The Leader - Saturday, May 25, 1895
This report was originally published in English. Machine translations may be available in other languages.
AMONGST THE BOOKS.
LITERARY GOSSIP.
In the early days of the cult of æstheticism, some one asked Oscar Wilde how a man of his undoubted capacity could make such a fool of himself. He had written, he said, a book of poems, and he believed in their excellence. In vain he went from publisher to publisher asking them to bring them them out; not one would even read them, for he was unknown. In order to find a publisher he felt that he must do something to become a personality. So he hit upon æstheticism. It succeeded. People talked about him; they invited him to their houses as a sort of lion. He then took his poems to a publisher, who — still without reading them — gladly accepted them.
In the early days of the cult of aestheticism some one asked Oscar Wilde how a man of his undoubted capacity could make such a fool of himself. He gave this explanation. He had written, he said, a book of poems, and he believed in their excellence. In vain he went from publisher to publisher asking them to bring them out; not one would even read them, for he was unknown. In order to find a publisher he felt that he must do something to become a personality. So he hit upon aestheticism. It succeeded. People talked about him; they invited him to their houses as a sort of lion. He then took his poems to a publisher, who—still without reading them—gladly accepted them.
In the early days of the cult of aestheticism someone asked Oscar Wilde how a man of his undoubted capacity could make such a fool of himself. He gave this explanation. He had written, he said, a book of poems, and he believed in their excellence. In vain he went from publisher to publisher asking them to bring them out; not one would even read them, for he was unknown. In order to find a publisher he felt that he must do something to become a personality. So he hit upon aestheticism. It succeeded. People talked about him; they invited him to their houses as a sort of lion. He then took his poems to a publisher, who—still without reading them—gladly accepted them.
In the early days of the cult of aestheticism someone asked Oscar Wilde how a man of his undoubted capacity could make such a fool of himself. He gave this explanation. He had written, he said, a book of poems, and he believed in their excellence. In vain he went from publisher to publisher asking them to bling them out; not one would even read them, for he was known. In order to find a published he felt that he must do something to become a personality. So he hit upon aestheticism. It succeeded. People talked about him; they invited him to their houses as a sort of lion. He then took his poems to a published, who — still without reading them — gladly accepted them.
I remember, in the early days of the cult of aestheticism, hearing some one ask him how a man of his undoubted capacity could make such a fool of himself. He gave this explanation. He had written, he said, a book of poems, and he believed in their excellence. In vain he went from publisher to publisher asking them to bring them out; not one would even read them, for he was unknown. In order to find a publisher he felt that he must do something to become a personality. So he hit upon aestheticism. It succeeded. People talked about him; they invited him to their houses as a sort of lion. He then took his poems to a publisher, who—still without reading them—gladly accepted them.
I remember in the early days of the cult of aestheticism, hearing someone ask him how a man of his undoubted capacity could make such a fool of himself. He gave his explanation. He had written, he said, a book of poems, and he believed in their excellence. In vain he went from publisher to publisher asking them to bring them out; not one would even read them, for he was unknown. In order to find a publisher he felt that he must do something to become a personality. So he hit upon aestheticism. It succeeded. People talked about him; they invited him to their homes as a sort of lion. He then took his poems to a publisher, who—still without reading them—gladly accepted them.
An incident which Mr. Labouchere quotes, however, tends to show much method in Wilde's madness for notoriety. "I remember in the early days of the cult of æstheticism hearing some one ask him how a man of his undoubted capacity could make such a fool of himself. He gave this explanation: He had written, he said, a book of poems. In vain he went from publisher to publisher asking them to bring them out. Not one would even read them for he was unknown. In order to find a publisher he felt he must do something to become a personality. So he hit upon æstheticism. It succeeded. People talked about him and invited him to their houses as a sort of lion. He then took his poems to a publisher, who, still without reading them, gladly accepted them."
An incident which Mr. Labouchere quotes, however, tends to show much method in Wilde's madness for notoriety. "I remember in the early days of the cult of æstheticism hearing someone ask him how a man of his undoubted capacity could make such a fool of himself. He gave this explanation: He had written, he said, a book of poems. In vain he went from publisher to publisher asking them to bring them out. Not one would even read them for he was unknown. In order to find a publisher he felt he must do something to become a personality. So he hit upon æstheticism. It succeeded. People talked about him and invited him to their houses as a sort of lion. He then took his poems to a publisher who, still without reading them, gladly accepted them."