The Canterville Ghost and Other Stories (1887) By Oscar Wilde, collection published by Alma Classic 2016

 

Recently I picked up a collection of short stories written by Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) in 1887. They are eclectic in nature, and quite interesting in their different literary styles. The title story is The Canterville Ghost, so categorized as a “hylo-idealistic romance,” a term with which I was unfamiliar. It is a “philosophical position that reality exists by virtue of our belief in it” – perfect for ghost stories. In the short story an American professor and his family move to the English countryside and rent a manor house, which it turns out is haunted. It is an enjoyable story, considered a young adult classic, and has been made into a movie multiple times, I just watched the 1996 version with Patrick Stewart playing the ghost -- quite fun.

The closing story in the collection was a complete surprise, Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime. It is sort-of a murder mystery, with a built-in spoof of the upper classes. In the story there are plenty of available clues. One could best describe the plot summary as reverse Sherlock Holmes, instead of trying to solve a murder, Lord Arthur is diligently trying to devise a murder he can get away with. One of the characters, a supplier of dynamite, is an underground Russian anarchist – who brought to my mind The Secret Agent written by Joseph Conrad. I checked on this briefly, while Wilde who died young, is contemporary with both Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes) and Joseph Conrad (Lord Jim, Heart of Darkness), though nothing I have come across connects them.

The other two stories in the collection are The Sphinx without a Secret, and The Model Millionaire, both of which are more character studies than stories.

Recommendation: Light, fun reads.