Audiobook · read by volunteers
Reviews
Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
Read by braindouche, J. M. Smallheer, Patti Brugman, Gesine, John Rose, Cori Samuel, Tim Bulkeley (1948-2019), Philippa Willitts, Carl Manchester, Kevin McAsh · 100 chapters · 19 h 15
About the book
Oscar Wilde was a brilliant talker, a master of paradox and a fearless reviewer, and this volume gathers the notices he wrote for newspapers and magazines in his younger years. Here he comments on poetry, novels, biographies, cookery and the passing fashions of the literary world, always with wit and an unmistakable personality. Not everything is wise, as the book's editor frankly admits: some judgments are coloured by prejudice or by friendship. But there is wonderful reading in the sharp phrases and in the unexpected enthusiasm. Ten LibriVox volunteers share the hundred short sections of this recording, which lasts around nineteen hours and offers a rich portrait of the critic before the playwright. Opinionated, mischievous and always entertaining.
Introduction
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) was an Irish writer, best known for his play The Importance of Being Earnest and for his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray. Before he became famous in the theatre, he made a living as a journalist and lecturer, and he contributed reviews to a number of periodicals. This book, called simply Reviews, collects a large number of these early pieces.
The volume appeared in 1908 as part of the first collected edition of Wilde's works, edited by Robert Ross, who explains in his introduction that the reviews would prove of unusual interest, though some are biased and others curiously prophetic. They cover topics as varied as poetry, history, domestic cookery, and the books of famous contemporaries. Wilde's taste for epigram and his delight in contradicting received opinion are already apparent, and one can see him developing the voice that would make him famous.
This recording has one hundred short sections and lasts about nineteen hours and twenty minutes. It is read by a large group of LibriVox volunteers, including braindouche, J. M. Smallheer and Patti Brugman. The format suits dipping in and out: each review is brief, and the reader can stop wherever a piece ends. It will particularly interest those who love Wilde's wit, as well as anyone curious about what the Victorians were reading and how a young writer learned his trade. The bite and brilliance of the young Wilde are already visible on every page of it.
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