Download or read book The Decay of Lying written by Oscar Wilde and published by . This book was released on 2022-03-03 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Decay of Lying: An Observation By Oscar Wilde"The Decay of Lying - An Observation" is an essay by Oscar Wilde included in his collection of essays titled Intentions, published in 1891. This is a significantly revised version of the article that first appeared in the January 1889 issue of The Nineteenth Century.Wilde presents the essay in a Socratic dialogue between with Vivian and Cyril, two characters named after his own sons. Their conversation, though playful and whimsical, promotes Wilde's view of Romanticism over Realism. Vivian tells Cyril of an article he has been writing called "The Decay Of Lying: A Protest". According to Vivian, the decay of Lying "as an art, a science, and a social pleasure" is responsible for the decline of modern literature, which is excessively concerned with the representation of facts and social reality. He writes, "if something cannot be done to check, or at least to modify, our monstrous worship of facts, Art will become sterile and beauty will pass away from the land." Moreover, Vivian defends the idea that Life imitates Art far more than vice versa. Nature, he argues, is no less an imitation of Art than Life. Vivian also contends that Art is never representative of a time or place: rather, "the highest art rejects the burden of the human spirit [...] She develops purely on her own lines. She is not symbolic of any age." Vivian thus defends Aestheticism and the concept of "art for art's sake". At Cyril's behest, Vivian briefly summarizes the doctrines of the "new aesthetics" in the following terms: Art never expresses anything but itself.All bad art comes from returning to Life and Nature, and elevating them into ideals.Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life. It follows as a corollary that external Nature also imitates Art.Lying, the telling of beautiful untrue things, is the proper aim of Art.The essay ends with the two characters going outside, as Cyril asked Vivian to do at the beginning of the essay. Vivian finally complies, saying that twilight nature's "chief use" may be to "illustrate quotations from the poets."As Michèle Mendelssohn points out, "in an era when sociology was still in its infancy, psychology wasn't yet a discipline, and theories of performativity were still a long way off, Wilde's essay touched on a profound truth about human behaviour in social situations. The laws of etiquette governing polite society were, in fact, a mask. Tact was merely an elaborate art of impression management."
Download or read book The Decay of Lying written by Oscar Wilde and published by Lindhardt og Ringhof. This book was released on 2022-04-18 with total page 39 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Could it be that people who never lie are devoid of creativity? If that’s true, then all creative art must be founded in lies. ‘The Decay of Lying’ is a beguiling essay on the nature of art, in all its forms. Set in the library of a country house in Nottinghamshire, and written as a dialogue between Cyril and Vivian, ‘The Decay of Lying’ sets out to prove just how creative we can all be, as long as we defy societal conventions. Referencing everyone from the Ancient Greeks to Shakespeare, this is Wilde at his most thoughtful and mischievous. For anyone interested in art or witty debate. Oscar Wilde (1854 – 1900) was an Irish novelist, poet, playwright, and wit. He was an advocate of the Aesthetic movement, which extolled the virtues of art for the sake of art. During his career, Wilde wrote nine plays, including ‘The Importance of Being Earnest,’ ‘Lady Windermere’s Fan,’ and ‘A Woman of No Importance,’ many of which are still performed today. His only novel, ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ was adapted for the silver screen, in the film, ‘Dorian Gray,’ starring Ben Barnes and Colin Firth. In addition, Wilde wrote forty-three poems, and seven essays. His life was the subject of a film, starring Stephen Fry.
Download or read book Nature and Art in Oscar Wilde s The Decay of Lying written by Hilda Schiff and published by . This book was released on with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Decay of Lying written by Oscar Wilde and published by Les Prairies Numeriques. This book was released on 2020-11-27 with total page 26 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Decay of Lying: An Observation By Oscar Wilde "The Decay of Lying - An Observation" is an essay by Oscar Wilde included in his collection of essays titled Intentions, published in 1891. This is a significantly revised version of the article that first appeared in the January 1889 issue of The Nineteenth Century.Wilde presents the essay in a Socratic dialogue between with Vivian and Cyril, two characters named after his own sons. Their conversation, though playful and whimsical, promotes Wilde's view of Romanticism over Realism. Vivian tells Cyril of an article he has been writing called "The Decay Of Lying: A Protest". According to Vivian, the decay of Lying "as an art, a science, and a social pleasure" is responsible for the decline of modern literature, which is excessively concerned with the representation of facts and social reality. He writes, "if something cannot be done to check, or at least to modify, our monstrous worship of facts, Art will become sterile and beauty will pass away from the land." Moreover, Vivian defends the idea that Life imitates Art far more than vice versa. Nature, he argues, is no less an imitation of Art than Life. Vivian also contends that Art is never representative of a time or place: rather, "the highest art rejects the burden of the human spirit [...] She develops purely on her own lines. She is not symbolic of any age." Vivian thus defends Aestheticism and the concept of "art for art's sake". At Cyril's behest, Vivian briefly summarizes the doctrines of the "new aesthetics" in the following terms: Art never expresses anything but itself.All bad art comes from returning to Life and Nature, and elevating them into ideals.Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life. It follows as a corollary that external Nature also imitates Art.Lying, the telling of beautiful untrue things, is the proper aim of Art.The essay ends with the two characters going outside, as Cyril asked Vivian to do at the beginning of the essay. Vivian finally complies, saying that twilight nature's "chief use" may be to "illustrate quotations from the poets."As Michèle Mendelssohn points out, "in an era when sociology was still in its infancy, psychology wasn't yet a discipline, and theories of performativity were still a long way off, Wilde's essay touched on a profound truth about human behaviour in social situations. The laws of etiquette governing polite society were, in fact, a mask. Tact was merely an elaborate art of impression management."
Download or read book Intentions written by Oscar Wilde and published by . This book was released on 1905 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of four essays by Oscar Wilde.
Download or read book The Decay of Lying written by Oscar Wilde and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2010-04 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'The Decay of Lying' sees Oscar Wilde explore his deepest preoccupations about the relationship between life and art, and examine the work of such writers as Shakespeare and Balzac.
Download or read book Oscar Wilde and the Art of Lying written by D.D. Desjardins and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2019-01-03 with total page 119 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Utilizing Wilde’s own characters “Vivian” and “Cyril,” this critique in play format begins by discussing the playwright’s ideas on the relation of Art to Life, exploring his pronouncements on the artist’s true purpose. Wilde’s statement about the artist as a “creator of beauty”, found in his “Preface to the Picture of Dorian Gray”, is then examined with regard to his last and most popular play, The Importance of Being Earnest. Discussing …Earnest in extensis, this book discovers whether the elegant artificiality and epigrammatic conceits of contemporary farce prevail as beauty per Wilde’s earlier theories as expressed in The Decay of Lying. The consequence of Wilde’s assault on Victorian values is considered in terms of its social contribution to perceptions of beauty and the way in which we might appreciate both the playwright and …Earnest now.
Download or read book The Decay of Lying written by Oscar Wilde and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2021-06-08 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A selection of Oscar Wilde's writings that underscore his notion that "Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life" The Decay of Lying includes two of Wilde's most comprehensive--and witty--explorations of his aesthetic philosophy: The Decay of Lying and The Critic as Artist. Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves - and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives--and upended them. Now Penguin brings you a new set of the acclaimed Great Ideas, a curated library of selections from the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization and helped make us who we are.
Download or read book Intentions Annotated written by Oscar Wilde and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2021-07-06 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Intentions By Oscar Wilde was published in 1891 when Wilde was at the height of his form, these brilliant essays on art, literature, criticism, and society display the flamboyant poseur's famous wit and wide learning. A leading spokesman for the English Aesthetic movement, Wilde promoted art for art's sake against critics who argued that art must serve a moral purpose. On every page of this collection the gifted literary stylist admirably demonstrates not only that the characteristics of art are "distinction, charm, beauty, and imaginative power, but also that criticism itself can be raised to an art form possessing these very qualities. In the opening essay, Wilde laments the decay of Lying as an art, a science, and a social pleasure. He takes to task modern literary realists like Henry James and Emile Zola for their "monstrous worship of facts" and stifling of the imagination. What makes art wonderful, he says, is that it is absolutely indifferent to fact, invents, imagines, dreams, and keeps between herself and reality the impenetrable barrier of beautiful style, of decorative or ideal treatment.
Download or read book The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde The decay of lying written by Oscar Wilde and published by . This book was released on 1923 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Beautiful and Impossible Things Selected Essays of Oscar Wilde written by Oscar Wilde and published by New York Review of Books. This book was released on 2017-10-24 with total page 159 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This selection of Oscar Wilde’s writings provides a fresh perspective on his character and thinking. Compiled from his lecture tours, newspaper articles, essays and epigrams, these pieces show that beneath the trademark wit, Wilde was a deeply humane and visionary writer, as challenging today as he was in the late 1800s. This edition includes essays on interior design, prison reform, Shakespeare, the dramatic dialogue Decay of Lying and the seminal Soul of Man.
Download or read book Aesthetics Theory and Interpretation of the Literary Work written by Paolo Euron and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2019-08-12 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book introduces the reader to the literary work and to an understanding of its cultural background and its specific features, presenting basic topics and ideas in their historical context and development in Western culture.
Download or read book The Decay of Lying And Other Essays written by Oscar Wilde and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2010-04-01 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 'The Decay of Lying' Oscar Wilde uses his decadent ideology in an attempt to reverse and therefore reject his audiences' 'normal' conceptualizations of nature, art and morality. Wilde's views of life and art are illustrated through the use of Platonic dialogue where the character Vivian takes on the persona of Wilde. Wilde's goal is to subvert the norm by reversing its values. Wilde suggests to us that society is wrong, not him. Calling on diverse examples - from Ancient Greek sculpture to contemporary paintings - Oscar Wilde's brilliant essay creates a witty, paradoxical world in which the only Art worth loving is that built on complete untruths.
Download or read book De Profundis written by Oscar Wilde and published by London : Methuen. This book was released on 1909 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: De Profundis (Latin: "from the depths") is a letter written by Oscar Wilde during his imprisonment in Reading Gaol, to "Bosie" (Lord Alfred Douglas).In its first half Wilde recounts their previous relationship and extravagant lifestyle which eventually led to Wilde's conviction and imprisonment for gross indecency. He indicts both Lord Alfred's vanity and his own weakness in acceding to those wishes. In the second half, Wilde charts his spiritual development in prison and identification with Jesus Christ, whom he characterises as a romantic, individualist artist. The letter began "Dear Bosie" and ended "Your Affectionate Friend".Wilde wrote the letter between January and March 1897, close to the end of his imprisonment. Contact had lapsed between Douglas and Wilde and the latter had suffered from his close supervision, physical labour and emotional isolation. Nelson, the new prison governor, thought that writing might be more cathartic than prison labour. He was not allowed to send the long letter which he was allowed to write "for medicinal purposes"; each page was taken away when completed, and only at the end could he read it over and make revisions. Nelson gave the long letter to him on his release on 18 May 1897.Wilde entrusted the manuscript to the journalist Robert Ross (another former lover, loyal friend and rival to "Bosie"). Ross published the letter in 1905, five years after Wilde's death, giving it the title "De Profundis" from Psalm 130. It was an incomplete version, excised of its autobiographical elements and references to the Queensberry family; various editions gave more text until in 1962 the complete and correct version appeared in a volume of Wilde's letters.
Download or read book Intentions The decay of lying Pen pencil and poison The critic as artist written by Oscar Wilde and published by . This book was released on 1909 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book What Is Existentialism written by Simone de Beauvoir and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2020-09-24 with total page 72 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'It is possible for man to snatch the world from the darkness of absurdity' How should we think and act in the world? These writings on the human condition by one of the twentieth century's great philosophers explore the absurdity of our notions of good and evil, and show instead how we make our own destiny simply by being. One of twenty new books in the bestselling Penguin Great Ideas series. This new selection showcases a diverse list of thinkers who have helped shape our world today, from anarchists to stoics, feminists to prophets, satirists to Zen Buddhists.
Download or read book The Cambridge Companion to Oscar Wilde written by Peter Raby and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1997-10-16 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Cambridge Companion to Oscar Wilde offers an essential introduction to one of the theatre's most important and enigmatic writers. Although a general overview, the volume also offers some of the latest thinking on the dramatist and his impact on the twentieth century. Part One places Wilde's work within the cultural and historical context of his time and includes an opening essay by Wilde's grandson, Merlin Holland. Further chapters also examine Wilde and the Victorians and his image as a Dandy. Part Two looks at Wilde's essential work as playwright and general writer, including his poetry, critiques, and fiction, and provides detailed analysis of such key works as Salome and The Importance of Being Earnest among others. The third group of essays examines the themes and factors which shaped Wilde's work and includes Wilde and his view of the Victorian woman, Wilde's sexual identities, and interpreting Wilde on stage. This 1997 volume also contains a detailed chronology of Wilde's work, a guide to further reading, and illustrations from important productions.
