The original Wilde Thing does it again...Seriously...how does one not love on Oscar Wilde when he's throwing down the snarky...in this case, and in proper British fashion, against cocky, adolescent-cultured Americans and their starched-lip, tradition-trapped English cousins? A bounty of clever from start to finish, Wilde's tale is charming, engaging and pitch-perfect. For a story less than 30 pages long, Wilde accomplishes so much, using scalpel-like precision in both his language and his plotting to tell a story with a little bit of everything. The funny is considerable, the sadness and softer emotions are amply represented, and the brilliance is ubiquitous throughout. My sole complaint is that I wish it were a bit longer, as I would have loved for Wilde to give himself more time with these people and this setting. PLOT SUMMARY:Briefly, since this is a short story…A family of flag-flaunting United Staters acquire an historic English mansion from the thoroughly prim, thoroughly British Lord Canterville. Throw in a murderous, aesthetically-minded ghost with a penchant for high drama and theater, and you have a classic, joy-inducing tale of clashing cultures, progress vs. tradition, and Wilde’s self-mockery of his own philosophy of decadent aestheticism. And….as an added bonus that few beyond Wilde could have accomplished in this setting, you also have subtler themes of a deeper nature running through the narrative, such as penance, forgiveness, and redemption. THOUGHTS:I am a Wilde enthusiast, though my knowledge of his work is limited to this piece and The Picture of Dorian Gray, both of which I have loved. His prose speaks to me and I find his comedic orientation and verbal bitchiness to be hand in glove with my own sense of humor. His timing and delivery make me smile, whether he's commenting on his countrymen as having "really everything in common with America nowadays except, of course, language” to the reciting the casual arrogance of Mr. Otis’s response when Lord Canterville tries to dissuade him from acquiring the haunted estate: I will take the furniture and the ghost at a valuation. I have come from a modern country, where we have everything that money can buy; and with all our spry young fellows painting the Old World red, and carrying off your best actors and prima-donnas, I reckon that if there were such a thing as a ghost in Europe, we'd have it at home in a very short time in one of our public museums, or on the road as a show. Wilde’s humor is like a hammer wrapped in silk-covered down. It floats gracefully into your ear and then sucker punches you with its meaning. Here, Wilde even aims his high powered criticism at himself, as the ghost, Sir Simon, is a thinly veiled reflection of the author. Initially, we see Sir Simon, this artisitc spook with flair and panache, as a victim of the boorish Yankees who have invaded his haunt, and who are totally unmoved by any of his scare tactics. They apply stain remover to the recurring blood stains, oil his chains to avoid excessively rattling, and medicate his evil laugh after mistaking it for coughing. For them, he is simply a problem to solve. It seems our artist can't get a break, and Wilde has us sympathizing with the frustrated spectre. But Wilde slowly starts to show us that the ghost is far from innocent. We learn of his previous murders and his complete amorailty and self-centeredness. Wilde slowly closes the trap and we begin to see the truth behind the ghost's genteel facade. One line, in particular, that struck me was when he casually admitted to killed his wife because she "was very plain, never had my ruffs properly starched, and knew nothing about cookery.” It’s almost a throwaway line, but it really drove home for me the character of Sir Simon.Now don’t go thinking based on the above that this is really a serious tale. The humor is steady throughout and I was pretty much smiling from beginning to end reading Wilde's on target wit. ‘What a monstrous climate!’ said the American Minister, calmly, as he lit a long cheroot. ‘I guess the old country is so overpopulated that they have not enough decent weather for everybody.’It’s just that Wilde adds enough little splashes of depth, of emotion, to make the entire story more resonant and, ultimately, more enjoyable. ‘Yes, death. Death must be so beautiful. To lie in the soft brown earth, with the grasses waving above one's head, and listen to silence. To have no yesterday, and no to-morrow. To forget time, to forget life, to be at peace.’ You can't ask for better than that. I want to make one final comment about Wilde’s skill as it relates to his creative use of the setting. As you read the description of Canterville Chase, you see a litany of characteristics that paint it as the quintessential gothic mansion. Stone gargoyles, secret passageways, paintings of the previous Canterville residents, and even the stereotypical suit of armor as décor-enhancer. Throw in some dark wood and stained glass windows and you have a haunted house cliché that should be gloomy and positively oozing dread.But is it? Of course not…Wilde simply uses this benckmark so he can quickly and effectively turn it on its head. So…I loved this and I thought how Wilde took what started as a satire on the uncouthness of Americans and the stale traditionalism of the English, and turned it into something uplifting by marrying the best attributes of both was inspired. I just wish it had been longer and the story had had a little more time to breathe. I can’t wait to read more of his work. 4.5 stars. HIGHEST POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATION.
When a three-century-old ghost meets some witty American kids – you have “Home Alone” all over again. When England meets America – you feel like re-reading “Le bourgeois gentillhomme”. In a word, when gothic meets savvy – eerie becomes comedy.And this brilliant short story is just this: a tender polemic about cultural differences (English haunted-house mythology versus American down-to-earth vision of life) and a gentle parody of some celebrated Romantic themes and motives: the haunted spirit, the purity of the soul, punishment and redemption, etc.With no satirical intentions, no acerb irony, no maliciousness whatsoever, the main characteristic of the style is lighthearted humor, obtained by using some smart techniques: - the frustrated expectations (the contrast between what you think it will happen and what really happens), like the enumeration of the qualities of Washington Otis, the eldest son of the American family, who “had qualified himself for American diplomacy by leading the German at the Newport Casino for three successive seasons, and even in London was well known as an excellent dancer”; all ghost’s apparitions that fail to impress are examples of this technique.- the prosaic reaction in front of a scary event, which is to be erased or cured with some cleaning or pharmaceutical products: faced with a blood-stain that “has been much admired by tourists and others, and cannot be removed”, Washington Otis is confident that “Pinkerton’s Champion Stain Remover and Paragon Detergent will clean it up in no time”; Mr Otis, woken up by the awful noise of the ghost’s chains, offers him the Rising Sun Lubricator; Mrs. Otis, hearing the ghost’s hair-raising laugh, diagnoses him with indigestion and offers him a bottle of Dr. Dobell’s tincture. - the absurd paraphrase of some cultural stereotypes and prejudices: “the old country is so overpopulated that they have not enough decent weather for everybody.”; « we have really everything in common with America nowadays, except, of course, language ». In this respect, the following excerpt, with its staccato of comparisons, is magnificent: « The subjects discussed, as I have since learned from Mr. Otis, were merely such as form the ordinary conversation of cultured Americans of the better class, such as the immense superiority of Miss Fanny Davenport over Sarah Bernhardt as an actress; the difficulty of obtaining green corn, buckwheat cakes, and hominy, even in the best English houses; the importance of Boston in the development of the worldsoul; the advantages of the baggage check system in railway travelling; and the sweetness of the New York accent as compared to the London drawl. »- the humanization of the ghost, who falls and rubs his hurting knees, is scared of a fake ghost the twins put in his way, steals Virginia’s colours to paint the blood-stain, and finally is so afraid of the American family that hides in his rooms in despair. - the lack of discernment between trivial matters and serious ones : while frantically searching Virginia, her father, realizing the young duke who accompanies him is hatless, stops to buy him a hat.Overall, “The Canterville Ghost”, generously funny, is a little jewel that will always make your day.
What do You think about The Canterville Ghost (1997)?
The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde was published in 1887.I really found this story a wonderful and entertaining read which contrasts American and British people and culture. The story is told from the viewpoint of Sir Simon, the ghost. This is a really short story and I found it humorous and yet enjoyed the stereotypical characters that represent both England and the United States. Wilde takes an American family, places them in a British setting, then, through a series of mishaps, pits one culture against the other.I really enjoyed this story and will be adding more of Oscar Wilde short stories to my to read list.
—Dem
a delightful little novella about a very British ghost having to deal with a no-nonsense, practical American family.When Mr. Hiram B. Otis buys an English manor, he is warned by the previous owner that, together with the furniture and the extensive grounds, he has acquired the family ghost that has been haunting the place since the 16th century.What follows is a very funny duel between the ancient spirit, forever boasting of previous horrible feats and macabre costumes, and the casual reaction of the Yanks, offering him such solutions as Pinkerton’s Champion Stain Remover and Paragon Detergent for the removal of persistent blood stains or a small bottle of the Tammany Rising Sun Lubricator for the oiling of rusty chains and manacles. Soon, the poor ghost of Sir Simon de Canterville is brought to the brink of a nervous breakdown, especially by the antics of the Otis twins and their schoolyard pranks.The novella is probably the primary source of several movies I liked in past years. Read this for the wicked sense of humor of Oscar Wilde. I recommend it especially for electronic devices, as it is available from Project Gutenberg, Feedbooks and other sites offering public domain ebooks.
—Algernon
I feel that I have to start this review almost apologetically by stating that I truly admire Oscar Wilde the person and utterly adore most of his work. Dorian Gray is a bona fide masterpiece, Earnest is immortal, and De Profundis is remarkably moving. I’ve read his stories since I was a child (I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve read The Happy Prince) and he is one of the few classic writers whose work hasn’t aged a bit since he died. His books read as freshly today as they ever did because, though he lived in the Victorian era, he was years ahead of his time and thoroughly modern. (It’s said that Wilde was the inspiration for Mr Toad in Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows, motoring uncontrollably ahead of everyone else!)But, having read his entire canon, I know not everything he wrote was as sparkling as his greatest creations and, unfortunately, the stories collected in this Hesperus Press edition – The Canterville Ghost, Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime, and The Sphinx Without a Secret – are some of his least enchanting.In The Canterville Ghost, an American family moves into an old English manor house that’s haunted by the ghost of Sir Simon de Canterville who murdered his wife in the 17th century. His brother-in-laws then walled him up alive and his spirit has been clanking through the halls ever since. But don’t let the word “ghost” put you in mind of a horror story – this is in fact a lightly comedic children’s story that very gently satirises the differences between Americans and Brits, namely that Americans are modern and the British are fusty and maybe it’s better to leave the old-fashioned ways behind and embrace the new?After graduating from Oxford, Wilde went on a tour of America, promoting the artistic movement of aestheticism, and it’s very clear that he thinks very highly of that country and its population. The characters’ names in The Canterville Ghost are as American as you can get – the son and daughter are named Washington and Virginia while the twin boys are never called anything other than their nicknames, the Stars and Stripes.The story is told from the perspective of the ghost who is playfully tortured by the Stars and Stripes as he tries to haunt them and winds up an emasculated figure of fun - it’s like a Victorian version of Home Alone! Wilde’s version of a “ghost” though is bizarrely far too physical – Sir Simon treads on broken nut shells which hurt his feet and, after a bucket of water falls on his head, he catches a cold! IS he a “ghost” or an undying man (a la Wilde’s great-uncle’s creation, Melmoth the Wanderer)?It’s also a story that doesn’t possess the famous Wilde wit. If you’re familiar with Wilde at all, you’ll know that he’s best known for his epigrams and he is a genuinely funny writer – look at Earnest for proof. But none of his luminescent humour is present here and he drearily spins out his farcical ghost story much longer than it needed to be. It’s a predictable and unamusing tale – both qualities you wouldn’t associate with Wilde’s writing usually.But, disappointingly, it turns out The Canterville Ghost is the best story of the three! Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime is an even less interesting story featuring the naïve and dim-witted Lord Arthur who, when told by a palm-reader at a party that he will murder someone close to him before he marries, immediately begins to plot who to kill before he proposes to his girlfriend, Sybil.The story is another light satire against the empty-headedness of the British upper classes as well as charlatans like soothsayers and psychics, but it’s presented again in a humourless, repetitive fashion that bores beyond belief.The Sphinx Without a Secret feels like an elongated, weak joke than a short story, which follows a brief romance where the woman appears to be hiding secrets – but really isn’t. Or is she? The real question you’ll be asking is: “Is it over yet?”These stories are being republished in a lovely new paperback edition probably due to the fact that Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie are teaming up for the first time in over a decade to star in a forthcoming animated feature of The Canterville Ghost, with Fry as the titular character (who also played Wilde himself in the 1997 biopic).I can only hope the production team borrow aspects of Wilde’s brilliance from his other works rather than rely on the tedious original story. If you are in search of a tremendous Oscar Wilde book, I highly recommend reading Dorian Gray instead.
—Sam Quixote
