Since early morn – and I mean before dawn – “Happy St. Patty’s Day ” greetings have come at me from nearly everyone. OK. I surrender to the mood. I can no longer resist, so I dug into the top of the pile of books to be discussed on veeareads and found this audio gem, Children’s Stories by Oscar Wilde, Volume 2. The work is narrated by actor Stephen Fry.
Now critics are going to jump on this entry and say, “With all of the great writers cropping up today, why are you hyping the works of someone who died in November 1900?” True. There is a great deal to be said about contemporary writers, and I will. Continue to follow this site. At the same time, audiobooks are in an explosion, and when a really clever collection by Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie, born to William Wilde and WHO on Oct. 16, 1854, is extant, there is no harm. These two volumes of children’s stories, of which only one is represented here, are a need to know. Veereads keeps you in the know.
Oscar Wilde published “The Happy Prince and Other Tales” (1888), and “The House of Pomegranates” (1892), collections of children’s stories, around the same period as his classic, The Picture of Dorian Gray (Click the link to download a free copy ), his one and only novel. In the 125 years since, the tale has been adapted to print, stage and film. Despite its frequent appearances, the work remains lightening rod for outrage and criticism. When first published in 1890 in an American magazine, the horror story’s hints of homo-eroticsm outraged Victorians. Wilde’s alleged sexual orientation has continued to remain a subject of debates. At the same time, his creations are hailed as examples of brilliance. Wilde’s plays “A Woman of No Importance” (1893), “An Ideal Husband” (1895), and “The Importance of Being Earnest” (1895), are often required reads in this country. Fact is, as listeners to this 20-minute, audio excerpt will discover, Wilde’s short stories are a delight for all ages.
Fry is a British actor, writer, director, and voice-over artist who many Americans have appreciated on the U.S. television series like “Bones,” and director Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes film, “Game of Shadows,” and several of the Harry Potter series video games. He is the smiling fellow in the image above. In the United Kingdom, the prolific actor and writer is most widely remembered for his title roles in He the Black-Adder II (1986) and Jeeves and Wooster (1990) television series.
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