Intentions

Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.3

Word count: 402K words
Chapters: 41

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Intentions by Oscar WildeAuthor: Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900,Language: French, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Feb 16, 2016

Editor's review

Intentions is an important collection of criticism by Oscar Wilde, gathering his discussions of art, criticism, and life and centrally embodying his defense of "art for art's sake" along with his sparkling style. The Project Gutenberg edition notes the language as French; readers should pay attention to the language of the text they obtain to avoid confusing it with the original English. Wilde's criticism is not known for strict system but for dialogic speculation, paradox, and epigram; reading it gives access both to the core claims of late nineteenth-century aestheticism and to the rhythm and rhetorical charm of his prose. For readers studying the history of literary criticism, aestheticism, or Wilde's own thought, this is indispensable primary material; for general readers, it can serve as a reader for training speculation and appreciating English or French style. Slow reading with excerpts is recommended, savoring how his arguments unfold rather than seeking to finish it in one sitting.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers studying aestheticism and nineteenth-century literary criticism
Literature lovers who enjoy Wilde's style and epigrammatic expression
Upper-level humanities students who need primary material for papers
Readers who want to train speculative reading through short essays

Not a good fit for

Casual readers who only want Wilde's novels or plays
Beginners who need systematic textbooks on critical theory
Readers unable to read the original English or French

Reading tips

Read one essay first to grasp the dialogic mode of argument, then gradually extend to the whole book.
Jot down epigrams with page numbers for later citation and review.
Read with background materials on late nineteenth-century aestheticism to understand the polemical context.
After reading, try restating the core claims in your own words to test comprehension.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book in English or French?

According to the Project Gutenberg entry information, this edition's language is marked as French, but Wilde's original is in English; readers should confirm the language of the text before downloading to avoid mismatch with expectations. If the original English is needed, an English public-domain text can be found separately for comparison; the two correspond in content but differ in language.

Can I understand it without a philosophy background?

Yes, but patience is needed. Wilde develops his discussion through dialogue and epigrams and does not rely on a strict system, so the barrier to understanding a single essay is not high; however, his arguments often carry irony and paradox, and without background they are easy to misread. It is advisable first to understand the basic claims of aestheticism, then read essay by essay slowly for better results.

Is it suitable for reading straight through in one sitting?

Not very advisable. The essays are relatively independent, dense in argument, and often ironic; continuous reading easily causes fatigue and missed points. A better approach is to read one essay at a time, pause afterward, and make brief notes sorting out its argumentative path and rhetorical devices before moving to the next, which will make understanding more solid.

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About the author

Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900 Author

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) was an Irish writer known for his plays, fiction, fairy tales and epigrams. The collection here contains 55 of his works, including the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray (also appearing as Das Bildnis des Dorian Gray, Le portrait de Dorian Gray and Dorian Grayn muotokuva) and the fairy-tale collection The Happy Prince, and Other Tales. The Picture of Dorian Gray centres on a portrait and its subject's fate, exploring beauty, youth, morality and indulgence through polished dialogue and an aesthetic style; The Happy Prince, and Other Tales uses fairy-tale form to portray sacrifice and compassion in clear, gently ironic prose. Wilde's writing is witty and ornate, marked by paradox and epigram, and his works have long circulated in many languages. Beyond his dates, public information is limited, so no biographical details are conjectured here.