Only a genius like Wilde could write these "paradoxes" and articulate these wonderful and unconventional reflections. Only he, as an authentic lover of Greek culture, nurtured by the wisdom of the ancient Greek classics, could, as a modern Alexandrian poet, always resort to the remedies of art that know how to heal wounds, since "Art never wounds us."

A sworn nonconformist, he is unable to compromise with the ugliness of life, with the miserable reality we live in, which is why he stands as a relentless critic against the dominant conventions, the hypocritical decorum. Sparks of this genius are contained in this volume. With remarkable ease, Wilde traverses the worlds of Plato, the Sophists, Shakespeare, or Baudelaire to arrive at the essential conclusion that in art there is no universal truth.

This brilliant Irish spirit sought to be silenced by British Victorian Philistinism, and it succeeded in extinguishing him. However, his victory was temporary. For as another significant figure of our own, Napoleon Lapathiotis, notes: "Today the dark clouds have scattered, the terrible human stupidity, which for a moment almost triumphed around this issue, has been forever vanquished, and the visage of Wilde, like the sun hidden among the clouds, again illuminates the firmament with its golden and steady glow, and his name will forever be associated with every notion of beauty and elevation."

[Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]