Sadness and love in short masterpieces (The Happy Prince and Other Tales - Oscar Wilde)

Member Name: cmwhite

Product:	The Happy Prince and Other Tales - Oscar Wilde
Date:	09/06/02 (1690 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Beatifully written, philosophical, far from simple children's stories

Disadvantages: Not for you if you're feeling a bit depressed!

These fairy tales are far from light reading and those who know Wilde only from his comedies will be left surprised and moved.
Anyone who has seen the film Wilde will have heard the Selfish Giant, threaded through the film and following his downfall. As with much of his writing there is a religious allusion in this tale, but many more are simply based not on the tragedy of Christ but of life itself.
The Nightingale and the Rose - a story of light-heated undergraduate love for which a nightingale sacrifices himself in good, futile faith - is one of the most beautiful and tragic stories I have ever read. It may not be eclipsed by the Infanta's Birthday, but you will again be left staggered by the careless neglect that ruins the life of the Infanta's 'entertainment'.
These stories left me with a sense of sadness, but just as the saddest things are often the most beautiful, so Wilde's prose in these stories is perfect.
If you lack the time to read The Picture of Dorian Gray but you want to see Wilde's genius transcend 'triviality', then this is the place to start. His stories are beautiful.

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