Status
Available
Call number
Call number
PB Wil
Local notes
PB Wil
Collection
Genres
Publication
Penguin (1994), 184 pages
Description
Oscar Wilde's The Happy Prince and Other Tales is a collection of stories for children each of which is so poignant and exquisite that they are as treasured by adults as they are by children. The stories included in this collection are The Happy Prince, The Nightingale and the Rose, The Selfish Giant, The Devoted Friend and The Remarkable Rocket.
Language
Physical description
184 p.; 6.85 inches
User reviews
LibraryThing member ewdavies
Read "The Selfish Giant", which is included in the stories. A lovely message from a wonderful writer.
LibraryThing member Vivl
Probably a mistake to read these for the first time as an adult. I couldn't avoid becoming tired of Oscar's languid boys, lolling about the place with their alabaster skin and violet eyes. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but the female characters were so utterly lacking in any
I can imagine having been moved by these if I'd read them as a child, or even as a self-absorbed melancholy adolescent: indeed they would resonate most strongly with the latter life-stage. At the very least I would have been less cynical.
Oscar wrote these for his sons, and they couldn't have been older than 6 when he published the second of the collections. I'm all for a bit of light-hearted gore in fairy-tales, but Wilde takes it over the top on just about every occasion.
The second collection (something something Pomegranates) seemed to hold together and work better as children's stories than the first, but holy MOLEY way to make small children cry with the ending of the last story, Oscar! Gor blimey!
Favourites were the one about the grumpy giant and his garden (where nobody died, I seem to recall--amazing, me think it! Edited to add: I was wrong.), 'The Fisherman and his Soul' (some gruesome, and methought gratuitous for a kiddy's story, killing as well as a few deaths) and 'The Star Child'... until that last sentence, which just made me laugh it was so bloody nasty!
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3-dimensionality, often only described in one brief sentence, that it started to piss me off. I can imagine having been moved by these if I'd read them as a child, or even as a self-absorbed melancholy adolescent: indeed they would resonate most strongly with the latter life-stage. At the very least I would have been less cynical.
Oscar wrote these for his sons, and they couldn't have been older than 6 when he published the second of the collections. I'm all for a bit of light-hearted gore in fairy-tales, but Wilde takes it over the top on just about every occasion.
The second collection (something something Pomegranates) seemed to hold together and work better as children's stories than the first, but holy MOLEY way to make small children cry with the ending of the last story, Oscar! Gor blimey!
Favourites were the one about the grumpy giant and his garden (where nobody died, I seem to recall--amazing, me think it! Edited to add: I was wrong.), 'The Fisherman and his Soul' (some gruesome, and methought gratuitous for a kiddy's story, killing as well as a few deaths) and 'The Star Child'... until that last sentence, which just made me laugh it was so bloody nasty!
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LibraryThing member RGatti
The stories include a wide variety of characters and settings, but all share a common thread – love, sacrifice, kindness, and the possible dangers of not having them. On the surface, these may appear as simple fairy tales to a child, but Wilde packed each story with heartfelt meaning. There are
Wilde’s eloquent and poetic writing makes the stories a joy to read out loud. They are an excellent read for any little dreamers or future romantics you may know. However, a word of warning: expect to shed a few tears.
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tales of true friendship, as seen in The Happy Prince, and false friendship, in The Devoted Friend. The same selfless love and sacrifice that is received with gladness in The Selfish Giant, is sadly spurned in The Nightingale and the Rose. If only the rocket in The Remarkable Rocket had read a few of these tales, his life might have been a great deal happier.Wilde’s eloquent and poetic writing makes the stories a joy to read out loud. They are an excellent read for any little dreamers or future romantics you may know. However, a word of warning: expect to shed a few tears.
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LibraryThing member AngelaJMaher
The story in here I enjoyed the most is the only one considered to not be a fairy tale, The Canterville Ghost. I found this quite fun.
The others were not quite what I expected. The religious content was a surprise. And the shying away from happy endings felt quite brutal.
I read this with the
The others were not quite what I expected. The religious content was a surprise. And the shying away from happy endings felt quite brutal.
I read this with the
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intention of then giving it to my daughter to read, but now I'm not so sure that she'll find them enjoyable. Show Less
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Pages
184