Previously, I was familiar with Oscar Wilde only through his fictional works, such as A Picture of Dorian Gray, so I was surprised to find his name on a library shelf containing books about socialism and politics. The Soul of Man is a small book. It's more of an essay really.
Wilde makes some unusual arguments for socialism, stating that socialism breeds individualism more effectively than capitalism. He attributes this to the way people are blinded by capitalism into finding their identity through objects and property rather than through their mind and their abilities. Wilde is less concerned with the economic practicalities of his version of socialism, than he is with the system's ability to allow the creation of art. Although some of Wilde's ideas left me shaking my head, I feel reading the work was worthwhile.
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