Monday, September 26, 2011

Drive Me Wilde!

-There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. (The Picture of Dorian Gray)

-Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.

-Experience is the name every one gives to their mistakes.(Lady Windermere's Fan)

-When good Americans die they go to Paris. (The Portrait of Dorian Gray)

-It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances. (The Picture of Dorian Gray)

-To many, no doubt, he will seem blatant and bumptious, but we prefer to regard him as being simply British. (Pall Mall Gazette)

-I never play cricket. It requires one to assume such indecent postures.

-One must have some sort of occupation nowadays. If I hadn't my debts I shouldn't have anything to think about.(A Woman of No Importance)

-Duty is what one expects from others, it is not what one does oneself.(A Woman of No Importance)

-It is very easy to endure the difficulties of one's enemies. It is the successes of one's friends that are hard to bear.

-I have nothing to declare except my genius.(at New York customs)

-All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That's his. (The Importance of Being Earnest)

In high school, I totally had a crush on Oscar Wilde after reading his play ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’.   So like I did with every dead artist newly discovered by my teenage heart (Elvis, John Lennon, William Shakespeare, Jim Morrison.  Huh-Come to think of it, I guess I kind of had a thing for dead guys back then.)- I quickly went out and bought a book of Oscar’s plays and the only novel he ever wrote ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’.

Wilde wrote plays that mocked high society.

And they loved him for it.

He was a masterful wit- stating the obvious, the absurd, and above all- the truth about the world with a clipped humor that remains unmatched by any other.

‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’, however, touched on a truth that no one of the time was willing to acknowledge.   Homosexuality was illegal in England when the book was published, and the insinuations of romantic feelings between two men were denounced by the general public.  -Add into that Wilde’s philosophies on aestheticism and hedonism and you’ve got yourself a Molotov cocktail of controversy.

 The Daily Chronicle of 30 June 1890 suggested that Wilde's novel contained "one element...which will taint every young mind that comes in contact with it." and the book was banned from many major booksellers.

Today I’m offering up a FREE COPY of ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’- considered today to be one of the greatest works of the time.  All you have to do is comment to be entered in the drawing.  And be sure to check out the other participants in the Banned Books Week Bloghop!
Hope you all had a great weekend!

*CQG*

52 comments:

Lisa Shafer said...

I love Wilde, especially The Importance Of Being Earnest!
Don't enter me in the contest, though. I already own copies of Dorian Gray in two languages. :)

S.A. Larsenッ said...

I think Oscar was my kind of guy! :) Love the post!

Jessica ( frellathon ) said...

Great post. I've never read anything by Oscar Wilde I know I know very wrong and clearly he was someone I would have gotten along with just fine.

Liz Reinhardt said...

Ahhh! I had a Wilde crush, too! Thank you for the lovely, snarky, deliciously barbed comments! Who better than the guy who's basically literature's foremost martyr to bring attention to banned books week! Thanks for staring our day Wilde!

Anne Gallagher said...

When good Americans die they go to Paris.

Okay, where do we go when we're not so good.

Love Wilde! Thanks for sharing Katie.

Ashley Elston said...

I love the one about girls turning into their mothers. Great post.

DL Hammons said...

I've never read Wilde, although I've heard plenty about his work. My loss! Let's rectify that by awarding me that book, post haste. :) *crossing fingers*

Beth said...

I'm so glad you told us about the Banned Books Week Blog hop. I'm on my way to check it out!

Robyn Campbell said...

I have read some Oscar Wilde. This was a great banned books week post. I have read The Canterville Ghost. It is awesome. Absolutely awesome!

Lorelei Bell said...

We have this in common--I seemed to find "dead" people in history - usually men - and found myself quite attracted to them. Wilde was one of them. I remember the movie, and it was quite wierd.

I also just saw this book at my bookstore and nearly bought it, but I had others on my list. So, sure, I wouldn't mind getting my hands on this one.

Very good post, by the way!

Johanna Garth said...

Great post Katie! I love Oscar Wilde and now, thanks to some of those quotes, I have a few more things to put on my reading list!

Sarah Tokeley said...

I don't know how many times I've had this out of the library, it's a wonderful book.

Caroline Starr Rose said...

Embarrassed to say I've never read this. I'd love the opportunity!

Old Kitty said...

I've got a copy so please don't enter me - but I just wanted to say YAY for highlighting the most fabulous Oscar Wilde! Take care
x

Slamdunk said...

Thanks for the history lesson CQG. The parallels for writers through the decades are many.

Enjoy your day.

Linda Kage said...

Ack! I can't believe it's banned books week and I forgot! Thanks for the reminder. You know, I have "A Picture of Dorian Gray" but I've never read it. I love the quotes you gave though and the story behind Oscar Wilde. I think that'll my book to read this week.

Thanks.

Huntress said...

Just Comment??!! That's it?!

Consider me entered then :)

BTW, if I dont' win, I am totally buying this book anyway. I know the story and have always found it intriguing. Now, well boy howdy, I so want it.

julie fedderson said...

Love Oscar Wilde--favorite quote is "we are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars".

Karen Jones Gowen said...

What a brilliant clever man he was. I read The Picture of Dorian Gray back in high school too and any homosexual references totally went over my head. I must read it again!

Unknown said...

Great post! Let's hear it for banned books. I did a post myself on banned books today. Jamie from Mithril Wisdom pointed out in a comment he left that isn't it funny how the banned book list reads like the greatest books of all time list.

Tamara Narayan said...

Banned books? Free Oscar Wilde? Man, I'm so glad I stopped by today--what a cool collection of quotes. I was nervous that you might be asking for your commenters to come up with one of their own by the end. Good idea for a future contest, perhaps.

Shannon O'Donnell said...

I love the way you put this post together, Katie! Perfect!! :-)

Meredith said...

I totally have a crush on Oscar Wilde! All of his plays are so clever, and The Picture of Dorian Gray is amazingly insightful. Such an awesome idea for banned book week! (BTW, I'm not entering--I have my well-worn copy already!)

Dawn Ius said...

Great post! Don't enter me in the draw though - I have a copy :-) Well worn, of course.

Christina Lee said...

AWESOME!!!!!!!!! Thank you! The fashion quote made me LOL (being a former fashion stylist)!!!

Matthew MacNish said...

Such brilliance!

Wanton Redhead Writing said...

I love Oscar Wilde! What an awesome blog subject.

Cynthia Lee said...

Oh, how I loved The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Thanks for this post.

Lindsay said...

I loved The Picture of Dorian Gray. Such a great book!

C D Meetens said...

He made such great observations :). I particularly like the one about fashion, although how does the fact we seem to recycle fashion fit in there?

Charlie N. Holmberg said...

TOTALLY understand the Wilde crush. Too bad he wasn't interested in women... ;)

LTM said...

ahh... LOVED Oscar Wilde, too! And have never read the picture of Dorian Gray. How is that possible.

Very cool bloghop. Fun stuff~

JEM said...

Great post! I too fell in love with Wilde after reading The Importance of Being Earnest. If you can make fun of people and get them to laugh along with you, you're truly a genius.

Bethany Elizabeth said...

I love Wilde's plays, but I've never read his novel. Now I really want to - it looks great!

Jo Schaffer Layton said...

Great book. I read it as a teen-- and perhaps that explains everything. Ha!

Alleged Author said...

I have the collected works of Wilde because he was so risque. Who else could mock society so eloquently?

Pat Hatt said...

Great post really informative and that's stating the obvious..haha

Elizabeth Mueller said...

Hi, gorgeous. Great quotes! They made me laugh. ;) Thank you for being such a fantastic friend. If I went to Paris, it would be to see you and not anything else. ;)

*hugs*


♥.•*¨Elizabeth¨*•.♥

Andrew said...

As a matter of fact, I just read The Picture of Dorian Gray a couple weeks ago....
Few books are more quotable.

Good post!

Amy Beals said...

Wow! I have very little knowledge of Oscar Wilde... but I have more now! Thanks for a great post!

Jennifer Hillier said...

I have never read anything by Oscar Wilde... and now I have to, because of this post. So many beautiful quotes!

Samantha Vérant said...

The Importance of Being Earnest was one of the first plays I read in drama school. Loved it. I already have a copy of Dorian Gray, but congrats to whoever wins it!!!

Lindsay N. Currie said...

How perfect for Banned books week!!!!

Carolyn V said...

The Picture of Dorian Gray is such a great story. I had no idea it was banned!

Alexandra Shostak said...

Ooh I LOVE The Picture of Dorian Gray! Oscar Wilde is a genius. :)

Southpaw said...

Great book! I love the quotes for today too.

Marie Rose Dufour said...

Thanks for reminding about banned books week. Going to check it out.

Elliot Grace said...

...I remember studying up on Oscar back in highschool. He was a rebel before his time ;)

El

Jeff King said...

You totally nailed this subject for me… nice post!

Unknown said...

Oh man, love this giveaway! Keeping my fingers crossed, I checked this out from the library once but I'd love my own copy.

Dianne K. Salerni said...

When I was in high school, I did an extensive study of Oscar Wilde and The Picture of Dorian Gray for a term paper. (And this was back before the internet!!)

It's kind of funny (and kind of sad) that I can clearly remember how much work I put into it and how hard it was to type all those footnotes for my references (on a TYPEWRITER!) ... but I can remember almost nothing about what my term paper actually said.

Crap, I'm old.

DEZMOND said...

Wilde was always one of my favourites!

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