The Oscar Wilde Collection: The Picture of Dorian Gray, De Profundis, and A House of Pomegranates

Oscar Wilde

Sep. 2020 · Open Road Media

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This collection of works by the great Irish author includes his most famous novel, an intimate memoir written from prison, and four delightful fairy tales.
 
The Picture of Dorian Gray: Infatuated with his own youth and beauty, Dorian Gray wishes that his portrait would grow old instead of him. When his wish comes true, both his age and his sins are recorded on the canvas. Freed from the physical toll of his wrongdoings, Dorian turns on his friends and drives his lover to suicide, all in the pursuit of pleasure. To society, he remains handsome and glowing. In the painting, he is hideous. But only one of these images can be real.
 
De Profundis: In 1891, Oscar Wilde began an affair with Lord Alfred Douglas, known to his friends as Bosie. Taken to court by Bosie’s father, Wilde was sent to prison for “gross indecency”—and wrote this stunning autobiographical work from his cell. Detailing the wrongs done to him by Bosie and his family, Wilde also traces his spiritual growth while imprisoned, transforming his hardship into art.
 
A House of Pomegranates: This collection presents four of Wilde’s darkly enchanting fairy tales. In “The Young King,” a shepherd’s son finds himself next in line for the throne. A dwarf performs for a Spanish princess in “The Birthday of the Infanta.” In “The Fisherman and His Soul,” a man faces a terrible choice after falling in love with a mermaid. And an arrogant young boy, who believes he is the son of an actual star, learns a bitter lesson when he is brought down to earth in “The Star-Child.”

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Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) was an Irish playwright, novelist, essayist, and poet. Celebrated on both sides of the Atlantic for his wit, he is rumored to have informed a customs agent upon his arrival in America, “I have nothing to declare but my genius.” Wilde’s health and reputation were destroyed by his imprisonment for “gross indecency” in 1895, and he died in poverty a few years after his release. Today, his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and his play, The Importance of Being Earnest, are recognized as masterpieces of English literature.