He prefaces this by saying: "We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it. The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely".
For real, The Picture of Dorian Gray contains some of the most overtly homoerotic stuff I've ever read. Well, maybe not homoerotic, but certainly it's about romance and lots of flirting between men. I was amazed he got away with writing it, and then I was reminded that he didn't exactly get away with it.
Of itself, I'd agree. But when looked at on a personal level -- reactions specific to the individual -- I can't agree with it... Despite being a big cynic.
I was mostly interested in the quote simply because I think it's true (along with what he wrote just before it). As artists, we don't do anything useful per se, but uselessness itself has a sort of inherent worth for many people. The point is that there is worth in Beauty and Art for Beauty and Art's sake, and it doesn't have to be useful to be worth something.
Oh, I'll play DA and disagree. Art can make you think, it can serve as social critique, it can bring pleasure, it can serve as a diversion, it can even have a calming effect on your physiology.
Yep, Wilde was wrong (even if he is a damn good author).
I don't think it's all entirely useless. But I do think that in the grand scheme of things art is way, way down on the usefulness totem pole. Like, somewhere under giant recycling bins and checking accounts. When artists act like their work is so important - they're full of themselves. They're not curing cancer, they're only artists because they feel like they have to be artists. To call it truly important work is an insult to truly important things.
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But seriously: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Wilde#Aestheticism
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For real, The Picture of Dorian Gray contains some of the most overtly homoerotic stuff I've ever read. Well, maybe not homoerotic, but certainly it's about romance and lots of flirting between men. I was amazed he got away with writing it, and then I was reminded that he didn't exactly get away with it.
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-- W
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I was mostly interested in the quote simply because I think it's true (along with what he wrote just before it). As artists, we don't do anything useful per se, but uselessness itself has a sort of inherent worth for many people. The point is that there is worth in Beauty and Art for Beauty and Art's sake, and it doesn't have to be useful to be worth something.
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Yep, Wilde was wrong (even if he is a damn good author).
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