The Complete Short Stories of Oscar Wilde

“He was prisoned in thought. Memory, like a horrible malady, was eating his soul away.”

Wilde writes in such a way that is delightfully mischievous and simultaneously heartbreaking. This beautiful series kept me company all throughout South America, and was one I soon realised I would need to ration in order to maintain a steady flow of literary comfort.

Wilde’s imagination is wonderfully insightful and precise, particularly in stories such as The Selfish Giant and The Birthday of the Infanta. The introduction of this collection mentions how Wilde’s father, an ear surgeon in Dublin, was an avid collector of traditional Irish folk tales, the effects of which are clear in Wilde’s knack for whimsical storytelling and stylistic versatility.

As all good fairy tales do, this collection explores transformation, morality and consequences. Despite the series’ clear undercurrent of religious imagery (not my personal preference, but interesting nonetheless), his style and curiosity remind me of my own internal narrations as a child. The Remarkable Rocket, for instance (told from the perspective of a firework), is abstract, engaging, and playfully perceptive. Wilde is a writer whom I believe is very easy to love. His literary charm is incredibly confessional at times, so much so that I felt firmly tethered to his work after only reading for a short while.

If you find yourself stuck in the circumstance of a reading slump, I’d recommend this series. Wilde’s literary intimacy is unparalleled, and knowing that he was convicted of gross indecency for his homosexuality, it becomes ever clearer why his work has such a consistent, confessional manner.