Summary

'The subject of a work of art has of course nothing to do with its beauty, but still there is always something depressing about the coloured lithograph of a leg of mutton.'Thus, in typical fashion, Oscar Wilde reviews the latest cookery book. Throughout the 1880s Wilde honed his literary talent in numerous articles and reviews for some of the leading periodicals of the day. He wrote on subjects ranging from women's dress to the American invasion of English society, from a lecture by Whistler to a production of Hamlet starring Henry Irving and Ellen Terry. Witty and perceptive, often hilarious, Wilde's journalism shows him responding to writers such as Swinburne and Balzac, as well as to the latest theatrical trends and a wide range of topical issues. This edition shows how Wilde's journalistic techniques inform his later critical essays and social comedies. It also offers an insight into the colourful world of magazine publishing in the late nineteenth century.