Oscar Wilde is a literary giant and legendary wit. But there is a softer, gentler side in some of his short stories for children. In this collection, the wonderful British actor Basil Rathbone brings these admired and beloved stories to your hearts and ears.
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"Loved these stories - The Canterville Ghost is just funny. The version I read had The Portrait of W.H. included - this is a bit long winded - not so much a story as a discussion of Shakespeare's Sonnets and the source of their inspiration."
— Roxane (4 out of 5 stars)
" I laughed out loud in public reading Lord Arthur Savile's Crime. Wilde is insanely clever. This book was absolutely worth buying on a whim. "
— Katie, 1/10/2014" I picked this one up in the Tervuren library while I was waiting for a computer. A dark short story about a fortune teller and a murder. How do people think up stories like this? "
— Gitta, 12/30/2013" First story(lord arthur) was'nt good,I think he was crazy!! "
— Elnaz, 12/17/2013" Wilde puncteaza, intr-o maniera specifica lui, ce se-ntampla cand in loc sa-ti controlezi viata (echilibrat), te incapatanezi sa contolezi superstitiile care ajung sa te controleze, la randul lor. "
— Christine, 12/14/2013" I like the endings. But I didn't understand some of words clearly. "
— Namiko, 11/15/2013" Fra samlingen Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories "
— Anne, 11/4/2013" So much fun! Sarcastic and witty, as always. "
— hythlae, 10/30/2013" Oscar Wilde is a genius,so if you are not a good person, you will feel quite foolish and angry at him for his making fun of everything pretentious,everything assumed and everything insincere in life and in all humans. "
— Diva, 9/25/2013" Some interesting short stories...not as witty as Wilde's other works, but still worth a read. "
— Meghan, 9/13/2013" I only read Lord Arthur Savile's Crime, found it to be a fun and quick story to read. "
— Maria, 8/24/2013" This is another one I read in spanish. It was okay. Not as good as Ghost of Canterville. "
— Kasha, 3/2/2013Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) was born in Dublin. He won scholarships to both Trinity College, Dublin, and Magdalen College, Oxford. In 1875, he began publishing poetry in literary magazines, and in 1878, he won the coveted Newdigate Prize for English poetry. He had a reputation as a flamboyant wit and man-about-town. After his marriage to Constance Lloyd in 1884, he tried to establish himself as a writer, but with little initial success. However, his three volumes of short fiction, The Happy Prince, Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime, and A House of Pomegranates, together with his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, gradually won him a reputation as a modern writer with an original talent. That reputation was confirmed and enhanced by the phenomenal success of his society comedies: Lady Windermere’s Fan, A Woman of No Importance, An Ideal Husband, and The Importance of Being Earnest, all performed on London’s West End stage between 1892 and 1895. In 1895, he was convicted of engaging in homosexual acts, which were then illegal, and sentenced to two years imprisonment with hard labor. He soon declared bankruptcy, and his property was auctioned off. In 1896, he lost legal custody of his children. When his mother died that same year, his wife Constance visited him at the jail to bring him the news. It was the last time they saw each other. In the years after his release, his health deteriorated. In November 1900, he died in Paris at the age of forty-six.
Philip St. John Basil Rathbone (1892–1967) was a South African–born English actor. He rose to prominence in Britain as a Shakespearean stage actor and went on to appear in over seventy films. He was widely recognized for his many portrayals of Sherlock Holmes in a series of fourteen feature films made between 1939 and 1946.