Better remembered today for his ground-breaking anti-ageing novel and dramatic masterpieces, still today Oscar Wilde is a name inseparable from the Aestheticism movement. But while many will have Wilde wit or aphorisms on the tip of their tongue, few have as broad a view of his thoughts on aesthetics.

Published together here are two of Wilde’s foremost essays – dialogues between a Gilbert and an Ernest, a Vivian and a Cyril – setting out his ideals. Penned as two dialogues on art, criticism and literature, on the triumph of aesthetics over realism, these pieces are richly infused with the comedic glint of observation and subversion so recognisable in Wilde’s work, and can be enjoyed as both comment on art and art in and of themselves.