Audiobook · read by volunteers
Happy Prince and Other Tales
Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
Read by Joy Chan · 5 chapters · 1 h 41
About the book
A statue of a prince stands high above a city, covered in gold leaf, with sapphires for eyes and a ruby on his sword. A little swallow, delayed on his way south, alights at his feet and discovers that the statue can weep. So begins the first of five tales by Oscar Wilde, written for children and soon loved by their parents. Alongside it come a nightingale who sings for love, a giant whose garden is locked against children, a friend who is not what he seems, and a rocket with a very high opinion of himself. These stories are tender, funny and sad by turns, with a moral edge as sharp as Wilde's wit. One reader takes you through all five in just under two hours. Gentle on the surface and wise underneath.
Introduction
Oscar Wilde, who lived from 1854 to 1900, was an Irish writer and one of the most celebrated wits of the Victorian age. He is best known for his plays, especially The Importance of Being Earnest, for his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, and for the dramatic scandal that ended his career. Yet he was also a writer of fairy tales, and his first collection, The Happy Prince and Other Tales, appeared in 1888.
The book was written for his own young sons, but it is not a simple nursery volume. Its stories are poetic, melancholy and often ironic, and they treat love and selfishness with a seriousness that many adult readers find striking. The Happy Prince and The Nightingale and the Rose turn on acts of sacrifice, while The Selfish Giant offers a more gentle fable of redemption. The Devoted Friend is a sly satire on false friendship, and The Remarkable Rocket makes fun of vanity. The moral is rarely stated outright, and the stories tend to end on a note of sadness balanced by hope.
Wilde's gift for phrase and image is everywhere. The language is lush and musical, and the imagery owes something to the fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen, whom he admired. The collection has been adapted for stage, radio, opera and animation.
This recording has five chapters, one for each story, and runs for about an hour and three quarters. It is read by a single LibriVox volunteer, and it suits bedtime, a long journey or a quiet afternoon. Younger listeners will enjoy the animals and the magic, and older ones will find even more to think about.
Public domain
Oscar Wilde died in 1900: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text