h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A736412

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING OSCAR



An academic specialising in Anglo-Irish literature put to a conference audience the question:
'Is Oscar Wilde really a great writer? Why do so many of those who study his works end up by calling him "Oscar" in a rather over-familiar fashion?'
Nobody who aspires to being truly academic should make such a comment.
Oscar's life and writings surgically lance the boil of pomposity that harbours the ignorance underlying this negativism. Here is a genius whose works are avidly read, studied, and performed over a hundred years after the London Establishment were congratulating themselves on having finally 'Got Wilde'. Poems, essays, epigrams, children's stories, novels and plays delighting and intellectually stimulating diverse audiences all over the globe, and were they to bear any other name could not fail but be equally enjoyed and admired.

Equally admired but perhaps not equally loved. There is a difference. In this case the difference is 'Oscar'.

Reading 'De Profundis, 'his long testament written in Reading jail, it is not difficult to see behind the mask of wit and bon viveur, 'the spendthrift of my own genius' and his self portrait is as large and as uncompromising as his life. We are reminded of Hamlet's famous scene with his mother when he beseeches her 'To look here upon this picture and on this' as the author relentlessly illustrates the good and the bad in himself.

We are made to wonder at Oscar's folly, decry his sometimes bloated self-importance, bemoan his hedonistic lifestyle and condemn his virtual abandonment, for self-indulgence, of his wife and two children. We, the readers, gradually come to accept his faults as they are, mere shadows which could not forever keep in shade the essential goodness, kindness, sensitivity, courage and Christ-like forgiveness that this towering giant of a man reveals to us after disaster strikes. A disaster that was patently avoidable, but was not, because Oscar would not or could not control the forces that were swirling him towards his fate. All the traits in his personality were combining to facilitate decisions which flouted reason and good advice, to hurtle him to destruction. We are witnesses to a Greek tragedy which moistens our eyes with tears at the same time as bringing a wry smile to our lips as we suspect that Oscar would adore the description of his downfall as being 'Greek'.
We call him 'Oscar' because we love him. Our love does not add one whit to the merit of his works but adds joy to our reading and seeing them. Who would not recognise Van Gough when the name "Vincent" is used in the context of art? Who would dare suggest that he was less than a great artist because there is a suggestion of being over-familiar? Who can look at his canvasses and not empathize with the man who painted them? Like Oscar he had his mask too, the "uncouth boor", who yet could write those exquisitely sensitive letters to his brother which inspire us to think of him simply as 'Vincent'.
So it is with Oscar.
His place in literature is unique in that it is constantly being revised upwards as more becomes known about the man, his humility and humanity, not least through the latest publication by his grandson of a complete collection of his letters.
We can answer the so-called academic's question about whether writers can be great if those studying their works speak of them by using their first names by asserting that no less a genius than Oscar Wilde himself realised 'The Vital Importance of Being Oscar.'

Hi, Gaston!
I've had a look at your home page, and you seem to be quite new here, so welcome! As far as I'm concerned, Peer Review is the best part of h2g2.

However, what I *didn't* see on your home page was any entry called 'The Importance of Being Oscar', and the link you gave doesn't find one, so somewhere along the line I think you've made a mistake. Your post here was very long - was that actually the text of the entry? If so, you need to add a new Guide entry, call it 'The Importance of Being Oscar', and paste in the text.

There is already an edited Guide entry about Oscar Wilde, at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A507052
so it would be important to check that your new entry covers a different enough aspect that it doesn't overlap.

Anyway, I'll have another look when you get the entry sorted out - if you have to give a new link, you'd be better to let a scout 'sinbin' this thread, and start a new thread with the correct link.

Azara
(Another Irish researcher!)

Hello Azara,
Thanks for your comments and for coming to my aid. I am well named Gaston. Please tell me if I am alone in thinking that the instructions for making an entry into Peer Review are really complicated? Could you possibly give me step by step directions as if I were a child who could use a computer but make no assumptions for itself. Yes, I've seen the other entries about Oscar. Mine is different in that it treats an aspect rather than pure biographical fact, which is well covered. That doesn't of course make mine more interesting. But he's our pride and joy and he just grows and grows in fame and I want to say why.
Best regards,
Gaston

Hello Gaston! Perhaps I can help?
On your page you will find a link that says "Click Here to add a New Guide Entry". In fact, you've already done just that very thing with your travel story.

Cut and Paste your writings about Oscar Wilde on the new page that opens. If you want to, you can leave it just like that.

If you want it to be included in the Edited Guide however, it has to be written in the House Style. You can find more details here.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/SubEditors-Style

It needs to be in Guide ML too. For example, each paragraph must be separated with tags. All you ever wanted to now about Guide ML is here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/GuideML-Clinic

When you are happy that it is ready for inclusion, then paste the link to your entry here on Peer Review and sit back to wait for comments.

You'll find the FAQs for Guide Entries here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A308233

and more information about contributing here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/Contribute

Welcome to the Guide, and Good Luck!

Many thanks to you Coelacanth for going to so much trouble to sort me out. I'll follow your instructions.
I've chased around H2G2 to find out more about you. So far the only definite thing, apart for your affinity for a particular fish, is your excellent taste in liking Ogden Nash.
I can't find out for certain if you are male or female but I suspect(and hope) you are female.
'Hope' because if so it will be my pleasure to call on you in my other role as Sir Mistral. Please however do not tell the Ladies of the Octagonal Table.
Thanks again
Regards
Gaston

Editorial Note: This conversation has been moved from 'Peer Review' to 'Peer Review Sin Bin'.

The thread had no Entry...

Editorial Note: This conversation has been moved from 'Peer Review Sin Bin' to 'A736412 -The Importance of Being Oscar'.

Back to Entry - there is already an article on Oscar Wilde in the Edited Guide.