Evening star., 1946-07-14
Bringing Wilde
Unto the Light
OSCAR WILDE, HIS
LIFE AND WIT

By Hesketh Pearson. (Har-
per, S3.75.)
Hesketh Pearson says in his pro-
logue to this work that he was ad-
vised by Bernard Shaw against
doing another book about Oscar
Wilde, on the ground that interest
in Wilde is at standstill. Further
mole, Shaw said, Wilde was in
comparably great as raconteur.
conversationalist and personality;
and these points cannot be repro
duced." Mr.. Pearson responded to
the objection by announcing In ef-
feet that those points were pre-
cisely what he would reproduce.
80 Far too much attention has
been paid to his tragic story and
nothing like enough to his delight
full personality" he says. adding
that his intention was Ito take him
out Of the fog Of pathology into
the light Of comedy, to restore the
true perspective Of his career, to
revive the conversationalist, not the
convict" Executing this plan, he
has produced long book. goodly
part of which consists Of quota
tions.
His essential view Of Wilde he
states early in his narrative. Oscar
was precocious intellectually and a
perpetual adolescent emotionally.
His intellectual powers, always of
a high order, developed consistently
throughout his life while his emo
tions remained those Of a schoolboy
His career. therefore, consisted
basically in producing intellectual
jewels with which, like schoolboy.
to show of. He never harnessed
his genius to any purpose more
worthy than making a sensation
and drawing attention to himself.
Works Of Dramatic Genius.
This seems a sensible estimate,
particularly as his written works
bear it out, and Mr.. Pearson cam
not be too highly commended on
his judgment of those written works
Unlike the sentimentalists who wrap
everything Oscar wrote in the
mantle OF genius" he disposes Of
The Picture Of Dorian Gray" and
"Salome" as sheer schoolboy hor-
rors which, as he says, an adult
can scarcely read without laughter
Oscars plays, on the other hand,
are works of dramatic genius. But
it was into Dorian Gray and
"Salome" that Wilde put his great
est efforts, while his plays were
written quickly and almost effort
lessly. They were the works OF his
intellect, while the other were the
expression Of his emotion.
The divorce between the two
faculties was never complete, in Mr..
Pearson's view. Their ill-matched-
ness is apparent in most Of Oscars
misconduct. 1t is only in the essay
on The Soul of Man Under So
cialism" that he sees the great in
tellectual faculty unhampered by
any exhibitionism. In that work,
he points out, Wilde foretold much
of the horror Of totalitarianism
which has overtaken the world
today.
As I said, the biography consists
to a great extent of quotations. Mr..
Pearson considers Wilde as critic,
artist, man, wit, dramatist and
talker, but essentially the consider
atoms corroborate the divided per-
sonality thesis and are borne out by
testimony taken from Oscars own
words. What they do to the exist
ing picture Of their subject Is to
take away the sinister and heartless
qualities which have been attrib-
uted to him. Oscars popularity, says
Mr.. Pearson, rested on the fact that,
as we'll as being an incompatible
entertainer, he was magnetically
likable. He carried with him an
aura of sunny happiness which was
profoundly infectious. More than
that, he was sympathetic and in
credibly generous. He never saved
cent, in spite Of his huge earnings
and scarcely any one appealed to
him for financial help in vain.
After His imprisonment.
Another blow which Mr.. Pearson 8
deals at the past legends Of his sub
ject has to do with Oscar in the
period after his imprisonment. He
is quite generally represented in
those last years Of his life as seedy
shabby and devoid Of dignity. On