Riassunto
Riassunto di Un critico a Pall Mall
A chi è rivolto
Readers who love sharp literary opinion, Victorian poetry and theatre, and the pleasure of an elegant joke. It suits anyone curious about how Wilde thought about books, style, beauty and the public.
Che cos’è questo libro
A Critic in Pall Mall gathers the book reviews, essays and short notes that Oscar Wilde wrote for London papers and magazines in the 1880s and early 1890s. They first ran in the Pall Mall Gazette, the Dramatic Review, Woman's World, the Speaker and other journals. Wilde reviews poets, novelists, translators, biographers and playwrights, and he writes about cooking, marriage, conversation and lace along the way.
The pieces are short, and each one has a verdict. Wilde praises William Morris for his Odyssey, Walter Pater for his prose, and Balzac for his crowded world. He teases Algernon Swinburne for his noise and John Addington Symonds for his rhetoric. Behind the jokes lies a set of firm beliefs. Art should please, style is a matter of choice and omission, and a critic needs a personality of his own.
You can read the book as a guide to what Victorian readers argued about. You can also read it for the wit. We begin with Wilde at the grave of Keats, where the young critic is still a poet.
In questo riassunto
- 1Keats and the cult of beautyFree
- 2Scenery, costume and the stage
- 3Poets old and new, judged with wit
- 4Translators, novelists and the Russian masters
- 5Pater, style and the art of criticism
- 6Chuang Tzu and the pleasures of mischief
- 7Women writers, letters and memoirs
- 8Art, craft and the history of things
- 9Sayings, and what the book leaves behind
Punto chiave 1 di 9
Keats and the cult of beauty
The book opens with Wilde in Rome, standing at the grave of John Keats beside the pyramid of Caius Cestius. He describes the Old Protestant Cemetery as a sunny green slope, and the plain stone with its words about a name written in water. He recalls that Keats once said he felt the flowers growing over him, and he sets this humble grave against the grand tombs of popes and emperors elsewhere in the city.
Wilde calls Keats a priest of beauty cut down too young. He compares him to Saint Sebastian in the painting by Guido, pierced by arrows yet looking up toward heaven. He ends the piece with a sonnet of his own, which shows the young poet he still was in 1877.
A second piece returns to Keats nine years later. During his American tour Wilde lectured in Louisville, Kentucky, and quoted Keats's Sonnet on Blue. Afterward Mrs. Speed, the daughter of Keats's brother George, invited him to read the family's manuscripts and letters. She later sent him the original draft of the sonnet.
Wilde studies the draft closely. He argues that the revisions show the poet's spirit of selection, which he calls the secret of style. In poetry, he says, what looks technical is really spiritual. He also corrects a small myth: Keats's eyes were brown, not blue.
These two pieces set a pattern for the whole book. Wilde treats the artist's choices as the real subject of criticism, and he treats the poet as a figure worth loving. The Keats of this book is a model for every later judgment.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Questions about Un critico a Pall Mall
What is A Critic in Pall Mall about?
It collects Oscar Wilde's reviews and short essays from London papers. He writes about poets, novelists, translators, plays, biographies, cooking and conversation, and he shows his views on style, beauty and criticism through humor.
Who does Oscar Wilde review in this book?
He reviews Keats, William Morris, Walter Pater, Swinburne, W. B. Yeats, Henley, George Sand, Balzac, Dostoevsky, Whitman and many others. He also reviews books on lace, marriage, folk songs and the Chinese sage Chuang Tzu.
When were the pieces in A Critic in Pall Mall written?
They were written between 1877 and 1890. Most appeared in London papers and magazines such as the Pall Mall Gazette, the Dramatic Review, Woman's World and the Speaker, before being gathered into one volume.
Is A Critic in Pall Mall easy to read?
Each piece is short and has its own subject, so you can read one at a time. Wilde writes in a lively, witty voice, and the Sententiae at the end are brief sayings you can enjoy anywhere.
What is the main message of the book?
Wilde argues that art exists to please, that style comes from careful choice, and that a critic should bring love and personality to his work. He also prefers beauty and imagination to preaching and plain fact.