroom from my teacher English Literature, at the university, and from my wife. So often we tell to each other, quiet but sad, with a dark smile : 'I have read all the wise men have written and all the secrets of philosophy are mine, yet for the lack of a red rose my life is made wretched' (I don't know if it's quoted without mistakes). Everything we have is nothing compared to the love we lack, and even if we sacrifice a lot for it, it doesn't change but for a moment. The Nightingale, thinking she could solve it all by sacrificing herself, is pure tragic, and that gripped me most in the tale. I'm afraid I can't remember being told the Selfish Giant. I first heard it in the recent film 'Wilde'. Written for children, I think these tales are suitable for everyone who loves to laugh and cry without having too much troubles on their minds, and by learning a great deal about live through the eyes of Oscar Wilde. But are the eyes of Oscar Wilde those of the Selfish Giant or of the Nightingale ? One of the few questions that deserves no answer !

I can't believe I'm writing the first review for a book that is so important to the field of sexuality and queer theory. Ed Cohen has created one of the most comprehensive discussions that focuses on the origins of sexuality in Victorian England. By focusing on the development of masculinity and manliness in Victorian England as predicated by Victorian terms, Cohen developes an acute sense of what it meant to be a "man" in England during the late 19th century. Later in the book he developes, in the Foucaultnian tradition, the response by the judicial system, the press, and society to "unmanliness". The Wilde trials become the focus for his discussion on the dissemination of discursive language from literature and the media. If there is anything to obtain from this review it is that you cannot possibly understand Victorian sexuality without purchasing this book. It is worth so much more than it costs.

When a poor woodcutter finds a baby abandoned in the woods, he takes the boy home and raises him as his own. The boy grows up to be beautiful in the extreme, but also arrogant and cruel. When his mother shows up a dirty beggar, he rejects her, and is cursed by having his beauty turned to ugliness. Setting out to find his mother, and gain her forgiveness, the star-child learns a painful lesson in humility and generosity.

This is a touching story written by a master storyteller. Fit for children or adults, it is a touching story with a great lesson in humanity.

"An Ideal Husband" and "A Woman of No Importance" are two of Oscar Wilde's best plays. Both plays take place in the 1890's but their characters and commentaries about society are timeless. Extremely well-written, the characters seem to come alive as you read, as though you're actually seeing the play performed in front of you. These plays are comedies that will leaving you laughing for days, yet they are also filled with drama and will leave you on the edge of your seat.

Jack Worthing is engaged to lady named Gwendolyn and they are soon to get married. Jack had to find away to escape from Miss Prism because she disapproved of him so he created a brother named Earnest. While Jack was in London he feel in love with another women named Cecily Carden. Over time his fiancée's mother started to see that there was more to Jack than what he was letting on to. The only reason that Cecily wants the marry Jack is because she thinks that his name is really Earnest. Jack/ Earnest has a fiancée but is in love with another women at the same time.

This is a very short book but at the same time it is very easy to get in to because of the conflicts that occur. This book is very funny especially the conversations between Jack and Algernon. The story is a political and social satire and a look at the upper British society. I thought that the story was great because of the humor but at the same time the story was kind of sneaky which drew me into the story even more. I would suggest the book to anyone.

Perhaps it is my unique sense of humor, but I found this book incredibly funny. I wasn't rolling on the floor or anything, but it is funny in an Oscar Wilde way. My personal favorite is The Importance of Being Earnest, although all the others are very good also. Get this book. There are great quotes and good characters.

"All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That's his.
Is that clever?
It's perfectly phrased! and quite as true as any observation in civilized life should be."

This is just one of the many jocular exchanges and epigrams in this short but brilliant social satire. Wilde wryly and cleverly gets his claws into the upper caste and its twisted moral etqieuette, romantic relationships, and self-critically the propensity for sententious moral (and aesthetic) self-guidance.

Dispensing with politeness and social convention through his farcical dialogue, Wilde unleashes his comic criticism on all types of hypocrisies and spurious norms. The Importance of Being Ernest is always subversive and funny, but never crude or sophomoric.

The Canterville Ghost is a small book, which is quite easy to read.
It is a funny story and there are a lot of jokes. Sometimes it is a little bit boring., but when you like the spiritual then you like this book.
It is a fantasy history, who you can use your own imagination. It is also a sad story, although superficially there is a happy ending.
There you see the difference between the serious minded English people and the practical Americans
You can see parallels between the story and the writer. Oscar Wilde had a very difficult life at the end, and in his story it is the ghost, which suffers a lot because of the fact that he has no audience who is willing to pay attention to his pranks.
I think it is a good book to read at school. And I have loved the jokes very much and I like the mystical and spiritual side of this book too.

The Canterville Ghost is a small book, which is quite easy to read. The difficult words have a translation in German.

It is a funny story and there are a lot of jokes. Sometimes it is a little bit boring., but when you like the spiritual then you like this book.
It is a fantasy history, who you can have your own imagination. It is a sad history, but there is a happy ending.

There you see the different between the serious spiritual English people and the practical American people.

You can see the similarity between the story and the writer. Oskar Wilde has had a very difficult live, and in his story is the ghost a thing, which have a bad live.

I think it is a good book for read at school, because it is a good English. And I have loved the jokes very much and I like the mystical and spiritual in this book.

I like this story really. It is a story of a ghost who want to fright the new American family but they are too easy and they aren't frightened. So he has a mission to do.
This story is unusual for a ghost. It is a interesting and thrilling story. It is also easy to read for students. I didn't feel bored, when I read this book, because you are in this thrilling situation. But it is also very funny and your face will be touched with a smile. So the whole story is very good.

Oscar Wilde touches here a fundamental subject in Christian lore : Salome and John the Baptist, and through them Jesus and the prophesy that he is the Messiah. It would be a perfect subject for an opera because the events are contained in too short a time and the feelings and motivations are too simple and intensely concentrated for a dramaruc play. Salome asks for John's head out of spite because she could not possess him, because he refused to acknowledge her, and also because she knows this will mean the downfall of her step-father, the killer of her own father, and the incestuous husband of her mother. So vengeance is her second motivation. Those motivations are too simple to build up the tragical force of a play, but they are so intense that they could have inspired the most dramatic and powerful music. Oscar Wilde's language is beautiful in many ways but this beauty does not give any complexity to the simpleness of the emotions and motivations. This beautiful language could have become the carrier of a beautiful music. Actually we can hear the music of a Scarlatti, or of a Purcell behind the words, maybe even a Haendel. But as a play it is a little bit flat and without enough depth to build a beautiful performance. As a matter of fact the centrepiece of the play, the dance of the seven veils, is not a dramatic event but a visual and musical event. And we cannot in anyway escape the recollection of the fantastic little black and white film by Clive Barker on the subject. Salome is worth more than just a dramatic play. She can only find her full strength when music and dancing come into the picture, when it is fully visual and musical.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University of Perpignan

I found this book to a very quick and interesting read. Salome is both loved and feared by men. She uses her deadly seductive power to get anything she wants, almost.
The price of the book is so cheap how can you resist not buying it.

Wilde was the Irish Lord of the Language (English or French, it is the same). I concede that Michael Flatley is the Lord of the Dance... In any case, Wilde's words are worth being listened to. Salome possesses a rich texture of fine images and figures of speech that come to life through the voices of the actors.

This performance of "Salome" is a radio recording from a Canadian station broadcasted in the late sixties. It is too bad that radio theater be a rather defunct art. It has many values of its own. This abridged performance is based in the Alfred Douglas's translation of the original French play (Wilde wrote it directly in Frech, and it was the cause of his breaking up with Pierre Louys and serious trouble with Doulgas). I refrain from rating it with 4 stars because it is edited and abridged -slightly-.

Every interpretation is correct and some outstanding. It has even a fit original score. Wilde fans wouldn't be disapointed.