Complete Shorter Fiction Book

I don't think i've ever used the word "exquisite" before, especially in relation to anyone's writing, but the writing in these stories really is exquisite. the stories themselves are flawlessly conceived and executed; every other line a perfect quotable paradox. my only complaint is that it all got a little claustrophobic after all. so perfect, so finely-wrought, so heartbreakingly sad, so clever... it was all just a little bit too just-so. there are no car chases, no fistfights, no people yelling in the streets, no drunks screaming off bridges into the night... for all the talk of obscenity and decadence that surrounds wilde's name, he really is an exceedingly tasteful and polite writer. sorta made me want to go bowling.

best parts: the half-page prose poem "the artist," the scooby-dooish "canterville ghost," and this horrifying tale about a little bird who presses its breast against a thorn in order to make the roses red...