As Frank Harris noted, Wilde was more sinned against than
sinning. I think it's ironic that societies that pretend to
be led by a guy who said: "Let him who is without sin cast
the first stone," are so judgemental they can imprison
someone because they disapprove of his private behavior. In
early 20th Century Britian it's unlikely there was a man in
that courtroom with no homosexual experience. The trial of
Oscar Wilde was the British equivalent of the Scopes Monkey
Trial, an embarrassment to the status quo.
Patrick King
--- Michael Robison <
miker_zspider@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Mike wrote:
>
> And as a minor matter I certainly wouldn't turn
to
> Oscar Wilde for advice on morality of any sort
let
> alone the uses or morality in literature.
>
> **********
> Haha. What was his comment? Something about
books
> being neither moral nor immoral? I can see
two
> reasons for this. First, since art is open
to
> multiple interpretations, its meaning is
> sufficiently
> ambiguous to preclude an objective moral or
immoral
> character. Second, since art does not act
itself,
> it
> can't be moral or immoral because morality
involves
> action.
>
> Now I don't view either of these reasons as
being
> the
> most silly thing I've ever heard, but neither do
I
> find them entirely satisfying. As far as the
first
> reason, it is true that art is to an extent open
to
> personal interpretation, but I disagree with
the
> reader-response theory that a book means whatever
a
> reader wants it to. It's a small step from the
idea
> that a book can mean anything to it meaning
nothing.
>
> With meaningful interpretation strapped with
at
> least
> some kind of limitation, it's not unreasonable
to
> assume that the range of interpretation may all
lay
> within either a moral or immoral zone. As far
as
> the
> second reason limiting moral nature to actions,
I
> would note that words express ideas and ideas
have
> consequences which are pretty damned close
to
> actions.
>
>
> miker
>
>
>
>
>
>
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