Earthmerlin Posted November 7, 2017 Share Posted November 7, 2017 For Halloween we listened repeatedly to The Canterville Ghost (CD by Weiss). That was my daughter's intro. to Oscar Wilde & she's hooked. I liked reading Dorian Gray decades ago. I think she'd enjoy the storyline but wonder if it's appropriate for an 8 year old. It's been ages so I don't recall all the details. Any other titles by Wilde for this age? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HomeAgain Posted November 7, 2017 Share Posted November 7, 2017 The storyline might be a bit over her head. Have you introduced her to his short stories, like The Happy Prince? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted November 7, 2017 Share Posted November 7, 2017 The Happy Prince and Other Tales might go down better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Earthmerlin Posted November 8, 2017 Author Share Posted November 8, 2017 I saw a volume of his directed towards kids, which included The Happy Prince. It's in my Amazon cart, as is a cheap book of quotes. Perhaps I'll take that route for now and then get Dorian Gray from the library (& pre-read it myself). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted November 8, 2017 Share Posted November 8, 2017 (edited) Dorian Gray has some pretty stout vocabulary and sentence structure that were pretty dense and difficult for my high schoolers to get through (both my own DSs years back, and my high school students in my co-op class last year). As for story line: Dorian is lured into a dissipated and self-indulgent lifestyle by Lord Henry, leaving no pleasure untried, which leads to downward spiral into use of drugs, s*xual encounters, blackmail, and murder -- all acceptable to Dorian because of his "deal with the devil" exchange: he remains unstained looking, while his portrait takes on all the spiritual and psychical damage of his choices. Don't know how sanitized the children's adaptation is. The original story by Wilde also has suggested h*m*-er*ticism (implied, NOT directly stated). It's very helpful (as an adult or high school student studying the work) to read up about the art movement of Aestheticism, the related literature movement of Decadence, and the basic definition of Hedonism to appreciate how Oscar Wilde is portraying all 3 ideologies in this novel. Definitely go for an abridged/adapted version at this younger age: Great Classics Illustrated usually has good versions. It looks like Marvel has a graphic novel version, as well as this graphic novel version by Edington -- NO personal experience with either to know what age these graphic novels are appropriate for. As a side note: the 1945 movie is a wonderful film version of the novel -- the main characters are perfectly captured, without it getting too graphic, and there are some great film noir lighting and composition techniques. It may be a little intense for a sensitive elementary-aged student, so preview. We watched the film and read the novel in my high school co-op class last year. Great stuff! :) Edited November 8, 2017 by Lori D. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Earthmerlin Posted November 8, 2017 Author Share Posted November 8, 2017 Dorian Gray has some pretty stout vocabulary and sentence structure that were pretty dense and difficult for my high schoolers to get through (both my own DSs years back, and my high school students in my co-op class last year). As for story line: Dorian is lured into a dissipated and self-indulgent lifestyle by Lord Henry, leaving no pleasure untried, which leads to downward spiral into use of drugs, s*xual encounters, blackmail, and murder -- all acceptable to Dorian because of his "deal with the devil" exchange: he remains unstained looking, while his portrait takes on all the spiritual and psychical damage of his choices. Don't know how sanitized the children's adaptation is. The original story by Wilde also has suggested h*m*-er*ticism (implied, NOT directly stated). It's very helpful (as an adult or high school student studying the work) to read up about the art movement of Aestheticism, the related literature movement of Decadence, and the basic definition of Hedonism to appreciate how Oscar Wilde is portraying all 3 ideologies in this novel. Definitely go for an abridged/adapted version at this younger age: Great Classics Illustrated usually has good versions. It looks like Marvel has a graphic novel version, as well as this graphic novel version by Edington -- NO personal experience with either to know what age these graphic novels are appropriate for. As a side note: the 1945 movie is a wonderful film version of the novel -- the main characters are perfectly captured, without it getting too graphic, and there are some great film noir lighting and composition techniques. It may be a little intense for a sensitive elementary-aged student, so preview. We watched the film and read the novel in my high school co-op class last year. Great stuff! :) This is quite helpful! Thanks for the kiddie titles & other tidbits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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