Epigrams of Oscar Wilde

In fact this may be the first and greatest and most ethical of the small cottage industry of "cute" sound bites of Mr. Wilde taken far out of context and of sometimes dubious source. Mr. Wilde's son provides and excellent preface describing the limitations and dangers of this exercise and a wonderful insight to his amazing father. The editor then sums up his strategy in meeting the challenges to this enterprise, specifically the need to check the veracity of people claiming Mr. Wilde said such and such in conversation (many of these similar books have tepid sayings claimed to have been heard in conversation. Joyce suffered similarly with Frank Budgeon, and of course Mark Twain had EVERYTHING ascribed to him including the weather). They also address the difficulty of taking lines from Mr. Wilde's plays and novel, in which a CHARACTER while IN CHARACTER says a certain thing which some later call a saying of Mr. WIlde. Mr. Wilde in his own voice may have said it differently, but let the character with all their defects faults and characteristics speak such eccentric foolishness as a character development device. THe editor and Mr. Wilde's son wonderfully explore all the pitfalls of this project and then deliver the most perfect and comprehensive collection possible, ever, possibly the motherlode for all the later fashionable and dubious and cutely illustrated and superficial later throwaways. An excellent collection, substantial and worth keeping for re-reading and reflection. THe most complete of its miserable kind. Please nevertheless read the originals within their intended contexts rather than these naked soundbites, including Mr. Wilde's very insightful body of artistic criticisms.