Wilde and Pater
What did you think of the two essays, Pater's Conclusion to The Renaissance, and Wilde's "Decay of Lying"? What is the place of art in the two essays? Do you see any common ground or connections between them? How do these work out?Alternatively, what is the sense that you get of these two through their two writings? How might you imagine a conversation between them working?
posted by Devo @ 10:39 AM
1 Comments:
This has always been my favorite Oscar Wilde essay. Everything in it is so true, but what makes it fun is that it is presented as completely ridiculous. But that's what life is, isn't it? You take a truth, but when you tell it to everyone else you don't just say it, you exaggerate and you LIE and make it more fun. Oscar had this idea on art but rather than just stating it in a boring fashion he jazzed it up and exaggerated and "lied" a little and presented the material in a way that you would understand and sort of believe and take to heart but that you would also have fun reading.
He says that art should just look pretty and not try and really teach a lesson. Well, in this essay (and what is an essay if not a type of art) he tries to make it look pretty and stand for what he believes in while still telling you all about it. It's neat.
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