The Devoted Friend: Oscar Wilde

"The fact is, that I told him a story with a moral."

"Ah! that is always a very dangerous thing to do," said the Duck.

Alright, just a quick book review... since you asked so nicely.

I've got to say, if you haven't read Oscar Wilde yet, you probably already have without noticing. He is the kind of writer who seems to get everywhere. And with good reason to. Apart from the fact that his plays and fiction are hilarious, and make me smile immensely (see 'The Importance of being Ernest'), Wilde always seems to weave a moral beautifully into any of his tales.

Sometimes they are sweet, and other times they bittersweet. The Devoted Friend is such a story. It can be found in Wilde's book of short fiction 'The Happy Prince and other Tales' and tells odd story of the selfless 'Little Hans' and his so called friend 'The Miller'.

I could go on about the bizarre, exotic storytelling capability of Wilde, or the haunting but beautiful twisting plotline, that eventually leads to a death (although still written in a funny, but sad way), but what I really want to talk about is just the awesome way this book tackles real life. Even though this is fiction, Wilde doesn't hesitate in suggesting that very often life isn't a fairytale, and the effect is like drinking cold coffee after a hangover.

A man once said that the endless quest of a fiction writer is to write fact, and if any fiction writer has achieved this, Oscar Wilde has.

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