Is Art Useless? / Reading Oscar Wilde's Preface Together

Comments · 93

• AN

  @ANTOINETTE-k2t · 1 year ago

  I read the picture of Dorian Gray and loved it.  I adored Oscar Wilde.  I think what he meant by art being useless was that he meant it sarcastically because it’s practically not useful but aesthetically art is very useful. He just was speaking of its lack of practical application but a life without art is a life not worth living.  He was such a wit.

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• RH

  @RhiannaVarney · 5 years ago

  This was so interesting! I haven't read much Wilde before (I really should change that), and this preface alone has so much to say. I also love 'The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely.' I'll have to get to The Picture of Dorian Gray soon :)

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• SP

  @speedracer2841 · 5 years ago

  Oscar Wilde was not only controversial, but also contradictory, because if we accept that all the characters in his novel, plays, and short stories speak with the wit and the voice of Wilde, then he himself failed to conceal the artist, although he very much revealed Art.

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• ZA

  @zakiji5962 · 5 years ago

  “All art aspires to the condition of music.” I don’t think that means it aspires to be energetic and frenzied (although some do), but more that it aspires to flow like music: every word, sentence, paragraph, scene, chapter integrated in the right place and having their own part to play. A musical book flows very beautifully and makes you keep reading. The novella Hadji Murat by Tolstoy, for example (which he worked on for 8 years, I think), is perfectly ordered in a musical way, as is The Brothers Karamazov.

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• YA

  @yassineamezough · 1 year ago

  I can see Dave Brubeck there “ Take Five “ 😍😍

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• DA

  @daktraveler56 · 10 months ago

  I just finished reading The Picture Of Dorian Grey. Seems like Oscar's crirtique of 19th century British Society was more important than the main story about a man who falls victim to his own vanity. Sometimes, the writing felt over the top and self indulgent; But then that was the whole point. It was as if he was using the book to  expose the superficialness of society and of man in general.  Dorian Grey in a lot of ways was like Rashkolnikov, even though he thought he had got awsy with his crimes, his  conscience would eventually punish him for his sins. Some of the writing went over my head, but it was so eloquent and poetic.  It's also the shortest book ive read this year, only 220 pages. But it packs a punch, definately.

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• BI

  @Bicycle847 · 4 years ago

  Then there is the transcendent moment when one suddenly sees the beauty in the ugly.

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• ER

  @ericcrawford9827 · 4 years ago

  Anything thought provoking is worthwhile.

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• MI

  @Michael-dy3hj · 5 years ago

  Excellent video. I haven't read Wilde but I do want to. On the perfect use of an imperfect medium, you reminded me of this: “Perception of an object costs / Precise the Object's loss.”

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• LY

  @lylabellamy9963 · 5 years ago

  ahhh I'm so happy that you did a video on this! I just finished the Picture Of Dorian Gray and love how Wilde explores morality and the layers and dimensions which it posseses, it's so fascinating. This might sound a bit odd but it also reminded me of Frankenstein in the sense that it investigates how as humans we have the ability to construct morally problematic and destructive beings. For example, Victor Frankenstein builds a monster comparable to how Lord Henry (and to an extent Basil) evoke the monster within Dorian Gray through their influence. Not sure though, just a thought. What did you think of the novel? :)

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• WA

  @waningegg4712 · 5 years ago

  Haven't read any Wilde, but I just love listening to you.

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• OZ

  @Ozgipsy · 4 years ago

  Really insightful.  Thanks again. I’m working hard on writing, book reviews in particular for now. Your work is very helpful.

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