<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: A touching collection of stories
Review: A good friend of mine mentioned "The Happy Prince" as one of his favorite stories which he'd seen on TV as a cartoon Christmas special some years ago.When I came across the book in a bookstore, my interest was piqued and I bought it up to take a look. As I read through the stories, the memories came back to me of the short cartoon skits I'd seen as a kid. The cartoons never hit me as heavily as the book did. The impact of these simple children's stories is remarkable and I found myself profoundly moved by the various characters acting out of love, devotion and their sense of ideals. "The Happy Prince", "The Selfish Giant" and "The Nightingale and the Rose" were especially touching. It isn't an easy job to write a story for children that carries over on another level when the reader is an adult, yet Oscar Wilde has done it with an entire collection. I'm very impressed and can recommend it to anyone.
Rating:
Summary: Short stories of tolerance, humility, and natural love
Review: Anyone who's seen the Oscar Wilde biopic starring Stephen Fry as the great wit will have noticed him narrating "The Selfish Giant" to his children. At first, I thought he was telling a story someone else had written, but when I heard a brief narration of a story in the movie Tesis, and discovered that it was from an Oscar Wilde story, I wondered if the giant story had been written by him. Discovery of this book confirmed that fact for me. This collection comprises both the Happy Prince compilation and the House of Pomegranates compilation of Oscar Wilde's short stories. The Happy Prince contains these stories: The Happy Prince
The Nightingale and the Rose
The Selfish Giant
The Devoted Friend
The Remarkable Rocket The House Of Pomegranates contains these stories: The Young King
The Birthday of the Infanta
The Fisherman and His Soul
The Star-Child These stories are suitable for adults as well as children. Wilde's adherence to Fabian socialist philosophy is seen in many of the tales here. Basically, equal distribution of wealth, accompanied by tolerance, humility, and natural love would lead to true individualism. Many figures will have to become Christ-like martyrs to achieve such a world, regardless of whether the receiver of the gift will appreciate their sacrifice, as is the heartbreaking story of "The Nightingale And The Rose." Examples of this include The Happy Prince, where the prince, a living statue, gives up the jewels of his sword, the jewels making up his eyes to those less fortunate and finds himself happier as a result. The same motif can be found in "The Selfish Giant", who builds a wall around his garden to keep the children from playing in it; as a result, Spring never comes to the garden and it's perpetual Winter. The giant realizes his selfishness and tears down the wall. And like the giant, the title character in "The Star-Child" goes from being proud of his good looks and standing, adopting a philosophy like the Remarkable Rocket (see below), then undergoes humility and suffering when those are taken from him, and becomes selfless and repentant as a result of his suffering. Other main characters never see beyond their selfish egotism. The Infanta in "The Birthday of the Infanta" is amused by a dancing dwarf, who is hunchbacked and ugly to behold. She and her companions are doubled with laughter at his entertainment. The poor dwarf, whom the Infanta has given a rose, thinks the Infanta loves him, and also, raised in the forest, is blissfully unaware of his countenance. It is only when he looks in the mirror that he dies of a broken heart. The Infanta then declares that no one should have a heart. A denunciation to the upper class of the British Empire, who have an aura of self-importance around them, is given in "The Remarkable Rocket" The Rocket's philosophy, "the only thing that sustains one through life is the consciousness of the immense inferiority of everyone else" is telling of the misguided romantic mentality of this upper class. But only in the psyches of certain individuals does true social consciousness arrive, such as "The Young King" whose dreams of the horrible cost of ordinary people who have suffered so that the upper class may prosper, deeply distresses him to the point that he refuses wear the luxurious signs of power symbolizing the raiment of the king. "...on the loom of sorrow, and by the hands of Pain, has this robe been woven. There is Blood in the heart of this Ruby, and Death in the heart of this pearl." "Shall a man not eat bread till he has seen the sower, nor drink wine till he has talked with the vinedresser" adds the King, in a foretelling of the sweatshops and maquiladoras of today. And BTW, for those who have seen Alejandro Amenebar's Tesis, "The Birthday Of The Infanta" is the story Chema tells Angela as they are walking down the hallway of the college's movie archives. Reading these stories and realizing how the Fabian society's dreams of a compassionate world is far from been fulfilled should give one pause to think what kind of world we live in.
Rating:
Summary: Short stories of tolerance, humility, and natural love
Review: Anyone who's seen the Oscar Wilde biopic starring Stephen Fry as the great wit will have noticed him narrating "The Selfish Giant" to his children. At first, I thought he was telling a story someone else had written, but when I heard a brief narration of a story in the movie Tesis, and discovered that it was from an Oscar Wilde story, I wondered if the giant story had been written by him. Discovery of this book confirmed that fact for me. This collection comprises both the Happy Prince compilation and the House of Pomegranates compilation of Oscar Wilde's short stories. The Happy Prince contains these stories: The Happy Prince
The Nightingale and the Rose
The Selfish Giant
The Devoted Friend
The Remarkable Rocket The House Of Pomegranates contains these stories: The Young King
The Birthday of the Infanta
The Fisherman and His Soul
The Star-Child These stories are suitable for adults as well as children. Wilde's adherence to Fabian socialist philosophy is seen in many of the tales here. Basically, equal distribution of wealth, accompanied by tolerance, humility, and natural love would lead to true individualism. Many figures will have to become Christ-like martyrs to achieve such a world, regardless of whether the receiver of the gift will appreciate their sacrifice, as is the heartbreaking story of "The Nightingale And The Rose." Examples of this include The Happy Prince, where the prince, a living statue, gives up the jewels of his sword, the jewels making up his eyes to those less fortunate and finds himself happier as a result. The same motif can be found in "The Selfish Giant", who builds a wall around his garden to keep the children from playing in it; as a result, Spring never comes to the garden and it's perpetual Winter. The giant realizes his selfishness and tears down the wall. And like the giant, the title character in "The Star-Child" goes from being proud of his good looks and standing, adopting a philosophy like the Remarkable Rocket (see below), then undergoes humility and suffering when those are taken from him, and becomes selfless and repentant as a result of his suffering. Other main characters never see beyond their selfish egotism. The Infanta in "The Birthday of the Infanta" is amused by a dancing dwarf, who is hunchbacked and ugly to behold. She and her companions are doubled with laughter at his entertainment. The poor dwarf, whom the Infanta has given a rose, thinks the Infanta loves him, and also, raised in the forest, is blissfully unaware of his countenance. It is only when he looks in the mirror that he dies of a broken heart. The Infanta then declares that no one should have a heart. A denunciation to the upper class of the British Empire, who have an aura of self-importance around them, is given in "The Remarkable Rocket" The Rocket's philosophy, "the only thing that sustains one through life is the consciousness of the immense inferiority of everyone else" is telling of the misguided romantic mentality of this upper class. But only in the psyches of certain individuals does true social consciousness arrive, such as "The Young King" whose dreams of the horrible cost of ordinary people who have suffered so that the upper class may prosper, deeply distresses him to the point that he refuses wear the luxurious signs of power symbolizing the raiment of the king. "...on the loom of sorrow, and by the hands of Pain, has this robe been woven. There is Blood in the heart of this Ruby, and Death in the heart of this pearl." "Shall a man not eat bread till he has seen the sower, nor drink wine till he has talked with the vinedresser" adds the King, in a foretelling of the sweatshops and maquiladoras of today. And BTW, for those who have seen Alejandro Amenebar's Tesis, "The Birthday Of The Infanta" is the story Chema tells Angela as they are walking down the hallway of the college's movie archives. Reading these stories and realizing how the Fabian society's dreams of a compassionate world is far from been fulfilled should give one pause to think what kind of world we live in.
Rating:
Summary: Remarkable Collection
Review: I had found these fairy tales to be filled with beauty, wit, irony and sarcasm. All things inherit to Wilde's work. Not all these fairy tales end on a happy note and these really make you think. What I loved most is that the most importaint beauty found in these novels is inner-beauty. The best beauty of all.
Rating:
Summary: Not all Fairy Tales Have a Happy Ending.
Review: The nature of a fairy tale isn't that they end happy; it's that they end comically, rather than tragically. Oscar Wilde knew this and that is one of the reasons that his fairy tales are so memorable. He wrote "The Happy Prince and Other Tales" prior to THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY and "The House of Pomegranates" just after the novel and the development of his skill as a writer can be seen in the two different collections. The stories deal with love, art, faith, and loss. They explore what it means to truly live and whether or not faith and aestheticism can coincide. They are also full of biting social commentary and insight. The first part of this book includes "The Happy Prince", "The Nightingale and the Rose", "The Selfish Giant", "The Devoted Friend", and "The Remarkable Rocket". "The House of Pomegranates" is the second collection in this book and includes the stories: "The Young King", "The Birthday of the Infanta", "The Fisherman and His Soul", and "The Star-Child". The illustrations that accompany the stories are beautiful, but because of the inexpensive way in which this collection is published, the pictures are very hard to make out. The book also has an insightful afterword by Jack Zipes which I found rather informative. My favorite stories in the collection were "The Happy Prince", "The Selfish Giant", "The Young King", and "The Star-Child". I loved reading these stories and highly recommend them.
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful Wilde, Lousy Cheap Paperback
Review: The stories are fantastic, the illustrations are beautiful, and the afterword is insightful. This would be THE indispensable edition of Wilde's lovely fairy tales but for one thing: this is a cheap, ugly, low-quality mass market paperback, and the illustrations suffer as a result. The paper isn't much better than newsprint, and the areas in the pictures that should be solid black are more often a rubbed-out, spotty gray. It makes the designs, which are striking when printed well, look faded and unclear. Wilde and his illustrators deserve better.
Rating: 
Summary: Gems of Social Reform
Review: This version comprises all 9 of Wilde's fairy tales, which were
originally published as two separate anthologies: THE HAPPY PRINCE (5 tales) and THE HOUSE OF POMEGRANATES (4). At least three of these tales have appeared as individual storybooks with colorful illustrations: The Happy Prince, The Selfish Giant and The Star Child. The stories in the first collection are shorter and more likely meant--on the surface at least--for younger readers. The gifted son of literary Irish parents, Oscar
Wilde was steeped in fantasy and Irish folklore. Exposed to the talents of raconteurs during his youth, he naturally developed an interest in the supernatural and appreciation for a well-turned phrase. He was fascinated by the power of specific words to evoke ideas, as well as visual scenes. His style includes a vast vocabulary and the frequent use of ironic wit to express his themes: self-sacrifice for Love or Art; disgust for the arrogance of the Court or High Society; the crucial need for reform for the suffering lower classes; the sacred duties of Power; the need for compassion from humanity in general; casual ridicule for the pendantry of teachers, lecturers and editors. The writer's craft was a particular target of his sardonic humor, for he used his pen like a sword. No institution or personnage was immune from his rapier wit and social scalpel. Some of Wilde's stories start with a promising plot, then seem to spin off into a tale within a tale. This editon includes 19th century style b/w illustrations, which will captivate young readers. Although he wrote some stories to amuse his own sons, Wilde did not limit his literary audience to young children. Keep a dictionnary handy--not so much for Victorian vocabulary, but as an ecyclopedia of the affluent. This is social criticism disguised as fantasy literature--with great flair!
<< 1 >>
| 
