Oscar Wilde Books in Order: Where to Start, What to Read Next, and Why It Still Hurts in the Best Way
If you are searching for Oscar Wilde books in order, you probably want two things at once: a clean reading list and a reason to care beyond the quote posters and tote bags. You are in the right place.
Wilde wrote one novel, a run of society plays that still feel suspiciously modern, fairy tales that look gentle until you notice the blade edge, essays that push hard against Victorian moral panic, and poetry that deserves more daylight than it gets. His career also collided with a legal system that criminalised same-sex love. That rupture sits behind the work like a bruise you cannot ignore.
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Quick answer for first-time readers
Start with The Picture of Dorian Gray for the darker, philosophical Wilde.
Start with The Importance of Being Earnest for peak comedy and social theatre.
Start with The Happy Prince and Other Tales if you want short stories with emotional ambushes.
After that, move to Intentions for his art-critic mind at full volume, and then De Profundis for the late, raw voice that makes the glitter look expensive and the cost feel real.
Oscar Wilde books in order (major works)
This list blends his best-known publications across genres. It is not an academic bibliography. It is a reader’s route that keeps momentum and makes the shifts in tone feel earned.
Poems (1881)
The Happy Prince and Other Tales (1888)
The Picture of Dorian Gray (first published 1890; expanded book 1891)
Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime and Other Stories (1891)
A House of Pomegranates (1891)
Intentions (1891)
Lady Windermere’s Fan (first performed 1892)
A Woman of No Importance (first performed 1893)
Salomé (published 1893 in French; English translation 1894)
An Ideal Husband (first performed January 1895)
The Importance of Being Earnest (premiered 14 February 1895)
De Profundis (written in prison, 1897; published later)
The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898)
A shorter, beginner-friendly order
If that list made you feel like you need a Victorian planner and a strong cup of tea, try this:
The Picture of Dorian Gray
The Importance of Being Earnest
The Happy Prince and Other Tales
Lady Windermere’s Fan
Intentions
De Profundis
Three reading paths, depending on your mood
1) The dark mirror path
You are here for beauty, corruption, and the slow realisation that the worst damage is self-inflicted.
The Picture of Dorian Gray
The Ballad of Reading Gaol
De Profundis
When people call Dorian Gray a morality tale, they are not wrong, but the story also has a quieter pulse. The novel is fascinated by the idea that self-knowledge can be either a way out or a weapon.
That was the hook that hit me the hardest the first time I read it. Dorian collects sins like Pokémon, sure, but the real horror is not the parties or the whispers. It is the locked room and the truth he cannot dilute. Nothing could truly hurt him. Nothing could age or scar him. Nothing, except himself. That twist is why the ending can feel less like a punishment handed down by the universe and more like a last, desperate wrestle with his own need for redemption.
2) The wit and manners path
You want Wilde at his sharpest, demolishing hypocrisy with a smile.
The Importance of Being Earnest
Lady Windermere’s Fan
An Ideal Husband
A Woman of No Importance
These plays are social comedies, yes. They also keep reminding us that respectability is a costume, and some people treat it like a religion.
3) The deceptively gentle path
You want the stories that look like bedtime fare until you realise Wilde is smuggling grief and social critique into the nursery.
The Happy Prince and Other Tales
A House of Pomegranates
Selected short stories like “The Canterville Ghost” and “The Model Millionaire”
Oscar Wilde starter paths
Pick a vibe, then read in order.
- The Picture of Dorian Gray
- The Ballad of Reading Gaol
- De Profundis
- The Importance of Being Earnest
- Lady Windermere’s Fan
- An Ideal Husband
- A Woman of No Importance
- The Happy Prince and Other Tales
- A House of Pomegranates
- Short stories and poems
Oscar Wilde in 200 words or less
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) was an Irish writer who became one of the most visible literary figures of late Victorian Britain. After early success as a poet and critic, he built a public image as a champion of aestheticism and a master of social wit. His career reached a peak in the early 1890s with plays such as Lady Windermere’s Fan, A Woman of No Importance, An Ideal Husband, and The Importance of Being Earnest. He also published fairy tales that balance tenderness with cruelty, and essays that argue for art’s freedom from moral policing. In 1895 he was tried and convicted for “gross indecency” under laws that criminalised homosexual acts, and sentenced to two years’ hard labour. The collapse of his public life shaped his later writing, especially the prison letter De Profundis and the poem The Ballad of Reading Gaol. He died in Paris in 1900. In recent years, some public cultural organisations have begun to acknowledge the injustice of his treatment; in 2025 the British Library announced a symbolic reinstatement of Wilde’s reader pass that had been revoked after his 1895 conviction.
Why The Picture of Dorian Gray sits at the centre of the Wilde-verse
Wilde’s only novel is still the gateway drug, and not only because it is short and dramatic. It blends three strands that show up across his work:
the danger of living for appearances
the seductive logic of aestheticism
the cost of desire when society decides it should be unspeakable
The first version of Dorian Gray appeared in 1890, then Wilde expanded it for the 1891 book publication. Those expansions gave the story more moral architecture and more room for psychological rot.
If you already love Dorian, you might enjoy my exploration of ideological power games in our Animal Farm Review. Different century, same anxious question: what do we become when the story we tell about ourselves is a lie we must defend?
The plays that were writing checks society did not want to cash
Wilde’s run from 1892 to early 1895 is one of those short creative streaks that makes you jealous on behalf of time itself. Lady Windermere’s Fan broke open the door. A Woman of No Importance sharpened the social satire. An Ideal Husband added political blackmail and moral double-bookkeeping. Then The Importance of Being Earnest danced in at the peak of his fame, only weeks before the courtroom collapse.
It is hard to read these comedies now without feeling the edge of that timing.
Essays that show his brain at full speed
If you only know Wilde from the memes, Intentions is where you meet the argument behind the sparkle. The essays and dialogues play with the idea that art does not need to justify itself in moral terms, and that culture often pretends to be ethical when it is really just nervous.
The short political essay The Soul of Man under Socialism is another surprising stop. It shows a Wilde who is less interested in polite reform and more interested in what a free life could look like.
What to read after you finish your first Wilde
Try another author who scratches a similar itch:
For satire with moral grit, consider Orwell after you finish Wilde’s social plays. Our 1984 Book Summary and Review pairs well with the question of who gets to define truth.
For playful fantasy that hides ethical teeth, you can zigzag to the Discworld. We have a soft spot for Pratchett’s chaos in Interesting Times.
Book club discussion questions for Oscar Wilde
If your group is reading Wilde soon, you may also want our general Book Club Discussion Questions guide. For a Wilde night, these prompts tend to work best:
Which character is most honest, and do you trust that honesty?
Where does it feel like Wilde is laughing with his characters, and where is he laughing at them?
Which social rule in the story is still alive in our world, just wearing a different outfit?
Did the ending feel like justice, tragedy, or self-knowledge?
Oscar Wilde Publication Timeline
| Year | Work | Type |
|---|---|---|
| 1881 | Poems | Poetry |
| 1888 | The Happy Prince and Other Tales | Fairy tales |
| 1890/1891 | The Picture of Dorian Gray | Novel |
| 1891 | Intentions | Essays |
| 1892 | Lady Windermere’s Fan | Play |
| 1893 | A Woman of No Importance | Play |
| 1895 | An Ideal Husband; The Importance of Being Earnest | Plays |
| 1897/1898 | De Profundis; The Ballad of Reading Gaol | Prison writing |
FAQ
What is Oscar Wilde’s best book to start with?
If you like gothic psychology, start with The Picture of Dorian Gray. If you want pure comic architecture, start with The Importance of Being Earnest. If you want short stories that hit fast, start with The Happy Prince and Other Tales.
How many novels did Oscar Wilde write?
One. The Picture of Dorian Gray is his only novel.
Are Oscar Wilde’s plays easy to read?
Yes, especially if you read them aloud or watch a recording after. The jokes land faster when you hear the rhythm.
Should I read De Profundis early or late?
Late. It reads best after you know his public voice, because then you can feel the contrast between the stage mask and the private cost.
New to Oscar Wilde? This reading guide covers his books, plays, essays, and stories in order, with three beginner paths, context on his 1895 trial, and book club prompts.