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Oscar Wilde
(1854-1900)
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"Life imitates art
far more than
art imitates life."
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In this observation—which may have been inspired by George Sand's, "Life resembles a novel more often
than novels resemble life"—Wilde conveys his belief that the purpose of life is self-expression, with art
being a great aid in that endeavor. It's a fitting observation from one who once said, "I have put my
genius into my life; I have put only my talent into my work."
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"I made art a philosophy
and philosophy an art."
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This chiastic self-assessment comes from De Profundis, Wilde's famous 1897 letter
to his former great friend and lover, Lord Alfred Douglas.
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"When we are happy we are always good,
but when we are good we are not always happy."
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Wilde was the toast of London in the 1880s and early 1890s, as people of all social classes hovered
around him in hopes of hearing witty bon mots and clever epigrams. Wilde was fond of recycling his
favorite lines, and this was apparently one of them. This version appears in The Picture of Dorian Gray
(1891), but Wilde reportedly used it again and again in conversations with friends and associates.
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"When a man says
he has exhausted life
one always knows
life has exhausted him."
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This was another one of Wilde's favorite lines, showing up in innumerable conversations. Here's how
it finally appeared in A Woman of No Importance: "I hope you don't think you have exhausted life …
When a man says that, one knows that life has exhausted him." Below are several more examples of sayings
that show up both in conversation as well as in Wilde's plays and writings:
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"The soul is born old, but grows young.
That is the comedy of life.
And the body is born young and grows old.
That is life's tragedy."
Nowadays, all the married men live like bachelors,
and all the bachelors like married men."
"The Ideal man … should always
say much more than he means,
and always mean much more than he says."
"No crime is vulgar,
but all vulgarity is crime."
"Nothing can cure the soul but the senses,
just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul."
"As for begging,
it is safer to beg than to take,
but it is finer to take than to beg."
"The aim of most of our modern novelists seems to be,
not to write good novels,
but to write novels that will do good."
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Wilde wrote literary reviews for The Pall Mall Gazette from 1885 to 1890.
While highly regarded as a writer, Wilde did not apparently distinguish himself as a critic.
Hesketh Pearson, Wilde's biographer, explains it this way: "He was too gentle a man to hurt people's
feelings, too good-natured to make a good critic." Wilde could, however, be caustic and derisive
in his overall opinions about the state of English writing, as he does in this observation about modern
English novelists. He also wrote, also chiastically, "The ancient historians gave us delightful
fiction in the form of fact; the modern novelist presents us with dull facts under the guise of fiction."
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"The popular novel that the public call healthy
is always a thoroughly unhealthy production;
and what the public call an unhealthy novel
is always a beautiful and healthy work of art."
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Wilde could also be pretty tough on the readers and audiences of his day, whose taste he often questioned.
This line from The Soul of Man is clear—when it comes to literature, the public can be counted on to judge
what is good as bad, and vice versa. Wilde's view of the public's taste extended even to the audiences at his own
plays. When asked how he felt after one of his plays met with a disappointing reaction, he said, "The play was a
success, but the audience was an absolute failure."
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"It has been said of him, and with truth,
that he is a master of language,
but with still greater truth
it may be said that language is his master."
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When discussing individual artists, Wilde could be critical in a thoughtful, penetrating way, as in
this comment on Algernon Swinburne. Wilde believed that Swinburne was both the master and slave of
his literary style. He added: "Words seem to dominate him. Alliteration tyrannizes over him.
Mere sound often becomes his lord. He is so eloquent that whatever he touches becomes unreal."
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"(An) inferior poet …
lives the poetry that he cannot write.
The others write the poetry that they dare not realize."
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From Dorian Gray, there's a fascinating chiastic truth embedded in this observation. First of all,
though, here's how Wilde set up the line: "The only artists I have ever known who are personally delightful are bad
artists; good artists exist simply in what they make, and consequently are perfectly uninteresting in what they are.
A great poet, a really great poet, is the most unpoetical of creatures. But inferior poets are absolutely fascinating.
The worse their rhymes are, the more picturesque they look. The mere fact of having published a book of second-rate
sonnets makes a man quite irresistible." Wilde's observation illuminates a fascinating chiastic phenomenon—the best
artists often look pretty average, while the average ones often look the most creative.
 Continue to Part 2
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