Showing results by author "Oscar Wilde"

"The Picture of Dorian Gray" is Oscar Wilde's classic tale of the moral decline of its title character, Dorian Gray. When Dorian has his portrait painted by Basil Hallward and wishes that he would stay young while his picture changes, his wish comes true. In exchange for this Dorian gives up his soul and, as he ages, the bad deeds that he commits are reflected in his painting and not on him. "The Picture of Dorian Gray", arguably Wilde's most popular work, was considered quite scandalous when it was first published in the late 1800s in Victorian England.

Oscar Wilde created his final and most lasting play, one of the comic masterpieces of all time, The Importance of Being Earnest, in 1895. It is a farce playing with love, religion, and truth as it tells the tale of two men, Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff, who bend the truth in order to add excitement to their lives. Jack invents an imaginary brother, Ernest, whom he uses as an excuse to escape from his dull country home and gallivant in town.

This wonderful collection of 18 short stories includes work by some of literature's most treasured names, including Mark Twain, Edgar Allan Poe, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Oscar Wilde, and many more. This superlative treasury includes "The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe; "A Piece of String" by Guy Le Maupassant; "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin; "The Mark on the Wall" by Virginia Woolf; "Nuns at Lunch" by Aldous Huxley, and many more!

A glittering collection of some of the world's finest short stories.

Four classic comedies from one of the wittiest playwrights in Western literature: Lady Windermere's Fan, A Woman of No Importance, An Ideal Husband, and The Importance of Being Earnest, all featuring star-studded casts with the likes of Jacqueline Bisset, Miriam Margolyes, James Marsters, Alfred Molina, Roger Rees, Yeardley Smith, Eric Stoltz, and many more. This audio also includes a chilling dramatization of Wilde's sole novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Devilishly attractive Lord Illingworth is notorious for his skill as a seducer. But he is still invited to all the "best" houses, while his female conquests must hide their shame in seclusion. In this devastating drawing-room comedy, Oscar Wilde uses his celebrated wit to expose English society's narrow view of everything from sexual mores to Americans.

Here is Oscar Wilde's most brilliant tour de force, a witty and buoyant comedy of manners that has delighted millions in countless productions since its first performance in London's St. James' Theatre on February 14, 1895. "The Importance of Being Earnest" is celebrated not only for the lighthearted ingenuity of its plot, but for its inspired dialogue, rich with scintillating epigrams still savored by all who enjoy artful conversation.

This is a story from the The Happy Prince and Other Stories collection.

The Picture of Dorian Gray is the story of a man who sells his soul to the devil in exchange for eternal youth. As Basil Hallward, an aspiring artist, puts a few touches on a portrait of his handsome young friend Dorian Gray, Gray wishes that the portrait might grow old while he remains forever young. While Dorian Gray spends his life pursuing fresh experiences and new sensations, his looks do not change. However, the portrait, secretly hidden in the attic of his residence and with which he has grown increasingly obsessed, does.

A young man commits all types of sins, but only his portrait shows the ravages of his life. Oscar Wilde's Faustian classic. Gothic horror at its best.

This is Oscar Wilde's tale of the American family moved into a British mansion, Canterville Chase, much to the annoyance of its tired ghost. The family - which refuses to believe in him - is in Wilde's way a commentary on the British nobility of the day - and on the Americans, too. The tale, like many of Wilde's, is rich with allusion, but ends as sentimental romance.

The Canterville Ghost is a novella by Oscar Wilde. It was the first of Wilde's stories to be published, appearing in two parts in The Court and Society Review, on February 23 and March 2, 1887. The story is about an American family who move to a castle haunted by the ghost of a dead nobleman, who killed his wife and was starved to death by his wife's brothers. It has been adapted for the stage and screen several times. 

Audrey Hepburn performs selections from her Grammy Award winning "Enchanted Tales" (adapted by Mary Sheldon); John Ritter tells the story of "Jack and the Beanstalk"; Sharon Stone delivers an off-the-wall rendition of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (the tale by the Brothers Grimm, retold by Richard Hack); and Orson Welles performs the all-time favorite "The Happy Prince" (by Oscar Wilde).

This is one of the great recordings of a great play. John Gielgud stars as Earnest and Edith Evans gives her indomitable performance as Lady Bracknell in this classic radio recording from 1951.

Dorian Gray, ein wohlhabender englischer Gentleman, ist nur von einem einzigen Gedanken besessen: die ewige Jugend zu erlangen! Von seiner eigenen Schönheit bezaubert, verkauft er seine Seele, um seinen Wunschtraum wahr werden zu lassen. Hemmungslos gibt er sich seinem Hang zu maßloser Verschwendung, Verbrechen und Grausamkeit hin, denn er altert nicht mehr und sein zügelloser Lebensstil hinterlässt an seinem Körper keine Spuren. Doch auf seinem gemalten Porträt verbirgt sich die grauenvolle Wahrheit.

The first four stories were first published as a collection in 1891. The final story, "The Portrait of Mr W. H.", originally published separately in 1889, was later added to an expanded collection. All the stories deal with personal relationships and their inevitable influence on the course of a person's life. 

Das Leben als Gespenst ist kein leichtes. Als wäre es nicht genug, auf ewig in alten Gemäuern festzusitzen und dazu verdammt zu sein, mit Ketten zu rasseln, Teppichen mit Blutflecken zu besudeln und allerlei anderen Schabernack zu treiben. Als die sehr moderne und so gar nicht ängstliche Familie des amerikanischen Botschafters Hiram B. Otis nach auf Canterville einzieht, wird das Leben für Hausgeist Sir Simon zur Hölle. Schnell wird er selbst zum verzweifelten Opfer von Stolperfäden, Butterfallen und Gespensteratrappen und herunterstürzenden Wasserkrügen.

Un ricco ministro americano, Hiram B. Otis, si trasferisce in Inghilterra e sceglie di abitare nell'antico castello di Canterville. Non si fa certo impressionare dalla leggenda che vuole il castello infestato da un vecchio fantasma, l'antico proprietario, Sir Simon, che uccise la moglie Lady Eleonore e scomparve nel nulla... "Il fantasma di Canterville" è una delle opere più conosciute e amate di Oscar Wilde, capolavoro di una scrittura al contempo raffinatissima e accessibile, intriso di ironia e di significati nascosti.

Oscar Wilde is a giant and legend as a writer and as a wit. But there is a softer, gentler side in some of his short stories for children. Admired and beloved through the generations, in this collection the wonderful British actor Basil Rathbone brings these superb stories to your hearts and ears.

Keats. A short life but a legacy of works that few, if any, can rival. And of course his end was to be tragically Romantic. Keats was returning one night to his home in Hampstead when he coughed. He coughed a single drop of blue blood upon his hand and said, ‘I know the colour of that blood, it is arterial blood, it is my death warrant, I must die’. And so it was that tuberculosis took its slow, devastating hold.