Autore: Oscar Wilde

A mood of charm and loveliness envelops the fairy worlds of The Happy Prince,The Nightingale and The Rose,The Selfish Giant and The Devoted Friend. Moving and funny at once, Oscar Wilde’s witty touch pervades these tales, written for his children and first published in 1888. Indifference, selfishness, vanity and arrogance are met here by friendship, generosity, devotion and self-sacrifice. Even when it may appear excessive or undeserved, the gift asserts itself as the apt response to each cry for help; self-sacrifice becomes an act of beauty, redeeming an otherwise tainted world.

The volume, accompanied by Mp3 files, offers notes and activities aimed at supporting understanding. Reading breaks offer exercises to fix content, vocabulary and structures, and to exercise the four language skills, offering ideas for comparison with the language of images.

Dorian Gray is new in London and his life changes when he meets the painter Basil Hallward and his friend Lord Henry Wotton. Lord Henry encourages Dorian to live for beauty and youth. This leads Dorian on a strange adventure through the city and society, its theatres and romances, where appearances and intentions do not always match.

Dorian begins to discover not just the glitz of Lord Henry’s circle, but the horror and darkness hiding not too far beneath the surface. The text includes a variety of activities for the four skills and dossiers to explore and expand the cultural and historical aspects associated with the story. The volume also provides a recording of some parts of the text.

Jack and Gwendolen are in love, but Gwendolen knows him only as Ernest – his name being the reason she loves him. In reality, Jack is leading a double life, becoming Ernest when he wishes to escape the responsibilities of his life in the country. On the pretext of rescuing an imaginary brother called Ernest, he flees to London, where he seeks the pleasures of the city and courts his beloved Gwendolen. When her imperious mother, Lady Bracknell, dashes the lovers’ hopes of marriage, the pair devise a plan to meet secretly. Meanwhile Algernon (Gwendolen’s cousin and Jack’s good friend), who also has a perfect excuse for disappearing whenever he needs to, becomes interested in Jack’s pretty ward Cecily – who is in love with Jack’s imaginary brother, Ernest.

The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde’s last and most brilliant play, portrays the English upper class with sharp observation and dazzling wit.

This volume includes an extensive introduction, a biography, notes to the text, activities for comprehension and analysis, an appendix on the historical context of the play. Audio recordings with extensive key dialogues can be downloaded in MP3 format.

The two stories in this volume deal with the complexity between “inner” and “outer” beauty by portraying beauty as both the cause of moral degradation and a reward for moral virtues. The Birthday of the Infanta is one of Oscar Wilde’s fantastic and truly meaningful fairytales written for adults rather than for children. The short story is about a hunchbacked dwarf found in the woods and brought to the palace for the amusement of the Infanta, on her twelfth birthday. She very much enjoys the many festivities arranged in her honour, especially the dwarf’s performance where he dances as he usually does in the woods, unaware that his audience is laughing at him. In The Star Child, a star falls from the winter sky into a wood, and there two shepherds find a strange infant. Though exquisitely beautiful of face and form, the Star-Child turns out to be a cruel and selfish boy. This volume (accompanied by an Audio-CD) offers the opportunity to enjoy an original text while learning at the same time. All the activities aim to integrate the various language skills. A final section is dedicated to Wilde’s Aesthetic Views.

The Canterville Ghost was one of the most popular short stories written by Oscar Wilde, and the first to be published, in 1887. The story of the Canterville Ghost takes place in an old English country house, Canterville Chase, which is haunted by Sir Simon’s ghost. When an American family, The Otises, buy the house, the Old World (England) clashes with the New (America).

In this novel, Wilde mixes the macabre with comedy, juxtaposing aspects of traditional English ghost stories with symbols of modern American consumerism. Wilde’s Gothic setting emphasizes the contrast between the cultures of traditional England and modern America.

The main character in the story is the ghost himself, Sir Simon, who tries in every way, but unsuccessfully, to upset and terrify the Otises.

The notes and exercises which accompany the text also aid comprehension. The teaching material at the end of each chapter reinforces the knowledge of vocabulary and grammar and provides practice for improving communication skills.

When he sees the portrait that his friend Basil Hallward has made of him, Dorian Gray dreams of remaining young forever and offers his own soul in return for eternal youth. Through the influence of his friend Lord Henry, Dorian descends into a world where pleasure and passion are more important than being good. But even though Dorian remains young, the painting begins to reflect the damage he has caused to his own soul, with tragic and fatal consequences.

This classic tale by Oscar Wilde is told using simple and direct language. The volume is completed by teaching activities which provide useful tools for certificate attainment, as well as dossiers that explore the cultural aspects associated with the historical and literary period in which the author lived.