The master of wit and irony Published here alongside their evocative original illustrations, these fairy tales, as Oscar Wilde himself explained, were written “partly for children, and partly for those who have kept the childlike faculties of wonder and joy.”

In this new edition, which contains all of Wilde's fairy tales, his rich prose is evoked beautifully with the sumptuous, intricate work of artist Isabelle Brent.

Oscar Wilde's two collections of children's literature, The Happy Prince and Other Stories (1888) and A House of Pomegranates (1891), have often been marginalised in critical accounts as their apparently conservative didacticism appears at odds with the characterisation of Wilde as an amoral aesthete. In this, the first full-length study of Wilde's fairy tales for children, Jarlath Killeen argues that Wilde's stories are neither uniformly conservative nor subversive, but a blend of both. Killeen contends that while they should be read in relation to a literary tradition of fairy tales that emerged in nineteenth century Europe; Irish issues heavily influenced the work. These issues were powerfully shaped by the 'folk Catholicism' Wilde encountered in the west of Ireland. By resituating the fairy tales in a complex nexus of theological, political, social, and national concerns, Killeen restores the tales to their proper place in the Wilde canon.

The master of wit and irony Published here alongside their evocative original illustrations, these fairy tales, as Oscar Wilde himself explained, were written “partly for children, and partly for those who have kept the childlike faculties of wonder and joy.”

Each of the paperback volumes of Wilde's compelling tales are assembled here with close to 200 pages of exquisite comics, including such classics as 'The Selfish Giant' who won't let the children play in his garden until the dire consequences make him see the light; 'The Devoted Friend' on what constitutes real friendship; 'The Nightingale and the Rose' a stirring story of sacrifice to love with a cruel twist; and 'The Happy Prince' where a once spoiled young prince finds what it means to make sacrifices.

This book offers an innovative revaluation of Oscar Wilde's two collections of fairy tales, The Happy Prince and Other Tales (1888) and A House of Pomegranates (1891). Providing a comprehensive account of Wilde's familiarity with Irish folklore, this study challenges the prevailing consensus that the stories draw heavily on such material. By emphasizing Wilde's own stated views on the subject - and so contesting the assumption that he simply shared the well-documented interests of his parents, Sir William Wilde and Lady Jane Wilde ('Speranza') - the book relocates the stories within a variety of literary, cultural, and narrative traditions, both Irish and European. Acknowledging Wilde's often ambivalent and ambiguous statements about his Irish national identity, Oscar Wilde's Fairy Tales: Origins and Contexts offers a more nuanced understanding of the importance of Ireland to Wilde's art. The detailed readings of the fairy tales show that, despite the stories' continuing appeal to children, Wilde intended his fairy tales for a predominantly adult audience. The book also demonstrates the ways in which, despite their eerie and disturbing content, these fairy tales reaffirmed conservative values. *** "This superb analysis...presents a new and persuasive reading of Wilde's fairy tales. .... Highly recommended." - Choice, April 2012 *** "Markey's text is relevant to cultural studies scholars and literary historians of the Victorian era because of the attention to Anglo-Irish and European literary contexts, history, and culture, and the intriguing interpretations of Oscar Wilde's literary fairy tales." - Victorian Studies, Vol. 55, No. 4, Summer 2013~

A collection of Wilde's classic tales from his two collections, "The Happy Prince" and "The House of Pomegranates" includes stories filled with princes, mermaids, giants, and kings.