6 h 35 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 6 h 35 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if art owes us neither facts nor moral lessons—and life learns its habits from paintings?
In Intentions, Oscar Wilde challenges the demand that art should teach good behaviour, copy nature, or report facts. His four pieces turn questions of taste into lively arguments. In The Decay of Lying, Cyril wants a walk outside, while Vivian prefers the library—and makes a case for art that refuses to imitate life.
Pen, Pencil and Poison offers a portrait of Thomas Griffiths Wainewright, a real Victorian criminal. The Critic as Artist brings Gilbert and Ernest together for a late-night conversation about criticism and contemplation. The Truth of Masks explores Shakespeare’s use of costume and setting. Throughout, Wilde’s playful wit carries a serious argument about what art is for.
What you’ll discover
- The art of lying Follow Vivian’s attack on realism, where invention matters more than faithfully reporting the world.
- Life learns from art Consider Wilde’s claim that life copies paintings, rather than art simply copying life.
- A criminal in focus Meet Thomas Griffiths Wainewright in a portrait that brings an artist and poisoner together.
- Critics become creators Join Gilbert and Ernest as criticism becomes an imaginative art with a life of its own.
- Costume carries meaning Explore why dress and setting matter to Wilde’s understanding of Shakespeare’s plays.
Who will love it
You will enjoy this if you love witty talk, paradox and sharp opinions about books, painting and the theatre, and like to see an author defend beauty and taste with a smile.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Invention matters more than accuracy
- Art creates rather than copies life
- Art gives life its shapes
- Artistic taste can coexist with crime
- Criticism is part of creation
- A critic creates through personal impressions
- Contemplation gives emotion its own value
- Accurate details serve theatrical illusion
- Art asks for independent judgment
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Intentions
by Oscar Wilde · 1891
Two friends in a library argue that fog needed painters to exist, and that lying is the highest art.
5–10 hours to read2 languages
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In short
Would you rather spend a lovely afternoon on the grass, or indoors arguing that nature copies painters? Vivian, the speaker in the first essay of Intentions, picks the library.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Art improves on nature, so lying becomes an art
The first essay, The Decay of Lying, is a dialogue between two friends in a country house library in Nottinghamshire. Cyril wants to go outside and enjoy the lovely afternoon. Vivian refuses, because he says he has lost the faculty of enjoying nature. He is busy correcting the proofs of an article.
Nature, he complains, is badly finished. The grass is damp and the insects are dreadful. Houses beat the open air, because indoors everything is made for human use. Art is a gallant protest that teaches nature her place.
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- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1891
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 4 h 15 min
Cite this edition
Wilde, Oscar. Intentions. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/intentions.
Wilde, O. (2026). Intentions. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/intentions (Original work published 1891)
Wilde, Oscar. Intentions. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/intentions.
@book{wilde2026intentions,
author = {Wilde, Oscar},
title = {Intentions},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/intentions},
note = {First published 1891}
}
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What is Intentions by Oscar Wilde about?
It collects essays on art and criticism, mostly as dialogues between friends. The pieces argue that art owes nothing to nature or morals, that life copies art, and that criticism is itself a creative art.
What does The Decay of Lying mean?
Wilde means the decline of imaginative invention, the telling of beautiful untrue things. Vivian argues that modern writers copy facts and so lose the imagination that gave literature its charm and its life.
Who are Vivian, Gilbert and Ernest?
They are speakers in Wilde's dialogues. Vivian argues for lying in the first essay, while Gilbert argues for criticism and contemplation in The Critic as Artist, answering the questions and objections of his friend Ernest.
The author
Oscar Wilde
1854–1900 · Irish playwright and poet
Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) was an Irish poet, playwright, and novelist born in Dublin. He lived in London and later in France, where he died in Paris. He published The Picture of Dorian Gray in 1890. His play The Importance of Being Earnest was first performed in 1895.
More by Oscar Wilde
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