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lady windermere's fan Oscar Wilde. I can't remember the first time that I became aware of him, but I do remember reading The Picture of Dorian Gray in college. It was on the reading list of a modern novel class that I took and I could see why it was chosen. There were definite psychological elements to it that at the time were considered experimental in writing. I didn't mind the novel, but I haven't bothered to read it again since that time. Nothing about it really spoke to me. Then there was the caricature that Dave Sim did of Wilde in the Melmoth chapter of Cerebus a few years ago. From that source I got an abbreviated history of his homosexual affair and how his time in prison hastened his death. Once again it was interesting, but not something that held my attention enough to want to know more about the man and his life. Finally, I knew the names of a number of his plays, but it wasn't until tonight that I actually saw one of them performed live onstage. Now having seen Lady Windermere's Fan, I don't think that I would actively seek out another production of one of his plays. Oh, I'll acknowledge the fact that Wilde knew humor and human behavior, but the social conventions feel very dated to me. Maybe I am being too harsh, but the play lacked something for me and I think that it had to do with the secret that couldn't be revealed. Today, a woman trying to reestablish contact with a child that she abandoned years ago doesn't have the same stigma that it did during the time when Wilde lived. |