<p>I just started reading a couple of things by him, and I really like them. His style of writing is so beautiful. I know The Picture of Dorian Gray is one of his better known works, but has anyone else read some of his short stories? The Happy Prince, honestly made me cry. It was just so sad. </p>
<p>Anyone else have any thoughts about him? Just wondering.</p>
<p>Loved The Picture of Dorian Gray, and I have some other stuff by him waiting to be read once SAT prep is over.</p>
<p>For me, it's the style of writing but even more so the word choice that's wonderful...there are so many great phrases, moments in a story when you just have to sit back and reread it to yourself and smile.</p>
<p>i loved loved loved the importance of being earnest. i actually laughed out loud at sections :) its a great satire of society.</p>
<p>Oscar Wilde = amazing.</p>
<p>Importance of Being Earnest=amazing</p>
<p>I've read Importance of Being Earnest and Salome. I loved Importance of Being Earnest. Salome was good, but I didn't understand it. I'm thinking about The Picture of Dorian Gray for my 30-page AP English term paper next year.</p>
<p>In my English class we recently acted out The Importance of Being Earnest (something to do after IB testing). What a crazy, amusing play. The two women in the play, Gwendolyn and somebody else, are so funny. I have not read The Picture of Dorian Gray, but it sounds really interesting. Maybe I should check it out.</p>
<p>^There are three important women - Gwendolyn, Cecily, and the old one (Lady something).</p>
<p>I am a huge huge huge Wilde fan.
Take a look at Intentions-- it's a book of beautifully-written and really thoughtful essays.
The Portrait of Mr. W. H. is another of my favorites.
His life is also incredibly interesting. The biographies by Richard Ellman and H. Montgomery Hyde are great, and if you want some primary accounts, check out the biographies by Frank Harris (preferably the version with an introduction by Bernard Shaw), Andre Gide, Robert Sherard, and the two or three by Lord Alfred Douglas (although Harris' and Douglas' versions have been disputed.)
As far as works that relate to Wilde, remember that book that Lord Wotton gives Dorian? The yellow one that influenced him to such an incredible extent? Wilde later said that it was intended to be 'A Rebours' (Against Nature) by Joris-Karl Huysmans. Wilde was also greatly influenced by Walter Pater and his book 'Studies in the History of the Renaissance.' Pater taught Wilde at Oxford.
Oh yeah! And Wilde's grandson Merlin Holland has helped to publish the full version of De Profundis, the full transcripts of Wilde's three trials, and a book of complete letters.
If you're interested in a somewhat hostile account of Wilde's lifestyle, The Green Carnation by Robert Hitchens was the main one of the time and played a role in convicting him.</p>
<p>Wilde has the most beautiful prose that I've ever read. What strikes me, though, is that he was such a deep thinker. Dorian Gray is a beautiful work, but his essays are absolutely exquisite.</p>
<p>We're reading The Importance of Being Earnest in class right now, in fact. It's very witty and well-written.</p>
<p>The Lady is Lady Bracknell, by the way. I read Gwendolyn. :D</p>
<p>Thanks for all the info Elanorci, I'll definitely check some of those out.</p>
<p>And I enjoyed The Portrait of Mr. W. H as well!</p>
<p>hyperJulie, I read Gwendolyn, too! Woohoo. I was also the butler at one point.</p>