Complete Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde Introduction: Brandreth, Gyles. Afterword: Zipes, Jack

The fairytales of Oscar Wilde represent the very best of the genre. Any fairytale worth its salt will convey something to us about the human condition, and it will not be devoid of a moral point or two. What makes the reading of fairytales into a tedious enterprise in the long run is their all too predictable outcome: "and they all lived happily ever after." The facts of the human existence make it plain that this is not how things usually turn out. Lasting happiness is as rare as the blue rose; thwarted hopes and death, hypocrisy and injustice are the realities facing us each day, something of which Oscar Wilde never loses sight. Therefore, they do not always live happily ever after in Oscar Wilde's dark and gripping fairytales.