The Canterville Ghost

First published in 1887, ‘The Canterville Ghost’ tells the tale of a malicious ghost who discovers there is no peace to be found when a rumbustious American family takes over his ancestral home—written by Oscar Wilde, an Irish poet, and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. A frightening ghost is tormenting the ancient mansion of Canterville Chase, complete with creaking floorboards, clanking chains, and gruesome disguises – but the new occupants seem strangely undisturbed by his presence. Deftly contrasting the conventional gothic ghost story with the pragmatism of the modern world, Wilde creates a gently comic fable of the conflict between old and new.