When “The Soul of Man Under Socialism” first saw the light of day in 1891, this, the only explicitly political essay by Oscar Wilde, was hardly noticed, for he published four books in that year alone. It did not trigger a scandal, even though it is devoted to the scandal of man exploiting man at such length and in such a knowledgeable way that it is topical even today. Having seen this scandal with his own eyes in the United Kingdom and Ireland as well as in the United States and France, Wilde formulated insights nowadays brought forward by thinkers and historians of globalisation. His English is brilliant as ever and provocative, also it is informed by his profound reflections on socialism and individualism in the context of Christianity.
