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Critic as Artist, The (Paperback)
Loot Price: R251
Discovery Miles 2 510
You Save: R54
(18%)
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Critic as Artist, The (Paperback)
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List price R305
Loot Price R251
Discovery Miles 2 510
You Save R54 (18%)
Expected to ship within 12 - 17 working days
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In The Critic as Artist, arguably the most complete exploration of
his aesthetic thinking, and certainly the most entertaining, Oscar
Wilde harnesses his famous wit to demolish the supposed boundary
between art and criticism. Subtitled Upon the Importance of Doing
Nothing and Discussing Everything, the essay takes the form of a
leisurely dialogue between two characters: Ernest, who insists upon
Wilde's own belief in art's freedom from societal mandates and
values, and a quizzical Gilbert. With his playwright's ear for
dialogue, Wilde champions idleness and contemplation as
prerequisites to artistic cultivation. Beyond the well-known dictum
of art for art's sake, Wilde's originality lays argument for the
equality of criticism and art. For him, criticism is not subject to
the work of art, but can in fact precede it: the artist cannot
create without engaging his or her critical faculties first. And,
as Wilde writes, "To the critic the work of art is simply a
suggestion for a new work of his own." The field of art and
criticism should be open to the free play of the mind, but Wilde
plays seriously, even prophetically. Writing in 1891, he foresaw
that criticism would have an increasingly important role as the
need to make sense of what we see increases with the complexities
of modern life. It is only the fine perception and explication of
beauty, Wilde suggests, that will allow us to create meaning, joy,
empathy, and peace out of the chaos of facts and reality.
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