Volume I: Poems and Poems in Prose: Volume 1: Poems and Poems in Prose (Complete Works Oscar Wilde) - Hardcover

Wilde, Oscar

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0198119607 ISBN 13: 9780198119609

Publisher: OUP Oxford, 2000

Synopsis

This volume of Poems and Poems in Prose inaugurates the Oxford English Texts Complete Works of Oscar Wilde , which will for the first time provide students of Wilde with scholarly and textually accurate texts of his complete oeuvre. In it, Bobby Fong and Karl Beckson provide reliable texts of all Wilde's poems and poems in prose, including 21 never published in his lifetime, together with information on the locations of extant manuscripts; bibliogaphical details of each poem's publishing history; commentaries that identify and clarify contexts and allusions to figures and events; and emendations and variant readings, in manuscripts and printed editions, which illuminate Wilde's craftsmanship in revising.

The variety of poetic forms in Wilde's 199 poems–from his earliest known verse, written while a student at Oxford, to his final masterpiece, The Ballad of Reading Gaol–reveals a versatility and accomplishment that previously has often been overlooked. Many of the poems, most of which were written before Wilde achieved fame, express themes developed in his later work in prose and drama, pointing to a continuity now perceived by critics. This new edition includes an informative introduction by Ian Small, one of the general editors of the Complete Works, which provides the historical context for an understanding of Wilde's career, information about the conditions surrounding the publication of his poetry, and insight into the current resurgence of scholarly interest in the man and his writing. Publication of the Complete Works will confirm Wilde's centrality in the development of early Modernism towards the end of the nineteenth century.

About this title

Review

The appearance of this first volume in the new Oxford series of Wilde's complete works is a significant event for all students of the writer. For the first time, all Wilde's known surviving poems are collected together, including twenty-one which were not published during his lifetime (Review of Engish Studies)

The editorial apparatus is meticulous and exhaustive ... As ancillary evidence for Wilde's later importance as a major cultural phenomenon, they [the poems] will reward more serious attention from scholars than they have previously received, and to that end this edition will deservedly become a standard work (Review of Engish Studies)

From the Back Cover

Continuously in print since 1948, the Collins 'Complete Works of Oscar Wilde' has long been established as the most comprehensive and authoritative single-volume collection of Wilde's work available, containing his only novel, ' The Pictures of Dorian Gray', as well as his plays, stories, poems, essays and letters, all in their most authoritative texts. This new and expanded edition now includes

· all the plays and stories
· additional essays and poems
· newly commissioned introductions to each section by Merlin Holland, Owen Dudley Edwards, Declan Kiberd and Terence Brown
· a chronological table of Oscar Wilde's life and work

This book retains the 1966 general introduction by Oscar Wilde's son, Vyvyan Holland, with a new introduction by his grandson, Merlin Holland. Also included is a comprehensive biography of works by and about Oscar Wilde.

Edition details

• Publisher: OUP Oxford
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0198119607
• ISBN 13: 9780198119609
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 368
• Editor: Fong Bobby, Beckson Karl