Chesterton.
87. OSCAR WILDE. INTENTIONS. THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST. DE
PROFUNDIS.
"Intentions" is perhaps the most original of all Wilde's remarkable
works.
His supreme art, as he himself well knew, was, after all, the art of
conversation. One might even put it that his greatest achievement in
life was just the achievement of being brazenly and shamelessly what
he naturally was--especially in conversation. To call him a "poseur"
with the implication that he pretended or assumed a manner, were just
as absurd as to call a tiger striped with the implication that the
beast deliberately "put on" that mark of distinction.
If it is a pose to enjoy the sensation of one's own spontaneous
gestures, Wilde was indeed the worst of pretenders. But the stupid
gravity of many generals, judges and archbishops is not more natural
to them than his exquisite insolence was to him.
Below the wit and provocative persiflage of "Intentions" there is a
deep and true conception of the nature of art--a conception which
might well serve as the "philosophy" of much of the most interesting
and arresting of modern work.
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