New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-08-12
OSCAR WILDE'S AMBITION.
AN ABSTRACTION TO BE DRAMATIzED.

| AN ABSTRACTION TO BE DIX AMAIlLbD.
THE MUSIC OF YEARvGNG CRIES FOR LIBERTY
THE MOTIVE OF HIS PLAY.
"Mr. Wilder" said the clerk at the Brunswick
| Hotel to q Tribune reporter Yesterday. YES
| there he s sitting that bench" Tne reporter
gaZed in the direction indicated. bat th0nght tne
| clerk must have been mistaken. In place OF the
| rather gaunt. long haired and sllow-faced Oscar
| of few months ago. he saw rosy
checked cherry.facsd individual WHOSE close
crrpped hair was almost IN Idea In the shade OF
broad 6rm%9 peaked et nat bls on aPa" ana
| holding ont his hand he gave "a cordia greeting
He had only been in the city for few hours nav
ing arrived on the Britannia early In the morning.
| I" suppose am looking well" asscnted ho; you
see sea voyage does one q tremendous lot OF good
Besides the invigora;ing air there is the absence OF
all petty annOyances such as inqnsitivs callers,
letters that have 10 be answered and -
"IntervieversfI
'On, no. | really think that is too bad. / never
object to talking with newspaper men, and, in fact;
| generally enjoy il. What have been dong since |
| left Amercai Resting chiefly. As soon as reached
the other SIDE | went to Paris and shutting mysell
| M there. devoted myself to writing new play
which have with here Its scene Is laid IN Europe
| in tho sixteenth century: l stopped IN farls uiI
| the salon was opened and then went TO London. l
| was 80 importuned By the students OF mo Royal
| Academy to give them "a lecture on painting that l
consented, and guess what tod them must nS I've.
reused the ire of their several precepors ana IN
structors, to whom my ideas are a. caviare 10 the
| general" Then every one was always ask
ing M my to GG them 70 wait t thew heard
|
| nv lecture on America was in Tor IL then, Won
! see and had TO lecture IN London. had heaps oil
offers for tho PROVINCES OF course, but only re-
peated IL five SIX times for had 10 hurry 10
America. = .o
| come over for specially. Well first and foremost.
| II rs 10 superintend the production OF vera, nut
there Isl motive behind that. Last year told the
people of America. rather as many AS would come
| to hear me, what my Vows oil ART were. lnls yoai
vantthen to those ideas put INTO practice.
In Vera l am making bGld eApe err
ment | am trying to see whether the
| love of an abstract idea cannot be made as
dramatically interesting a. the love OF an lndlvid-
ual. trying, too. whether tho hoarse cry OF inc
| yearners after liberty, which rose above tho dla
around the barricades in Paris, and still IS heard
not quite dro wned by the druntaps OF the Russian
sodiery they beat al the executions OF the Nlhl
| lstlc martyrs whether that hoarse. harsh cry,
which has never ceased in Europe for ninety years
| cannot be reduced 10 music, ana mus oeoono a
! work Of art That my scene Is laid IN Russia II
| mere accident, due 10 the fact that Russia IS tho
! only country where tyranny Is ever grinding inc
| people aud wher, that dull, unromantc. uuemo-
| tonal Philistine middle class does not sri>L IN
Russia there only two degrees-the masters and
the slaves. -,
| Now for the first time sm really on my trial
| before the American public. ANY one can tax
about art, but TO talk we'll ono must DO able 10 30
| well IL " only the creator who can analyZe MS
| own creations There few exceptions TO thls.
! Edgar Allan Poe earned the analytical faculty to
the utmost and thus became the exquisite critic As
well the original creator. Keats was an ANALYST .
| Byron was not aud 10 this most OF his shortcomings
are due But must not bore you. | eau only add
| that shall take tho greatest pains To nave my
costume. and setting harmon nous as can, though
the question OF II pensc has hampered me material
! w. Miss Prescott seems thoroughly enthusastlc,
! and II any eau MAKE my play success, AIN
| sure she will"