Salomé

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

4.3

Word count: 66K words
Chapters: 7

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.Salomé by Oscar WildeAuthor: Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900,Language: French, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Jun 1, 1998

Editor's review

Salomé is a one-act tragedy Wilde wrote in French; this electronic edition preserves the original French text from a Project Gutenberg public-domain edition. The work centers on Salomé's obsession with and demand for the prophet Jokanaan, in highly poetic language and intense imagery, and is an important text for understanding Wilde's aestheticism and fin-de-siècle decadence. The French original lets readers appreciate its rhythm, repetition, and symbolism and is also suited to parallel reading with English or Chinese translations. As a public-project electronic edition, it lacks an introduction, notes, and version description, so first-time readers may be blocked by names, allusions, and symbols. Read it as a short play to be recited repeatedly: grasp the plot progression and the clash of characters' desires first, then examine the rhetoric closely.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Intermediate-and-above French learners who want to read a short play in the original
Literature students studying Wilde's drama and aestheticism
Readers interested in biblical adaptations and symbolist drama
Readers needing a public-domain French play for parallel reading or excerpts

Not a good fit for

Readers with no French who simply want an easy story
Beginners expecting modern translation-style notes and a detailed introduction
Readers uncomfortable with intense desire and death imagery

Reading tips

Read the whole play once for the plot, then revisit the key confrontation between Salomé and Jokanaan.
Read the lines aloud to feel the repetition and rhythm; the sound of a French verse play is more evident than in silent reading.
Read alongside a reliable Chinese or English translation, but note wording differences among translations.
After reading, trace recurring images such as the moon and note how they change across scenes.

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 play in French or English?

The data shows the book's language is French; it is an electronic edition of Wilde's original French Salomé. For English or Chinese versions, find the corresponding translations separately.

Can I read it without any French?

Reading the original directly would be very hard, as the text is poetic and densely symbolic. Readers without French are better off starting with a reliable translation, then returning to key lines in the original, or using a bilingual edition.

Does this electronic edition have notes and an introduction?

The data only indicates it is a public-domain electronic text from Project Gutenberg and does not mention modern notes or an introduction. Beginners should supplement it with background on Wilde's life, aestheticism, and the play.

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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.