SotA Anthology 2020-21 | Page 95

Engl102 abnormal ’, and so the art books that show the world its they create would be horrific . own shame .’ Even if decadent
If Hildred s life is being lived literature is self-obsessed , out as if it is his own art , his even if it pursues what Harry own impression of the world calls extraordinary sensations ’, around him , then that leads one it does not incite these to believe that he could even actions . And even if Wilde pursue a new expressiveness espouses that art is the telling that s deliberately abnormal ’. of beautiful untrue things
No wonder , then , that Hildred whilst simultaneously a way has grand ideas of becoming of showing the world its own the new king of the Imperial shame ’, its very creation took
Dynasty of America ’, as place only for the pleasure of
Chambers supposes that art the artist . What happens after unhinged from morality will that is up to the reader and the fabricate deranged ideas in reader alone . Art , then , reveals ; those who should consume it . it does not beget .
ENGLISH LITERATURE
[ S looks over notes again . This goes on for twenty minutes .]
Perhaps it might be useful to look into Wilde for a moment and his ideas , so that we can properly assess what Chambers is also reacting too , this fear of life conflating with art . In Picture , Harry , for instance , replies to Dorian s assertion that he was poisoned by the yellow book : As for being poisoned by a book , there is no such thing as that . Art has no influence upon action . It annihilates the desire to act . […] The books that the world calls immoral are
To Chambers , however , it s the opposite , because he is particularly attracted to this connection between this self- consciousness , the conflation of art and life with regards to the self , and also the fallibility of the senses . What I m attracted to here , in how Nordau and Chambers can view Wilde s ideas as horrific whilst Wilde does not , is this colliding of two differing perceptions of one thing . What I mean to ask is how can one person find something beautiful , and another find it horrible ? [ S picks up painting .] The horror is no longer just at how we
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