Oscar Wilde 's literary reputation rests primarily on his later plays and his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891). Although he published only fourteen short stories and six prose poems, a meager number compared to many fiction writers of his time, the quality of his short fiction is consistently impressive. Because he wrote mostly fairy tales, critics have given his short fiction only passing glances; yet Wilde's short fiction complements and informs much of his other work, especially his plays and criticism. His stories work out his critical theories and test the social norms so popular in his plays. That he found fiction a natural form for him is not surprising, for as he told André Gide, "They [critics] believe all thoughts are born naked.... They don't understand that I can not think otherwise than in stories."

Born in Dublin on 16 October 1854, Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills...