Oscar Wilde fans

[sesil17aa]

I noticed in some posts that here are a couple of Oscar Wilde fans, and I am one also, so I decided to make this thread where we can discuss the brilliant writer.

 

I actually got to know about Wilde from the movie about him, and I found his life story very touching. I've read his fairytales, his novel "The Picture of Dorian Gray" and some parts of his other works and I've found them fascinating as well as his personality.

 

So, anyone else a fan of Oscar?

 

[Queenie]

*raises her hand*

I remembered a quote...

Music makes one feel so romantic. At least it always gets on one's nerves - which is the same thing nowadays.

[sesil17aa]

*raises her hand*

I remembered a quote...

Music makes one feel so romantic. At least it always gets on one's nerves - which is the same thing nowadays.

Hello

He has some splendid quotes indeed. I like this:

 

"To get back my youth I would do anything in the world, except take exercise, get up early, or be respectable."

 

What have you read of Wilde?

[Diana]

I haven't read much of his work, just bits and pieces that are floating around on the net.

A couple of weeks ago I bought his novel 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' but I haven't got around to reading it yet.

[Queenie]

Hello

He has some splendid quotes indeed. I like this:

 

"To get back my youth I would do anything in the world, except take exercise, get up early, or be respectable."

 

What have you read of Wilde?

 

almost everything: plays, poetry, novels...My favourite book is The Portrait Of Dorian Gray

[REBEKA]

My morning tea cup - that I bought in Dublin - says: "Oscar Wilde: Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast." Very true, my mornings prove it.

 

Oscar Wilde is one of "my" people, let him rest in peace. When I was in Paris I put flowers on his grave, pathetic.

 

I love his fairytales but they are so dark and depressive, even for an adult.

[sesil17aa]

I haven't read much of his work, just bits and pieces that are floating around on the net.

A couple of weeks ago I bought his novel 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' but I haven't got around to reading it yet.

almost everything: plays, poetry, novels...My favourite book is The Portrait Of Dorian Gray

Dorian Gray is really scary. When I read it I was quite shocked about how Dorian changed (I won't mention what happened not to spoil for you, Diana). I've read many times that Wilde was very much like Henry Wotton, but at the beginning I thought he was more like Bazil.

 

I've been to the play "The Importance of Being Earnest" here in Latvia, but I didn't like the performance. I would actually like to go to a Wilde's play in England.

[sesil17aa]

My morning tea cup - that I bought in Dublin - says: "Oscar Wilde: Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast." Very true, my mornings prove it.

 

Oscar Wilde is one of "my" people, let him rest in peace. When I was in Paris I put flowers on his grave, pathetic.

 

I love his fairytales but they are so dark and depressive, even for an adult.

It is not pathetic at all! I've wanted to do it since I was thirteen - put a bouquet of white lillies on his grave as he liked them so much. Now, that is pathetic

 

I've also felt since the first moment that he is one of "my" people. It's strange, his works are not the thing that you would read relaxing by the cup of tea, they are very dark and disturbing, but still there is something extremely captivating about them and Wilde himself.

[Queenie]

Dorian Gray is really scary. When I read it I was quite shocked about how Dorian changed (I won't mention what happened not to spoil for you, Diana). I've read many times that Wilde was very much like Henry Wotton, but at the beginning I thought he was more like Bazil.

 

I've been to the play "The Importance of Being Earnest" here in Latvia, but I didn't like the performance. I would actually like to go to a Wilde's play in England.

 

That´s why i love the book. It shows with harshness that ugliness, bad things mankind can do...

I saw some wilde´s plays played by amateur actors and they were quite good i have to say

[Diana]

From what I read of him and about him, it seems like he was waaaaay ahead of his time.

[Queenie]

From what I read of him and about him, it seems like he was waaaaay ahead of his time.

 

That´s true. And he suffered a lot for his thoughts and his way of life..

[sesil17aa]

That´s why i love the book. It shows with harshness that ugliness, bad things mankind can do...

I saw some wilde´s plays played by amateur actors and they were quite good i have to say

Indeed, when I read it I thought that it was terrible the way people can be and, moreover, how natural this behavior can seem to themselves. When Dorian changed, he thought he was just starting to live to the fullest, he didn't feel any remorses, and it was just terrifying.

 

From what I read of him and about him, it seems like he was waaaaay ahead of his time.

 

I read Wilde's biography written by his friend now, and it seems that he was anything but ordinary. What surprised me was that Wilde was actually almost more popular for his talk than for his works when he was alive - he captivated everybody by the way he spoke. But the late years of his life was really horrible - he was sentenced for two years of labor in prison for homosexuality. And since then he was an outcast for the rest of his life - he lost almost all of his friends and family. The criminal laws and the laws of society were monstrous then.

[sesil17aa]

That´s true. And he suffered a lot for his thoughts and his way of life..

 

He did. When Dorian Gray was published some people stopped talking to Wilde because the book was considered immoral. Wilde was extremely popular in the higher society, but there were also many people who hated him and feared him for his thoughts.

[guapo!]

Coincidence! lol

RIght now I'm reading "The picture of Dorian Gray" and I absolutely love it!

I'm in the part where Lord Henry and Basil have dinner with Dorian and now they are going to meet the actress!

 

A quote:

"There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written"

[mandilambi]

I read Dorian Gray and found it difficult to get through, just because I was so annoyed by Dorian's character. What a punk he was. LOL

 

But I like The Importance of Being Earnest a lot. His writing is certainly enjoyable and it's true a lot of his work was quite dark and sardonic.

[sesil17aa]

Coincidence! lol

RIght now I'm reading "The picture of Dorian Gray" and I absolutely love it!

I'm in the part where Lord Henry and Basil have dinner with Dorian and now they are going to meet the actress!

 

A quote:

"There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written"

Oh, the dark things are yet to come

 

I read Dorian Gray and found it difficult to get through, just because I was so annoyed by Dorian's character. What a punk he was. LOL

 

But I like The Importance of Being Earnest a lot. His writing is certainly enjoyable and it's true a lot of his work was quite dark and sardonic.

He really was

 

I've read some parts of The Importance of Being Earnest and I liked it too, I was actually going to reread it during Christmas holidays if I have time.

It's strange that Wilde's friend describes him as the mildest man ever - always charming and a person who wins everybody's favor. I wish I had met him and seen what he was really like.

[Queenie]

Me too. It would be fantastic to have a chat with him during the tea time

[Yoppappop]

Jack !! Jack is !!!

[JackViolet]

Jack !! Jack is !!!

 

Hahah, indeed. I've basically read everything of his, including stuff no one even hears about, like "Duchess of Padua" or "Vera or the Nihilists." And I have a huge tome of all his collected letters, and a section of my bookshelf dedicated to him, and I did my undergrad thesis on some of his work. I even spent one summer reading rare books on him at the Library of Congress for fun.

 

And yes, of course I've been to his grave, AND to his house, AND to his college, AND to the church where he was married, AND...

 

I first got into him as a child through his fairy tales like "The Star Child," which are lovely and despairing and hopeful.

 

Something few people seem to know about him is that despite his general reputation as a life-for-pleasure dandy esthete, he was actually a socialist/anarchist! And a feminist. He was the editor for a magazine called Women's World for a while, and a lot of his writings--fairytales, essays, etc--are quite politically/ethically motivated. In his view, the pursuit of beauty included beauty of the soul, and thus was rather less hedonistic than one might think.

 

He also had his own unique brand of Christianity, which I identify with a lot. But of course he despised the hypocritic shallow mores and morals of his time, and loved to shock and mock the bourgeoisie. He also didn't believe in half of what he said, although he meant it all with utmost sincerity.

 

By the way, it's thank to him and his circle that we have the stereotype of the gay man as having a limp wrist, etc. Or rather, thanks to the the hullabaloo that happened after his trials. It originally had nothing to do with gayness, but with being a stereotypical aesthete--a la Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta Patience--but when a number of those in the aesthetic circle were revealed to be gay, one became associated with the other.

 

--Jack

 

P.S. He is basically the love of my life, quite truly.

[JackViolet]

P.P.S. Those of you who like Dorian Gray, do you know which book Wilde was inspired by? The yellow one that Dorian receives that changes his life?

 

I really like that one too, it's denser and more lush and has no plot per se--it's all like Ch. 11 of Dorian Gray--but it's quite wonderful. Very dark, very clever, very misogynistic, very decadent, very fin-de-siecle.

 

--Jack

[avoca]

oscard wilde fans: magical meeee!!!! he was simply a genious! one of my fave writers ever.

[pinkunicorn123]

This guy is haunting me!

I only worked out 2 days ago that Oscar Wilde is neither a singer or Kim Wild's dad.

[greta]

 

I'm a huge fan of Mr. Oscar Fingal O'Flaherty Wills Wilde

[guapo!]

P.P.S. Those of you who like Dorian Gray, do you know which book Wilde was inspired by? The yellow one that Dorian receives that changes his life?

 

I really like that one too, it's denser and more lush and has no plot per se--it's all like Ch. 11 of Dorian Gray--but it's quite wonderful. Very dark, very clever, very misogynistic, very decadent, very fin-de-siecle.

 

--Jack

 

ooh.. I'm def going to buy it.. But I haven't get to that part yet.. of the yellow book you talk about.

[sesil17aa]

Hahah, indeed. I've basically read everything of his, including stuff no one even hears about, like "Duchess of Padua" or "Vera or the Nihilists." And I have a huge tome of all his collected letters, and a section of my bookshelf dedicated to him, and I did my undergrad thesis on some of his work. I even spent one summer reading rare books on him at the Library of Congress for fun.

 

And yes, of course I've been to his grave, AND to his house, AND to his college, AND to the church where he was married, AND...

 

I first got into him as a child through his fairy tales like "The Star Child," which are lovely and despairing and hopeful.

 

Something few people seem to know about him is that despite his general reputation as a life-for-pleasure dandy esthete, he was actually a socialist/anarchist! And a feminist. He was the editor for a magazine called Women's World for a while, and a lot of his writings--fairytales, essays, etc--are quite politically/ethically motivated. In his view, the pursuit of beauty included beauty of the soul, and thus was rather less hedonistic than one might think.

 

He also had his own unique brand of Christianity, which I identify with a lot. But of course he despised the hypocritic shallow mores and morals of his time, and loved to shock and mock the bourgeoisie. He also didn't believe in half of what he said, although he meant it all with utmost sincerity.

 

By the way, it's thank to him and his circle that we have the stereotype of the gay man as having a limp wrist, etc. Or rather, thanks to the the hullabaloo that happened after his trials. It originally had nothing to do with gayness, but with being a stereotypical aesthete--a la Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta Patience--but when a number of those in the aesthetic circle were revealed to be gay, one became associated with the other.

 

--Jack

 

P.S. He is basically the love of my life, quite truly.

Oh, how nice to hear that you're such a fan of his. I actually know most of the facts that you mentioned, including the book that inspired Dorian Gray. However I've always been a bit confused about his beliefs. I always hoped that he did not really mean some of the things that he said, and it is sometimes hard to understand when he was serious and when he was not. I've read that Wilde was very careless and that he did not want to think about "ugly" issues like poverty, that he valued outer beauty higher than the goodness of character, but it seems impossible when I read his fairytales where there is so much compassion towards the less fortunate. Hava you read some of his most well known biographies? I'm reading "Oscar Wilde, His Life and Confessions" by Frank Harris at the moment. When I was in England I tried to find "The Unmasking Of Oscar Wilde" by Joseph Pearce, one of his newest biographies, but I couldn't find it. I read that there was much about his religious beliefs and I thought it could be really interesting. I do not really understand how religious he was - he used to say something quite blasphemous from time to time, but he did get christened before his death so religion ment something to him. I would have liked to meet him very much. That's wonderful that you have visited so many places associated with Wilde - I hope to do it so me day too. I would actually like to go to Ireland and see where he grew up. I know there is a museum of Wilde, and it would be so wonderful to see some of his belongings, maybe a lock of hair. I've also wanted for many years to go to Chelsea to see his house on Tite street and I definitely plan to do it the next time I'm in England.