The Happy Prince & Other Stories

Oscar Wilde is remembered today primarily as a brilliant and witty playwright and the author of the novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray. As a result, his shorter pieces of fiction have tended to be neglected, which is a shame for they not only display the same kind of scathing wit, imaginative flourish, and engaging narratives as his other work, but present a wider range of subjects and ideas. As well as such comic tales as “The Canterville Ghost” and “Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime,” there are the marvelous fairy stories and fantasies such as “The Selfish Giant,” “The Happy Prince,” and “The Star Child.” The challenge and pleasure of these stories is the simultaneous appeal to both child and adult with their themes of love, truth, and sacrifice, which are as relevant today as when they were written. In this collection are found some of the brightest gems from the treasure trove of Oscar Wilde’s writings.

Oscar Fingal O’Flaherty Wills Wilde was born in Dublin in 1854. He studied at Trinity College Dublin and then at Magdalen College Oxford where he started the cult of Aestheticism, which involves making an art of life. Following his marriage to Constance Lloyd in 1884, he published several books of stories ostensibly for children and one novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891). Wilde’s first success as a playwright was with Lady Windemere’s Fan in 1892. He followed this up with A Woman of No Importance, An Ideal Husband, and The Importance of Being Earnest, all performed on the London stage between 1892 and 1895. However, Wilde’s homosexual relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas was exposed by the young man’s father, the Marquis of Queensbury. Wilde brought a libel suit against Queensbury but lost and was sentenced to two years imprisonment. He was released in 1897 and fled to France where he died a broken man in 1900.