CHESTERTON ON WILDE.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 681, 4 December 1909, Page 9

CHESTERTON ON WILDE.

i;., V..-•'Readers/;bf.Mr;';Chesterton's repent':book on >..}.-. 7 'tho:/7 contrast :]*: : .. o^awn;between;gh^w/arid the'men .ofthe. school; ;'; vV; of ;"l'art.; pout: ft- 7/in ibis/review 7; /of ,;,,:• .'Methueri's'riewleditiori. of 'Oscar.Wilde's works. '• ' : >%:Ws?b Ps(»r' . v/ -ieftfirijitjs,'; Diswelij 'f',; , .-Wage.'a;war.of words,' some calling hinia r great' ; ';'•.,' i ar^st;/and./otters ia; mere;:charlatan.:':But this ,:. ";controversy.".'misses';. : W; really "extraordinafy ■ '/^V'ythmg.|abbu^Wildo;;.the"-thing ;tbat -appears '•;. ..v/rather;/in.:theV : plays.'thari;iii'; the- 'poems.-■■•Ho'' ;:v//was;/a/;;great/artist.. He-,a150./was ./really a ■■;;::.■■: .:chaTla(an.",/.I i.riiean./by/,' a' charlatan : one. suffi//.//.eieritlyfdignified:''to .despise'tho.tricks that'he .;.; '.employs.../ A-| vulgar, demagpgue :is not /.a char-/■,/.-/Jatan;;;hß.is.as coarse as/Jus' crowd.> He may //;.'/ he .lying'- in' /every;; word, 1 ; but; !he/'is • sincere ft:';."■-his.;;style.%Style- (asWildeftinight :.- •■ .said).;is'/bnly another .'name for-spirit. /Again, ■''■ ■:■ ?',™ a n. ; :iike;Mr.-Bornard';Shaw is• not a;char-. ,;.. ' ; latah..;.l can .understand 'people thinking .his ~;,,/; remarks hurried or'senselessly per: •V;'/: J erS 6> or-'blasphembusi-br merely! narrow. 'But ■■' J < : ?^ n o n l . 0t • ' : being.'asjsuggestivo /as'hei'can./is' V,-:!!--''pVffBVWg^'brig^test,,,ana.'.'.boldest'>BpeOTlatioiis-;.-\;.v.!< to rabble; ■-: is goffering "something '.which ; he /;:;; "honestly thinks "valuable. /'Now, '/Wilde /i often ■A 1;-: - uttered remarks; which-he .niust have known to :;/;/i/bevliterallyjvalueless.-';Shaw-'may 1 be/high/or '/: i -r,wW' j ,b'u.t"!he neVertalks down : to the 'audience.: ;-"//./iWilde'.did talk down, sometimes'very far down.-J ./•■'-"•/'Wilde.'and.his/.school./professed, to stand as r - • souls i apart'.from-the' public.' ... ,; ; They?p*pfessed -middle/class, and '•"declated that the'artistimustmot work for'the -/./-,: bou/gcois./; The.'truth is that-no/artist so really ... Bre&t ever AYorked: ; so!'much .for the'bourgeois: .••.-.- -Wilde; No' man,' so capable of -thiiiK- [:■--. ■ing/'abput/.truth .andtbeauty.-e'ver.'tlibught so" ;' constantly'abbut ; :hisbwri.effect on' the' middle ':;.cWsses.;;He/studied:'thoSurbiton schoolmistress • ■'■,■ •J?'*, exquisitei.attention,-and know exactly how ~■' td shock/arid /;/please her; 'Mr;.:■ Shaw '" "'.• • ?. ft 5 n Tsets "abovevher'-'iri''seraphic -indignation, "''''■ ?g?/. often below- her. in'sterile' and '-material-'' .-.-.istic> explanations.';';.Hb'/ disgusts -- her ■-'■;■ :with new truths er rhe bores her with old 'truths; -"--:::g« t tney_are';always' : .livin'g truths/to Berfaard , : shm. Wilde'r.hiew how to/say. the .precise /:,-... thing-which.'iWhether,true orifalse,"is irresis-/ "'• •J 1D l e ;: As,.for.example,,"l-,can resist everything: :'.. .; :"but;temptation "';'■', ;^->'«-■■.:"••:'/■.•;,'/;'.- v :*'■".:,■. .'/ .'■. 'ft??*' o . 6 - ? on ietimes":sank lower,-sankirito'the '-. 'owestrgorges nndtchasMS.of Surbiton.' One ~'/v.migit..4P:,through;:these' swift, and- sparkling '-■-'• P! a 'f s , w , I th, r a.-rcd and■'blue-'poncil".markihg two .-; epigrams j the real epigram, which ho / ...wrote to/please.'his'own'wildiritellect, and the .;.,-Bha;m'cpigram'V'.whicli.ihe wroto/to- thrill the '■■:'''''ll^^F- m « t .!'P;rt"'- o^'-: oiirv i Hamo-'-civilisatioh.'i '""' vJ i_! s u l3 *°?-' : , ' meau by'saying that- he was ~-=.'■ ; strictly a,charlatan-among-other things. :Ho .descended below himself'to bb on top:of others. '.'.:';H6''')ecame":piirposely-/stupider, 'than . Oscar . .."WiWe.that, he"-mightvseeih cleverer than'the curate:,/:-.He '-himself ■-'.■"'to ';■•.' .■! superiority; he;Stooped;'to/contjuer.z'. ~"■" ■ ' ":.: JOnp^might/easilyy^takeiexamples .of -the , ";, : phrase:;.m«ant\to;,lightlyi l .toiich the 'truth and: .' Jpe • P"?ase ; meant .only■ ■to /bluff the bourgeoisie. : *. ot - Utotftnpe.Lf'wiJf'A''.'-Woman of •'No'-Import- -. /: l ance,,,.;he.makes,;his 'chief'philosopher say- that .■'■'■'»"'- jmmpral,'-being essentially de.■,:.i:6trnctiye;: Npthing /survives being-'thought ■'■ ■' '°f' ',', Tnatis :'nqriseitse,"bnt nonsense of the .: :.-..nobler-.':sbrt;/ ; there ; .:'is;;'an ideain. it.: 'It is, :■ '.like .most- professedly ■''modern ideas, . .--"dealing idea not*a-shfe-giving ,one; but it- is an ///idea./-'TfiereVis/truly. 'a.sense/in 'which all, de- :'; sfinition-is■ deletidn;'-,"Turri.a few.pages of■ the ./.'.:. find asking, ;■/■■ - what .is/ah{immoral: woman?" r.The philoso- ,: ;pher :answsTS,v''The -kind .'of woman .a man ■• "-never /gets-.-tired.of.''.;>.Now;that, is riot non- '■ ;', sense,; but/rather-rubbish, "It is without value •/ -of. any/sort, or kind; Vf.lt Is not' symbolically: . ~'true; it -is not'Cfanfastically true; it is .not '-true at/all. ./'..w,:!;'',:..;/'.'./"';' '.■,-' /.'.."'•'.■ Anyone:. with, "the wildest knowledge of: the ... world; kiiows.that,nobody/can be such ; a con- . RUtuihg tbore -as 'a'/.certain, kind of ;immoral ' ~: wbman/.f:That-vice/nevor'tires-men might be .//• tt'tenable: and/entertaining,;lie;: that the in- .. '■■),■ dividual instrument bfAvice' never .'• tires - them

Js not,_ even as a lie, tenable enough to bo entertaining Tlcro the great Hit was playing tho cheap dandy,to tho incredibly innocent; as much as if ho had put on paper cuffs, and collars. He is simply ..shocking a tarno curat*; und h© must be father a specially tame cuiato even to be 'Blocked. ( This irritating duplication of real brilliancy, with snobbish bluff runs throiifsh'all his three comedies. "Lifo is much too important to be taken seriously"; that is the 'true humorist. "A vrdl-tied tio is tho first serions step in lifo"; that is the charlatan. "Man Can believe tho impossible, but man can ne/er believe the improbable"; that is raid by a fine philosopher. -"Nothing is so i • >

fatal .to a personality as ;the •keeping'- of promises,.unlets it be toiling. the truth"-;' that is said ,0y a tired quack. ,"A,man can.be nappy with any .woman so .long as lie does not idvo iher;'; tuat :is -'wild trutu..-. '-'Good' intentions are invariably 1 nugra'iniuatical"; tnat is tame trash.;- /•■ --.: :■'.-'- ■'■■- '■■■■■'.■:■'■''■'. ■■■:

put -.white he. had a strain of humbug in him, trnieh there .is not in'tno aemagoguts to wit- liko Bernard; Shaw, ho;nad,- in his own strange way, a inucn deeper and more spiritual nature tnan they.' tjueerly enough,- it was the yciy multitude ot his falsities that prevented niiu I'roui being entirely. false. Liko a many-coloured humming, top,- ha was at pneo a.bewilderment and a balance. Ho was S5 fond : ot'-- being many-sided■'. that - among :his sides he' oven admitted . tno rignt side, lie loved so touch to multiply his souls that ho bad among tnem one sou; at least that was saved, m desired all beautiful tilings—even God. •■' '

His frightful fallacy was that he would not see. that .thero is reason'in everything, even in religion and morality.. Universality is a contrauiction in terms. You cannot:be everything if you are anything. '■? U you wish to be white all .over, you inust austerely .resist tho temptation to have green spots .or yellow stripes.; wish to be good all over you must resist;the spots.of sin or the stripes of servitude. „ It may, be great fun to be many-' sided j but however many sides one has there 1 oannotbo one of them which is complete and rounded innocence. A polygon can have an infinite 'number of sides; but no one■ of its sides can:be a circle., - ■