In Praise of Disobedience draw on works from a single miraculous year in which Oscar Wilde
published the larger part of his greatest prose - the year he came into maturity as an artist.
Before the end of 1891 he had written the first of his phenomenally successful plays and met
the young man who would win his heart beginning the love affair that would lead to
imprisonment and public infamy. In a witty introduction playwright novelist and Wilde scholar
Neil Bartlett explains what made this point in the writer's life central to his genius and why
Wilde remains a provocative and radical figure to this day. Included here are the entirety of
Wilde's foray into political philosophy The Soul of Man Under Socialism the complete essay
collection Intentions selections from The Portrait of Dorian Gray as well as its paradoxical
and scandalous preface and some of Wilde's greatest fictions for children. Each selection is
accompanied by stimulating and enlightening annotations. A delight for fans of Oscar Wilde In
Praise of Disobedience will restore and revitalize an often misunderstood legacy.
