Oscar Books

Wilde sees the world more clearly than any writer of fiction in the last century. It is for that reason that his work is so filled with countless paradoxes and contradictions that challenge the mind and titillate the senses. Wilde lived in an infinitely ironic age, when society had grown so influential as to crowd out the individuals that made it up. Today, we have taken for granted this incongruity and so our writers cannot express the kind of irony that Wilde mastered, despite the fact that we all know that something is amiss.

`The Picture of Dorian Gray' is filled with this irony. The plot shows us the ultimate irony of a man giving up his soul for the beauty of youth--the condition that is exalted in the modern age above all else, intellect, truth, justice, life itself. Interspersed are dialogues and epigrams that persist one hundred years later as some of the finest word handling ever recorded. Even a few samples should compel the potential reader:

"The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about."

"Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter."

"A man cannot be too careful in his choice for his enemies."

"The only difference between a caprice and a life-long passion is that the caprice lasts a little bit longer."

"Men marry because they are tired, women marry because they are curious. Both are disappointed."

"I love acting, it is so much more real than life."

- "I am on the side of the Trojans, they fought for a woman."
- "They were defeated."

The mastery of wit that Wilde displays must be seen in its context. He was a decadent as much as the characters he portrays are. Ultimately, the disillusion that the decadent faces comes through in the story and the reader is left with a very uneasy feeling upon completing `Dorian Gray.' Is life as absurd as it seems? Is there a solution? Or are we stuck with a life of paradox? Perhaps our current period of decadence will show us an alternative. Until it does, we can enjoy the astounding word play offered here.

Oscar Wilde was one of the foremost representatives of Aestheticism, a movement based on the notion that art exists for no other purpose than its existence itself ("l'art pour l'art"), not for the purpose of social and moral enlightenment. Born in Dublin and a graduate of Oxford's Magdalen College, he initially worked primarily as a journalist, editor and lecturer, but gradually turned to writing and produced his most acclaimed works in the six-year span from 1890 to 1895, roughly coinciding with the period of his romantic involvement with Lord Alfred "Bosie" Douglas, sixteen years his junior. Douglas's strained relationship with his father, John Sholto Douglas, Marquees of Queensberry, eventually resulted in a series of confrontations between Wilde and the Marquees, which first led to a libel suit brought by Wilde against his lover's father (who had openly accused Wilde of "posing as a sodomite" and threatened to disown his son if he didn't give up his acquaintance with the writer) and subsequently to two criminal trials against Wilde for "gross indecencies," based on a law generally interpreted to prohibit homosexual relationships. Sentenced to a two-year term of "hard labor" in Reading Gaol, Wilde emerged from prison in 1897 a spiritually, physically and financially broken man and, unable to continue living in England or Ireland, after three years' wanderings throughout Europe died in 1900 of cerebral meningitis, barely 46 years old.

"The Picture of Dorian Gray," Wilde's only novel besides seven plays as well as several works of short fiction, poetry, nonfiction and two fairy tale collections originally written for his two sons, is critical to an understanding of Wilde's body of work and his personality primarily for two reasons: First, because it constitutes one of his earliest fully accomplished formulations of Aestheticism, and secondly because of its undeniable undercurrent of homoeroticism; an inclination which, after a six-year marriage widely thought to initially have been a true love match, Wilde had begun to explore more openly around the time of the novel's creation (1890). The story's title character is an exceptionally handsome young man who, both in the eyes of the artist tasked to paint his portrait, Basil Hallward, and in those of their somewhat older friend Lord Henry Wotton, epitomizes perfect beauty and is coveted by both men for that very reason. Seduced by hedonistic Lord Henry into believing that beauty can literally justify anything, including any act of immorality, Dorian sells his soul for maintaining his beautiful appearance, letting his portrait age in his stead. (In that, his character resembles Goethe's and Marlowe's Faust.) He then quickly turns from an innocent youth into a cruel and calculating man whom society, in its shallow adherence to appearances, nonetheless never associates with any of the results of his cruelty, never looking beyond the surface of his handsome exterior and assuming that a man so beautiful must necessarily also be good. Ultimately it is Dorian himself who brings about his own downfall when he is no longer able to face the manifestation of his evilness in Basil Hallward's picture.

Upon its initial publication in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine in 1890, "The Picture of Dorian Gray" was widely scorned as immoral by a public neither familiar with nor particularly open to the concepts of Aestheticism and its mockery of middle class morality, and repulsed by the thinly veiled homoerotic relationship of the novel's protagonists. Wilde republished the work the following year, adding a preface designed to explain his views on art. Yet, it was that preface which, along with several of his other publications and his written exchanges with Lord Alfred Douglas, ultimately would play a devastating role in his trials, where Queensberry's attorney would come to use an excerpt from that very preface - "There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written" - to extract from Wilde statements to the effect that any book inspiring a sense of beauty (including, as implied in the attorney's question, an "immoral" book, if "The Picture of Dorian Gray" could be qualified as such) was well-written and therefore commendable; that only Philistines, brutes and illiterates - whose views on art he considered invariably stupid and for which he therefore didn't "care twopence" - could consider this novel "perverted," and that the majority of the reading public would probably not be able to draw a proper distinction between a good and a bad book. It was testimony such as this, as well as the impending confrontation with a number of male witnesses ready to testify as to the nature of their relationship with Wilde, that not only caused the author's attorney to convince his client to drop the libel suit against Queensberry but also opened the door for Wilde's own subsequent prosecution.

If "The Picture of Dorian Gray" has a central theme besides the supremacy of beauty and the depiction of a society primarily interested in appearances, it is a call for individuality: Dorian's cruelty is brought out only after he allows himself to be influenced by Lord Henry's equally seductive and cynical hedonism; and similarly, Basil Hallward's blind idolizing of Dorian eventually proves fatal for the painter. - Wilde's only novel is one of the first and most poignant expressions of his own individualism; but unlike his protagonist, who ultimately pays a ghastly prize for selling his soul and giving up his individuality, Wilde paid as high a price for maintaining his. Like Dorian, he knew that "[e]ach of us has Heaven and Hell in him," and although this novel's preface ends with the provocative statement that "[a]ll art is quite useless," it was the very fact that Wilde put his entire being into his art that ultimately destroyed him. But like beauty, which is finally restored to perfection in Dorian Gray's portrait, Wilde's works have stood the test of time; and not merely for their countless, pricelessly witty epigrams. They're as well worth a read as ever.

Also recommended:
Complete Works of Oscar Wilde (Collins Classics)
Oscar Wilde
Wilde (Special Edition)
The Oscar Wilde Collection
The Picture of Dorian Gray
The Importance of Being Earnest - Criterion Collection
The Importance of Being Earnest
An Ideal Husband
A Good Woman

On the strength of the first edition, I ordered the second edition for a course. The second edition is missing five pages from Chapter III of the 1890 version of the novel.

I have tried contacting Norton. Their feedback page did not work.

Mr. Oscar Wilde certainly fulfilled his end of the deal in uttering the wonderful words of wit contained in this small book.

Upon finding this book on display in a major bookstore, time flew by while I read through the whole miniature thing.

While walking up to the cashier to purchase it, however, I stopped dead in my tracks. Damn! The words on the back flap of the dust jacket read: "Printed in China."

I'm sure that Mr. Wilde would have some sharp words to say about a book of his work - words celebrating love of life and liberty - being produced in a country ran by a dictator - one that routinely uses either slave labor (in the form of "political" prisoners) or indentured servants (as in people who are not allowed to either quit or leave a job once taken) in their state-run industries.

I recommend Wilde's work wholeheartedly - but to purchase this tainted volume would certainly be unjust.

very good book. his talk about women is funny. His qoute all amke perfect sense....( i think.

Yes, this is a tiny book, but it is worth owning. Wilde has issued forth enough wonderful quotes to fill a much larger tome, but, that said, this is a nice novelty item. The diminutive book is packed with great photos of Wilde, the quotes that made him famous, as well as many quirky illustrations of the author.
Enjoy these quips from the man who uttered "either this wallpaper goes or I do" as his final words. I highly encourage you to also read Wilde's only novel, The Picture Of Dorian Gray.

This book has great illustration for wood framing. Recommend it: however, it would be nice to have a CD on all the drawings illustrated in the book.

This book has some useful and informative discussion of the construction methods but if you intend to purchase only one book on the subject, then you are better off with GRAPHIC GUIDE TO FRAME CONSTRUCTION by Thallon.

This book has many things to recommend it. It includes a wealth of material on wood frame house construction, from laying out a hole in the ground for foundations, to framing, to "paint and paper". And it's clear and generally easy to read. It was designed for people in apprenticeship programs and trade schools, so it's oriented toward practical details, not engineering theory, which will make it a good match for most do-it-yourselfers, too.

On the other hand, it clearly is an older book. Attempts have been made to keep it up to date with newer techniques, but a lot of obsolete material remains, and it's not always easy to tell which methods are new and which old. The obsolete material could be a plus, in some cases -- if you're renovating an old house, for example. But I wouldn't place absolute trust in this book as a bible of new house construction.

I am a structural engineer, and reviewed this book primarily in my search for resources to recommend to my residential clients who are involved in do-it-yourself renovation projects.

This is one of my favorite scores from the Rodgers and Hammerstein canon. If you are a musical theater major or musical theater fan (and collect complete vocal scores), this is a great score to have in your collection and worthy of study.

The music is good and clearly printed, but I bought this edition for the spiral binding as advertised - and got none - which makes opening the score flat on the piano stand very tricky, and turning pages while playing from the score impossible. So "No Thanks".

This is part of Longman's series of American Biography. They are short, with a reading level set for high school students in American History. It is a little surprising to me that the average high school student doesn't know Lindbergh. To those of us born before World War II, he was a famous person. But then again, his famous flight across the Atlantic was as far away to the modern high schooler as the Spanish-American war was to my generation.

Mr. Hixson does an excellent job of describing Lindbergh's early flying of the mail, the solo flight across the atlantic and his personal life. Of particular concern to today's student was Lindbergh's attitude towards World War II.

Lindbergh was a prominent member of the American First group that strenuously wanted to keep America out of the war. He was strongly condemned. I particularly liked Lindbergh's comment: 'I have always believed that every American cieizen had the right and duty to state his opinion in peace and to fight for his country in war.' Lindbergh was not in the military, but did serve as an aviation consultant in the South Pacific. He flew missions against the Japanese and developed new techniques to extend the range of American fighters, particularly the P-38.

It is my understanding tha this series is marketed to the post adolescent teen market and widely sold to libraries.
For such purposes, and for the mildly curious, this length volume is adequate.

From the tone of the book description abovw, this may be in the nature of a hagiography. Best if it offends both right and left for the truth is most often in the middle.

The national acclaim for Lindbergh that swept the country in the twenties and later was on the order of the hysterical acclaim given the Beatles in later years. Having been mildly aware of the former, as an adult observoe of the latter, I certainly know more of the latter.

Growing up in the forties and being constantly reminded in my consciousness of the all surrounding atmosphere of World War Two, I was not aware of any other state of existence. The depression was not a memory for me at all for my family had managed to hang on in the lower middle class throughout the Great Depression which was never a dinner table subject even when Grandad came over on Sunday. The only result of the Great Depression on me is that I am ten years younger thsn I would have been if my parents had married soon after they first met. :)But the thirties were the days of dismissing of married female teachers, and mother had had to pay off her father's debts. Dad still had to live at home and scraped by on even less.

But though the depression was not in my childhood perceptions Lindbergh was. In that period of my life, I just knew he was famed for his flight. He was a national hero, the Boy Scouts published a book "The Lone Scout in the Sky: The Story of Charles A. Lindbergh" by James E.West, which remained in their catalog for many years. (West was the long time chief executive of the national BSA and was resonsible for shaping it through the forties.)

Lindbergh's writings and those of his equally famous and publically beloved aviatrix wife, Ann Morrow, sold widely in the thirties. The tragedy of their baby's kidnapping and murder cemented the national affection for him. When I first became aware of him, his grest flight was the only subject I knew.

Later on, I learned of the kidnapping and by the late fifties I had become aware of the political controversies about his actions in the late thirties with the America First isolationist movement and his open admiration of the German Luftwaffe,
Because of these activities he was not favored by President Roosevelt, and thus, though he was a reserve colonel he was never mobilized after Pearl Harbor. Lindbergh did manage to get to the Pacific area as a civilian technical consultant and flew several combat missions against the Japanese. From then on he just faded away, I have no recollection of him or even when he died.

Thus Chsrles A. Lindbergh has joined the American pantheon of heroes who many aew aware of and consider to be worthy of praise but haven't a clue as to why. Not totally forgotten, he is now and then still commemorated. In the last twenty years or so there has been a Lindbergh drive next the Montgomery County Airpark near Gaithersburg, Md, but most would not know who he was.
So such works are useful if not definitive.

The free open source nature of Linux has driven its growth in general purpose client and server side usages. Here, Sloan takes linux into the rarefied context of high performance computing. Atop linux, he explains the merits of open source packages like Oscar and Rocks, to run your cluster. The basic motivation for him describing all this is the relatively low cost of using the machines. This can be a significant issue if your budget is limited or if you plan to have many machines in the cluster.

The book is primarily about software. Though he also gives a chapter discussing mundane but important decisions regarding hardware. The software that is explained is mostly Oscar and Rocks, as explained above, and how these are to be run. Be aware that relatively little of the book is about linux, per se. Which is as it should be. The crucial starting assumption is that you are or will be using linux. But, roughly, linux on these machines is more or less the same as linux on a generic computer. The distinguishing feature is the next layer of software.

On the programming side, Sloan points out that C and Fortran dominate, with C++ usage rising. There is no significant effort in Java, because of its performance penalty. Maybe on the cluster's lead computer that interfaces with the rest of the world, you can have a nice Java GUI program that controls the cluster. But the heavy lifting is done in the other languages.

I recently installed an OSCAR cluster on our PowerEdge SC1425 servers; Since the book just came out this year, I thought it would provide some more up to date insights into items that are not included in the install manual.

No such luck, you will find no mention of the need to upgrade SIS if you have SCSI or S-ATA drives, there is no information on Peter Mueller's kernel, or why you may need it. Or why the whole process seems to work but the nodes never can boot (OSCAR sometimes makes a bad initrd.img - check the size).

This book is NOT a good OSCAR resource, if you're a newbie it just leave you feeling frustrated as to why it sounds so simple and just doesn't work.

The drama of "The Importance of Being Earnest" was very displeasing to me. It bored me; it seemed too much of an intellectually witty comedy. All the jokes were engraved in the dialogue that I may have missed many times, even when I read it a second time. The different sexual innuendos were ok, but overall whatever comedy was there I didn't see, probably because this is an Old English comedy comparing to my modern day slapstick. The author bases all his comedy in the dialogue. The down-side is your so distracted by the dull character's conversations, you will miss it.
It takes place in England where everyone is sophisticated and everyone has money. The author has all the characters in dresses and suits and having intelligent conversations about love and lying. This drama will leave you frustrated as you struggle to understand and keep focus. It only heats up in the end when the main character is caught in his lie and tries to win back the situation. "The Importance of Being Earnest" is meant for the in-depth reader who can pick up on this. If you like "Our Town" or "A Midsummer Night's Dream", you will enjoy this. Otherwise, sleep on it.

A fun and easy read that is nevertheless considered a classic. The play's humor comes from exaggerated characters and their ridiculous lifestyles. The plot revolves around a silly love story, but really, this is a witty satire of the British upperclass of Wilde's day.

An entire stupid chapter on the Amsterdam Concert of Oscar Peterson spoiled this book completely.
Of course there are other moments, where this writer is wrong.
But that can happen.
Of course the writer is only human.
The truth about his statements about the Amsterdam Concert are really stupid.
He tells us that the release on cd, where the recording date etc. was changed was wrong.
But where is his proof?
Since I was involved in the matter I know for a fact that what Norman Granz wrote on the sleeve of the album with the windmill in front, was pure nonsens (not to say that it was a lie).
For the release of the cd I was contacted by Verve, Mr. Ben Young by that time.
Since I did research for him before, I also did this.(living in the Netherlands, close to Amsterdam, I was the closest to the well)
I went through many articles about the concert of Oscar and the results were very clear: on that night Oscar played a completely different number of tunes than on the record.
So Ben Young researched the Verve Archives, and he came up with the results that the masters showed that this music was recorded in Chicago.
Naturally this is corrected on the cd.
Another point: since there was so much time left, I said to Ben Young: there's this fine album: M.J.Q. / Oscar Peterson Trio at the Opera House Chicago, it's only half a record, and this music will probably never be released on cd.
So it was decided to give this music (otherwise lost forever)as a bonus on this cd.
A wise decision.
I really do not understand, why this otherwise devoted Peterson fan, is carried away with this.
An entire chapter and the man is wrong.
He did no rsearch himself, he did not think: why was this corrected?
No he just jumped into this.
Well sorry, but that's plain stupid.
So I can give only 2 stars, sorry.

Arnold van Kampen, discographer, jazz historian, critic, the Netherlands.

In my very own Jazz Dictionary, the definition of genius reads:

genius\'jé-nyes\proper noun: Oscar Peterson, Pianist, August 15, 1925 - December 23, 2007

Oscar Peterson died of a kidney failure at his home in Mississauga, Toronto on December 23, 2007. I'm deeply saddened and my heart goes out to his family, and my prayers as well. May his soul rest in peace.

Alex Barris' "A Musical Biography" is a well-crafted and informative biographical sketch of a legend of jazz piano, Oscar Peterson, who had inspired and influenced lot of great artists in the jazz scene. It is a very interesting read for any Peterson fan and I can strongly recommend it. The author is also a broadcaster at Canada's CBC-TV and Radio, and has written several books to his credit, and he's a member of the Order of Canada. And for those who are in doubt about the accuracy of every little thing that is written in this book, please read on . . .

On The Author's Credibility:

"Alex Barris replays the life and career of Oscar Peterson like Oscar plays the piano; deftly, fluidly and with unexpected, fascinating riffs. The master of the jazz keyboard is well served; so is the reader." ~ Sid Adilman, The Toronto Star ~

"Alex Barris negotiates the tricky issue of writing about someone he admires with earnest grace. The many quotes and anecdotes aren't window-dressing; they amplify Barris' plain-spoken prose as he explores Oscar Peterson, the musician and the man." ~ Katie Malloch, CBC's Jazz Beat ~

"Oscar Peterson is my hero. I've read good books about him before, but the insightful and delightful Alex Barris has, of course, nailed it. He's been there the whole time, watching Oscar happen. This is the one." ~ Tommy Banks , Jazz Musician ~

For someone who started piano lessons at an early age, he was classically trained but his first love was jazz piano. He rose to fame by his own merits - his adeptness at the ivories, his creativity in improvising, his love for beautiful music, and his dedication to his craft. All these made him a truly remarkable jazz legend of all-time and a genius of jazz piano. Here are some of the notable quotes from this book as quoted from his fellow artists, producers and musicians who greatly admired him.

"I have believed for many years that Oscar Peterson is not only the greatest pianist in jazz today, but the greatest it has ever known." ~ Gene Lees ~

"Oscar Peterson is my favorite all-around pianist. There are pianists I like because of one thing and pianists I like because of another. But overall, I like Oscar Peterson best." ~ Carmen McRae ~

"It has always been Oscar Peterson. He is my Rachmaninoff." ~ Shirley Horn ~

"I wish I could play with his right hand." ~ Charlie Parker ~

"Oscar Peterson plays the best ivory box I've ever heard." ~ Count Basie ~

"One should leave the piano when Oscar comes in. This man is dangerous." ~ Marian McPartland ~

Oscar Peterson is the world's definitive pianist . . . he is the Joe Louis of the piano." ~ Herb Ellis ~

"You're somebody that they just can't ignore. Not only jazz players pay you tribute, but classical players, too." ~ Duke Ellington to Oscar Peterson ~

"Peterson is surely the most articulate, all-consuming pianist since the late great Art Tatum, his undisputed idol. He is an artist not to be underestimated or missed." ~ Benny Green ~

"Get up from the piano ... Oscar is in the house. Who wants to be at the piano when Oscar is there? Find something else to do." ~ Benny Carter ~

"Oscar Peterson is the greatest living influence on jazz pianists today." ~ Herbie Hancock ~

"He's one of the few pianists who is representation of a whole symphony in texture when he performs solo." ~ Norman Granz ~

And here's an interesting anecdote . . .

Norman Granz gave Count Basie a watch and later bought it for $1,500 when Basie died and gave it to Oscar Peterson, who was so grateful saying . . . "Having Basie's watch means a lot to me."

And this is one remarkable and my favorite quote from one of the greatest jazz legends of all-time . . .

"I believe in using the entire piano as a single instrument, capable of expressing every possible musical idea. I have no one style. I play as I feel."

There's more to this book than just the quotes above that you'll find very interesting, some are never-heard-before, unpublished stories about some of his painful experiences in the early stages of his fruitful career. But nonetheless, Mr. Peterson took everything in stride, remained calmed and ultimately became not only victorious but prestigious as well. The fame and recognition he earned, not to mention the numerous honors and awards afforded to him worldwide, are unprecedented and unmatched, like his one-of-a-kind piano artistry. It's unparalleled and beyond compare.

I don't think there will be another Oscar Peterson in the making. Do you?

ISBN 0307123197 - Standard sturdy board book pages and standard Sesame Street quality illustrations don't quite overcome the average-ness of the book.

Oscar, in rhyme, tells all about the noises he likes - from off-key marching bands to the sounds of collecting the trash. All of the sounds are loud, of course!

Just kind of nothing here. Not terrible, and Sesame Street fans will find more in it to love than I did, but it's just too standard all around for me.

A board book with simple cartoons of basic events -- "trays crashing, drinks spilling" etc. Might prompt young listener to imitate noises and activities described -- or if your child is quieter, he might like analyzing the details in the pictures. It's mainly about activity, not words.

Cullmann's book (translated from the French) provides a complete study of the doctrine of prayer in the New Testament (prayer in the Synoptics, John, Paul; prayer and human weakness, prayer and the question of evil, how to pray, the Our Father and doubts about prayer). Though some hard questions about prayers were left unanswered, I find this book a good start to better understand how we may pray more effectively.

This book, Prayer in the New Testament, examines the practice and doctrine of prayer in the New Testament. The book was translated from it's German original by John Bowden. Cullmann starts by raising several modern objections to prayer, and refutes these objections using examples from the Synoptic Gospels and John, Paul's writings, and briefly, with the rest of the New Testament. In some places I felt the grammar, possibly the translation, was confusing. Cullmann interchanges the meaning of "hearing" prayer, using it to mean both God's listening to our petition, and God's answer to the petition. This leads to several confusing statements such as "the apostle finds that his prayer is heard in not being heard" (page 136). Furthermore, why did the translator assume the word "Leitmotif" is so well know in English that it needed no translation? Why are there often breaks in the paragraph structure; an extra space followed by an indented paragraph, which does not seem to differ from the text preceding and following (i.e., they do not always seem to be farther explanations or footnotes)? I like Cullmann's point on being persistent in prayer. He sees it as both a demand and a means of help in overcoming the temptation to neglect prayer. Regular prayer makes our uniting with God easier, allowing us to remain in constant contact with God. Cullmann shows how New Testament prayer emphasizes the nearness of God. This book made me contemplate such things as experiencing God's presence in prayer, the physical residence of God, his omnipresence, being remote yet near, Jesus' transcendence, what it means to be close yet transcendent. I like Cullmann's thoughts on; "God in us, Christ in us." Cullmann repeatedly emphasized the aim of prayer is a loving encounter with God. Our encounter with the omnipotent God can only succeed with the divine help of the Holy Spirit. He showed how we must approach God in prayer with childlike trust, to be in conversation with God as a loving partner. We need to be ready to submit to God's will, and accept the unanswered prayer ("unheard prayer") as possibly a sign of God's love and part of his divine plan. I recommend this book to anyone looking to improve their prayer experience.