7 h 23 minAudiobook4 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if a critic offers more than a verdict—and teaches you to see books, art and society differently?
In A Critic in Pall Mall, Oscar Wilde turns the working critic’s eye on books, painting, manners and fashion. These short reviews and pieces of journalism come from London periodicals of the 1880s. Here is Wilde before the great plays, writing to a deadline while asking what beauty, honesty and taste demand.
The collection explores criticism as an art, the power of style, art’s independence from moral lessons, and wit as a way of seeing society. Wilde refuses to let a worthy subject excuse clumsy prose. Nor does he accept that art must be useful or respectable. His light touch gives questions of taste a sharp edge.
What you’ll discover
- The critic as artist Discover why Wilde treats a review as a craft, not merely a summary and verdict.
- Style earns its place Consider how fine form can lift a slight subject, while worthy themes cannot rescue clumsy prose.
- Art beyond the sermon Explore Wilde’s resistance to judging art by its usefulness, moral lessons or respectability.
- Manners under a sharp eye Follow his humour through dress, fashion and the habits that reveal vanity and false seriousness.
- A few pages at a time Meet Wilde’s thinking in short pieces that invite you to examine your own taste.
Who will love it
For readers who enjoy sharp, short essays, for anyone curious about how Wilde thought before his fame, and for writers who want to sharpen their taste.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A critic is an artist too
- Style matters more than subject
- Art owes nothing to the crowd
- Wit as a way of seeing society
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Un critico a Pall Mall
by Oscar Wilde · 1919
Oscar Wilde turns reviews of books, art and society into a spirited defence of beauty, taste and artistic freedom.
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From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 4
A critic is an artist too
Wilde treats reviewing as a craft that deserves care. A review, for him, should not be a dull summary with a verdict stuck on the end. It should have its own style and its own pleasure, so that you enjoy reading it even if you never read the book.
This idea runs through his journalism. He is impatient with reviewers who simply praise friends or scold strangers. He wants the critic to respond to a work as a living thing and to say honestly what it did to him.
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What is A Critic in Pall Mall about?
It is a collection of Oscar Wilde's reviews and short pieces on books, art and society, taken from his journalism. It shows his views on style, taste and the purpose of criticism, written with his usual wit.
When was A Critic in Pall Mall published?
It appeared in 1919, after Wilde's death in 1900. The pieces themselves were written earlier, in the 1880s, when he was reviewing for London periodicals, so the book gathers older journalism rather than a new work.
Is A Critic in Pall Mall a novel?
No. It is not a story but a set of short critical pieces and reviews. You can read them in any order, and each one stands alone as a small essay on a book, an artist or a social habit.
The author
Oscar Wilde
1854–1900 · Irish playwright and poet
Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) was an Irish poet, playwright, and novelist born in Dublin. He lived in London and later in France, where he died in Paris. He published The Picture of Dorian Gray in 1890. His play The Importance of Being Earnest was first performed in 1895.
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