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TypeContemporary review (Original)
CollectionLord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories
Publication countryUnited Kingdom
Publication nameThe Publishers' Circular and General Record of British and Foreign Literature. All New Works Published in Great Britain Every Work of Interest Published Abroad
Publication dateYear 1891Month 07Day 25
Contributed byRegina Martínez Ponciano
How to citeThe Publishers' Circular and General Record of British and Foreign Literature. All New Works Published in Great Britain Every Work of Interest Published Abroad (United Kingdom), 1891-07-25, available at the Wilde Short Fiction database, https://wildeshortfiction.com/reviews/1891s.

From Messrs. James R. Osgood, Mcllvaine & Co.---' Lord Arthur Savile's Crime', and other stories, by Oscar Wilde. The attractive appearance of this pretty little book is hardly justified by its contents. Though we often 'admire Mr. Wilde and are always ready to acknowledge his genius in these whimsical little stories, and especially in the first which gives its title to the book, he seems to be playing with his powers and trying to make nonsense appear as though it had some undercurrent of truth, or was cast in the form of an allegory. The story is only worth reading for the witty and epigrammatic little remarks scattered through it in the characteristic Wildeian vein, such as the 'several Royal Academicians disguised as artists', who came to Lady Windermere's reception. The following speech by the same lady is redolent also of the great Oscar: ‘The proper basis for marriage is a mutual misunderstanding. No, I am not at all cynical, I have merely got experience, which, however, is very much the same thing'.