The Decay of Lying

The Decay of Lying

"The Decay Of Lying - An Observation" is an essay by Oscar Wilde included in his collection of essays titled "Intentions", published in 1891. It first appeared in January 1889.

Wilde presents the essay in a dialog, with the characters of Vivian and Cyril having a conversation throughout. Vivian tells Cyril of an article he has been writing on called "The Decay Of Lying: A Protest" In the article Vivian defends Aestheticism and "Art for art's sake". As summarized by Vivian, it contains four doctrines:

*Art never expresses anything but itself
*All bad art comes from returning to Life and Nature, and elevating them into ideals
*Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life
*Lying, the telling of beautiful untrue things, is the proper aim of Art

The essay ends with the two characters going outside, as Cyril asked Vivian to do at the beginning of the essay. Vivian finally complies, saying that twilight nature's "chief use" may be to "illustrate quotations from the poets."

External links

* [http://www.online-literature.com/wilde/1307/"The Decay Of Lying" at Online-Literature]

References

* Wilde, Oscar. "The Decay of Lying" in "Intentions" (1891)
* Ellman, Richard. "The Artist As Critic" (Random House, 1969)


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