The Soul of Man Under Socialism and Selected Critical Prose

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Penguin UK, Feb 22, 2007 - Philosophy - 416 pages

Selection includes The Portrait of Mr W.H., Wilde's defence of Dorian Gray, reviews, and the writings from 'Intentions' (1891): 'The Decay of Lying, 'Pen, Pencil, Poison', and 'The Critic as Artist'.
Wilde is familiar to us as the ironic critic behind the social comedies, as the creator of the beautiful and doomed Dorian Gray, as the flamboyant aesthete and the demonised homosexual. This volume presents us with a different Wilde. Wilde emerges here as a deep and serious reader of literature and philosophy, and an eloquent and original thinker about society and art.

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About the author (2007)

Born in Ireland, Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wilde (1854-1900) was educated in Dublin and Oxford and went on to become the leading and most prominent exponent of aestheticism. He wrote many plays, a novel, short stories, poetry and criticism. Imprisoned for homosexual acts, he died after his release in exile in Paris.
Linda Dowling is Professor of English at Princeton.

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