Although Wilde only produced nine fairy tales, his unique narrative characteristics and distinctive endings are quite original and conspicuously different from traditional children's literature。 They have a striking feature that each of them refers to death。 So it is obvious that Wilde's fanatic preference for death theme goes far beyond other writers。 

Compared with the representative of traditional fairy tales writer such as Hans Christian Andersen who is famous for warm writing style and holy ending sublimation, Wilde shows rebellious consciousness。 The universal principle that death and sacrifice for good deserve a good reward in Andersen's is not suitable anymore in Wilde's。 The former tends to reflect the unfairness but present the mercy, justice, and glory of God in the final ideal ending, while the latter has a preference to contain more fascinatingly irrational devotion。

Recognized as the best representative of aestheticism, Oscar Wilde has received a lot of mixed comments since he became well-known。 And being a rebel in the children's literature, Wilde's fairy tale writing has received all kinds of remarks just as the author himself。 There is no doubt that the literary creation of fairy tales greatly satisfies Wilde's own aesthetic needs。 The strong self-projection can lead to both advantages and disadvantages in literary creation, especially in children's literature of which writers should consider about the readers' receptivity。 Though having been called into question since the two collections were published, Wilde's fairy tales prove their charm by the fact that in the worldwide children's literature, the nine exquisite stories remain distinguished for more than a century。

The Happy Prince and Other Stories was more popular than A House of Pomegranate for the latter revealed Wilde's own mentality and ideology a lot and was so incisive and controversial at that time。 Mixed receptions can be pided into mainly two opposite voices。 Robert Harborough Sherard gave his superlative praise that among the whole English writing world, you can not find any fairy tales dare to compare with Wilde's。 His word is very skillful, the whole story unfolded in a special way with natural imaginations, and you can find many philosophic theories throughout the book。(2010)

Whereas an anonymous comment carried on Pall Mall Gazette held an opposite view that A House of Pomegranate is not suitable for children to read owing to its excessive decoration and sensory style。 After publication, being of extreme aestheticism, it indeed suffered criticism for the great disparity against the common fairy tales。 And among Wilde's extreme aesthetic elements, the repeated occurrence of death and sacrifice might be regarded as the most inappropriate content for children。 However, will it inevitably bring readers a negative emotional experience of reading it? Is children' s literature supposed to be happy literature? With respect, I do not agree。 In terms of children's literature, the most paramount should be the essence of literature but not to only take the specific readership into consideration。 As an eternal motif in literature, death and sacrifice should not be closed outside of children's literature。Taking the characteristics of the children into account, writers can make the writings more easily understandable and acceptable so that children can accept the concept of death and confront these inevitable topics of human beings more naturally。

Death and sacrifice are inseparable in Oscar Wilde's aesthetics。 Those images in Wilde's fantasy stories like the happy prince, the nightingale, and the fisherman are full of rather ebullient passion for kindness and love, and likely to pursue spiritual satisfaction which cannot be understood by the secular。 Endowed to be sensitive and easy to be aroused strong emotions, their destiny is never free from death。 But in the special world view and value of Wilde's fairy tales, death and sacrifice do not mean tragedy, but can be a way of self-redemption。 Protagonists in that world don't ask for any reward for what they have done; they do everything out of the self will and accomplishment of the will is the best ending。 论文网