The Canterville Ghost

Oscar Wilde is one of Ireland's most celebrated authors, and The Canterville Ghost offers a quirky glimpse into his genius.

Playing with tropes familiar to the emergent horror genre, Wilde sets a stage familiar to most of us in the modern era: a family moves into a new house, but they are warned of its haunting by a dead English nobleman fro centuries past. But instead of telling us a Victorian-flavored version of The Amityville Horror, Wilde instea has his protagonists harass and humiliate the resident ghost.

This brilliant short story is vintage Wilde, as it is punctuated by humor and profundity in equal measure.