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Book Review: The Wit and Humor of Oscar Wilde (Oscar Wilde)

B. Kline — Fri, 09 Feb 2024 15:21:16 +0000

The Wit and Humor of Oscar Wilde (Quotations by Oscar Wilde)

Oscar Wilde

One can’t jump into a book review of quotations by Oscar Wilde without first discussing Oscar Wilde himself. He certainly isn’t an ordinary person, and he most definitely lived an extraordinary life. He lived a life of excess, he lived a life of intrigue, part hedonist, part flamboyant, all parts interesting.

As per Wikipedia:

Oscar Fingal O’Fflahertie Wills Wilde^[a] (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is best remembered for his epigrams and plays, his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, and his criminal conviction for gross indecency for homosexual acts.

Wilde’s parents were Anglo-Irish intellectuals in Dublin. In his youth Wilde learned to speak fluent French and German. At university, he read Greats; he demonstrated himself to be an exceptional classicist, first at Trinity College Dublin, then at Magdalen College, Oxford. He became associated with the emerging philosophy of aestheticism, led by two of his tutors, Walter Pater and John Ruskin. After university, Wilde moved to London into fashionable cultural and social circles.

He tried his hand at various literary activities: he wrote a play, published a book of poems, lectured in the United States and Canada on the new “English Renaissance in Art” and interior decoration, and then returned to London where he lectured on his American travels and wrote reviews for various periodicals. Known for his biting wit, flamboyant dress and glittering conversational skill, Wilde became one of the best-known personalities of his day. At the turn of the 1890s he refined his ideas about the supremacy of art in a series of dialogues and essays, and incorporated themes of decadence, duplicity, and beauty into what would be his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890). Wilde returned to the drama, writing Salome (1891) in French while in Paris, but it was refused a licence for England due to an absolute prohibition on the portrayal of Biblical subjects on the English stage. Undiscouraged, Wilde produced four society comedies in the early 1890s, which made him one of the most successful playwrights of late-Victorian London.

At the height of his fame and success, while An Ideal Husband (1895) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) were still being performed in London, Wilde issued a civil writ against John Sholto Douglas, the 9th Marquess of Queensberry for criminal libel.^[3] The Marquess was the father of Wilde’s lover, Lord Alfred Douglas. The libel hearings unearthed evidence that caused Wilde to drop his charges and led to his own arrest and criminal prosecution for gross indecency with men.^[4] The jury was unable to reach a verdict and so a retrial was ordered. In the second trial Wilde was convicted and sentenced to two years’ hard labour, the maximum penalty, and was jailed from 1895 to 1897.^[5] During his last year in prison he wrote De Profundis (published posthumously in abridged form in 1905), a long letter that discusses his spiritual journey through his trials and is a dark counterpoint to his earlier philosophy of pleasure. On the day of his release he caught the overnight steamer to France, never to return to Britain or Ireland. In France and Italy he wrote his last work, The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898), a long poem commemorating the harsh rhythms of prison life.

Oscar Wilde – Wikipedia

He lived much like he wrote, and he wrote much like he lived. I think thats why we’re so drawn to him. His wit, his intellect, the way he lived, the way he viewed the world seems contrary to the way most of us get a chance to live our lives. I wouldn’t say necessarily that he lived it “well” or that he lived it “bad”. He seems shallow at the same time he seems intelligent. He is artistic, but at the same time he seems to only care about his art. He’s like much of our modern celebrity culture.

Quotation Books

Books of quotations are always interesting in the sense that you get a vague-ish idea of the person. Theres the quips and comments, the wit, and the witticisms, the quotes, and the ideas of the person, but it doesn’t really give you a full picture of the person. There is some context provided by the editors, but not a whole lot. There is some work and context given by Alvin Redman, but oftentimes it just feels like fawning over Oscar Wilde rather than really providing details into the chapter at hand.

But before I digress too much, lets get into the book review.

Back of the Book Blurb

Wilde on Sincerity: “A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal.” Nearly a century after his death, the wit of Oscar Wilde remains as fresh and barbed as ever. This collection of his works, letters, reviews, anecdotes and repartee is ample proof of this iconoclast’s enduring place in the world of arts and letters.

The Wit and Humor of Oscar Wilde – Oscar Wilde (Author) and Alvin Redman (Editor) – GoodReads

Book Review: The Wit and Humor of Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde’s legacy as a master of wit endures well over a century after his passing. Esteemed as a poet, novelist, playwright, and essayist, Wilde was also recognized as the foremost aphorist of his time. Praised by George Bernard Shaw as “incomparably the greatest talker of his time — perhaps of all time,” Wilde’s ability to captivate through conversation is legendary. His articulate and whimsical discourse, delivered with confidence and without pause, enthralled all who had the pleasure of his company.

This book serves as an outstanding guide for those wishing to delve into Oscar Wilde’s spontaneous and eccentric humor. It’s a delightful read for moments of relaxation and amusement, and it’s even suggested as entertaining bathroom literature.

Wilde’s eloquence was so refined that even those on the receiving end of his sharp remarks often felt honored. Wilde boasted of his readiness to tackle any topic at any time, whether he was prepared or not. On one occasion, when asked to speak on “The Queen,” Wilde cleverly responded, “The queen is not a subject.” In another instance, he quickly retorted to a journalist’s claim of only discussing familiar facts with, “That must limit your conversation frightfully.”

Even William Gilbert, of the famed Gilbert and Sullivan duo, expressed envy at Wilde’s oratory skills at a dinner party, to which Wilde humorously replied that denying others the pleasure of listening to him would be selfish.

However, Wilde wasn’t always the victor in verbal jest. During a visit to America, a lady’s description of something as ‘awfully nice’ led Wilde to comment on the inadequacy of ‘nice,’ only for her to cleverly inquire if ‘nasty’ was any better.

Wilde’s wit shone through in various interactions, whether it was playfully addressing a former professor’s inaudibility, humorously arranging a visit with French actor Coquelin, or candidly speaking about his preparations for a lecture tour in the USA, where he sought a “natural style with a touch of affectation.”

His humor extended to anecdotes about America, including a memorable exchange about the moon’s beauty with a Southerner, and his sly response to a theater manager’s request to revise his play ‘Vera’: “Who am I to tamper with a masterpiece?”

Following his lecture tour, Wilde humorously recounted the toll it took on his secretaries—one suffering from writer’s cramp and the other bald from sending locks of his hair to admirers.

Wilde’s meticulous attention to his work was humorously illustrated when he described spending an entire morning removing a comma from a poem, only to reinstate it in the afternoon.

Wilde once remarked, ‘Life does not cease to be funny when people die any more than it ceases to be serious when people laugh.’ This captures the essence of good conversation as a fleeting art, much like the seasonal changing of leaves. Oscar Wilde’s mischievous wit remains vibrantly alive, continuing to enchant and amuse.

No doubt we’ll be remembering is wit, his intellect, and his ‘ephemeral’ usage of language for years and years to come. A product of his time over anything else. Would he be the same if he was alive in the 1990s or the 2000s or even the 2020s? Would be interesting to see how things like Twitter or Facebook (or social media in general) would have changed the way we looked at his ‘dandyism’ and his ‘witticisms’. Maybe he would be viewed less favorably, or maybe even more favorably. He most likely would have escaped having to do jail time.

Either way, while the quotations and the book doesn’t provide the perfect context for Oscar Wilde, it does provide a nice introduction to who and what he was. This is a good start into his character, his personality, and who he was. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it however. I think it would best people read him for his works, and then learn about him as a person, and get into his ‘wit’ and ‘intellect’ and ‘conversation skills’.

My GoodReads Rating: ***
My LibraryThing Rating: ***
Global Average GoodReads Rating: 4.07 (as of 2.9.24)

Other Book Reviews

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Book Review: The Wit and Wisdom of Tyrion Lannister (George R.R. Martin)

BKline — Sun, 13 Mar 2022 01:50:00 +0000

Tyrion Lannister

Tyrion Lannister is many things in A Song of Ice and Fire (or the show version – Game of Thrones [played by Peter Dinklage]). For better or for worse he is known as a dwarf, a drunkard, a “whore chaser”, cocky, scoundrel, a Lannister, a reader, a smart ass, but for all these things he is typically best known for his one liners and wit. A pseudo – placement character for the author himself (George R.R. Martin), in a kind of twisted version of a Gary Stu; Tyrion Lannister despite his deficiencies and horrors that happen to him, often comes off looking the best.

This is not to say he’s a “good guy”, but this is also the world – Westeros – where nobody is truly a “good guy”. (The Starks are the closest we get to all around good guys…. and look what happens to all of them.) But, despite being morally grey, he usually comes off looking better than most other characters with his actions, and especially with his wit and wisdom and his acerbic tongue.

One of his biggest quotes that you’ll most likely see on at least one t-shirt at every brewfest is:

I drink and I know things.
Tyrion Lannister

Its usually one of those tongue in cheek quotes you hear (or read) over and over from people who think they are probably far smarter than they are, and also love to drink. Its similar to all of the unironic Joker quotes you see your ‘bro’ friends post on Facebook. Or you’ll probably encounter this quote in some jumbled up fashion as a team name on trivia night at your local brewpub.

The Appeal of the Character of Tyrion Lannister

Tyrion Lannister from the Wikipedia of ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’. The photo’s description from their site: Tyrion Lannister, on his way to the Wall – by Aleksander Karcz. © Fantasy Flight Games (FFG)
Cropped image of the [My Mind Is My Weapon] card. Part of A Game of Thrones collectible card game.

So that makes me wonder, why exactly is Tyrion Lannister such a favorite? Is it his character? Or is it his wit and one liners? Or is it who and what he is or how he’s written? Is it his dirty potty mouth (the horrors!)? Or is there something more?

I first started this section as ‘The Character of Tyrion Lannister’ and after writing the previous paragraph changed it to ‘The Appeal of the Character of Tyrion Lannister’ because I think that matters most – especially considering this precise little volume. Since there is no ‘The Wit and Wisdom of Ned Stark’ or ‘The Wit and Wisdom of Reek’ or ‘The Wit and Wisdom of Littlefinger’. There could just as easily be one for Varys with all of his great quotes and sage like advice and pseudo – revolutionary and pseudo – deep thought or pseudo – pop – philosophy comments. But there isn’t (yet?). And I think this comes down to the appeal of Tyrion.

It is interesting just how much people have glomed onto the character of Tyrion. I believe a fair portion of that appeal is his ‘underdog status’. Hated by his own father for being a dwarf, and being blamed for the death of his mother at his birth, he is immediately someone we can have sympathy for. Couple this with his empathy for the other ‘lowlier’ characters like fan favorite bastard Jon Snow, and you can get a better more full spectrum of the character. He endures hardships, even by characters that we classically in other fictions would like, and we further empathize with him ourselves. And of course, add to this his whoring, his drinking, and his acerbic quick wit, and its very easy to see why he’s a fan favorite.

Book Review

GoodRead’s Blurb:

The perfect gift for fans of George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire novels and HBO’s Game of Thrones: a collection of wicked one-liners from the incomparable Imp of Casterly Rock, fully illustrated by Jonty Clark!

“My mind is my weapon. My brother has his sword, King Robert has his warhammer, and I have my mind . . . and a mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone if it is to keep its edge.”

The jealous masses of the Seven Kingdoms may call him Halfman, but none have ever accused Tyrion Lannister of being a halfwit. His golden tongue has saved his skin slightly more often than it has landed him in mortal peril. Now, this special illustrated volume preserves his most essential knowledge for future generations, featuring time-tested guidance on such varied subjects as . . .

The art of persuasion
“The best lies are seasoned with a bit of truth.”

Fine dining
“A little honest loathing can be refreshing, like a tart wine after too much sweet.”

The fair sex
“The young ones smell much better, but the old ones know more tricks.”

Royal politics
“Crowns do queer things to the heads beneath them.”

Common ailments
“A sword through the bowels. A sure cure for constipation.”

At once charming, insightful, and ruthlessly irreverent, The Wit & Wisdom of Tyrion Lannister is short on pretense and overflowing with finely crafted gems—just like the man himself.
GoodReads: The Wit and Wisdom of Tyrion Lannister

So…. this is certainly something I would never ever have paid full price for. Back cover price lists it as 16$ American. It is 177 pages with several middling illustrated images – in a cartoony and uninteresting way – of Tyrion Lannister. There is several chapter break pages and a few other blank pages. The quotes themselves are just one page for each quote. So all in all, this should take less then forty minutes at most to read, and that’s counting in the time to pour yourself a beer, and to take sips, and to answer a text or two.

I was able to get this far cheaper (I forget if I got it from the Hershey Public Library book sale, or the Hummelstown Library sale, or from AbeBooks – but I know I didn’t spend more than 2$ on it), otherwise I would never have gotten it.

Firstly, if you like Tyrion Lannister, which is something I would suppose anyone who is reading this book would be; then you should already be well acquainted with at least the majority of the quotes in the book. There shouldn’t really be much in the way of ‘surprising’ content for you, more like memory jogs of things you had read previously, or quotes you remember from the show – depending on your level of involvement with the Westeros universe.

It honestly screams ‘cash grab’ and its small size and smaller reading structure reads as a “neat little gift book” to give someone for Christmas or their birthday. But at its price, it’ll most likely come from someone who knows “oh hey, my buddy loves Game of Thrones, he talks about it all the time, this looks like a fun book for him” type of gift, rather than someone who also knows the material well and is gifting it to their also knowledgeable friend. Its in the vein of the knick-knack gifts you get from friends and family who know that you love Star Wars and get you some esoteric thing just because it has the Star Wars logo on it.

And for that, obvious cash grabs are always kind of an annoyance to me. Especially in the literary world. It just always “makes me sus” right out the gate on something, and this is no different. Its also interesting to point out that this was published in 2013, and at this point George R.R. Martin had (and still has) only released five of the books. And as for Game of Thrones the show, the finale didn’t end up airing until May 2019. Seems odd to release this book in 2013 before the written series isn’t done, and the television series isn’t done… unless you wanted to capitalize on the new found fame of it all for the sake of money, and to have a hold over until George R.R. Martin is able to finish the series – spoiler alert – he still hasn’t finished even the next book of the series by March 2022.

Are the quotes good and entertaining? Sure… but is it worth an entire book for them? No. And is it worth 16$? Certainly not! Especially given that you get roughly 116 quotes (if my counting was correct from a quick leaf through of the work). With each quote being a single sentence or two at most, you are spending 16$ for at most 232 sentences of text. Seems an absurd cost.

My GoodReads Rating: **
My LibraryThing Rating: *.5
Global Average GoodReads Rating: 3.56 (as of 3.12.22).

More Information

For more information on Tyrion Lannister I suggest checking out the ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ Wikipedia:

Tyrion Lannister (A Song of Ice and Fire Wikipedia)

Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister from HBO’s Game of Thrones

Thanks For Reading

Hope everyone is enjoying the lovely off and on good and bad weather we’re having here in Central PA (lovely SMARCH weather – Homer Simpsons). At least it gives me a chance to catch up on my “to read” pile, and to hit the library and get more books that I’ll start and hopefully finish before their due back. I am trying to keep up with reading and doing book reviews as soon as I get done. Hope you are all enjoying the book reviews on top of the beer reviews, and hike reviews, and other beer related articles here on the blog.

Also, be sure to check out the March Madness tournament that’s going on. You can find that here: March Madness (2022) – Bigger, Badder, Bolder.

Well, thanks for reading all! And remember to drink and to know things! Cheers!

-B. Kline

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Craft Beer Styles: A Guide to the Different Types of Craft Beer

B. Kline — Tue, 18 Jan 2022 15:19:00 +0000

Craft Beer Styles

Craft beer is a broad term that encompasses a wide variety of different beer styles. From light and refreshing pale ales to dark and rich stouts, there is a craft beer style to suit every taste.

Styles of Craft Beer

If you’re new to craft beer or looking to learn more about different craft beer styles, here is a guide to some of the most popular craft beer styles:

Pale ales: Pale ales are light and refreshing beers with a moderate hop flavor. Popular pale ale styles include American pale ales, English pale ales, and India pale ales (IPAs).
IPAs: IPAs are a type of pale ale that is known for its strong hop flavor and aroma. IPAs can range in bitterness from moderate to extreme. Popular IPA styles include American IPAs, West Coast IPAs, and New England IPAs.
Stouts: Stouts are dark and full-bodied beers with a roasted malt flavor. Popular stout styles include American stouts, English stouts, and Irish stouts.
Porters: Porters are dark and flavorful beers that fall somewhere between stouts and brown ales. Popular porter styles include American porters, English porters, and brown porters.
Wheat beers: Wheat beers are light and refreshing beers that are made with a significant amount of wheat malt. Popular wheat beer styles include American wheat beers, Belgian witbiers, and German hefeweizens.
Sour beers: Sour beers are beers that have been fermented with wild yeast or bacteria, which gives them a sour flavor. Popular sour beer styles include American sours, Belgian lambics, and German gose.

American Craft Beer

Explore!

These are just a few of the many different craft beer styles that are available. With so many different styles to choose from, there is sure to be a craft beer style out there that everyone will enjoy. Cheers!

Some Good Articles to Read

Thank You For Reading

If you like this article, please check out our other many articles, including news, beer reviews, travelogues, maps, and much much more. We greatly appreciate everyone visiting the site!

Cheers.

MAPS OF BREWERIES

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Book Review: Wit’s End (James Geary)

BKline — Tue, 06 Apr 2021 12:30:00 +0000

Wit’s End by James Geary

The Start of Book Reviews

While this isn’t the first book review on The Beer Thrillers – that honor goes to “For the Love of Beer” by Dr. Alison Feeney – this is the first non – beer related book review on The Beer Thrillers. But as I said in my last post “The Beer Thrillers Moving Forward” I’ve been wanting to do this and branching out the blog a bit more in different directions. Is the blog still going to be primarily about beer and breweries? Most certainly. This is actually something I’ve been wanting to do for quite some time, and am finally now just pushing ahead and doing it. If people don’t like it, too bad, they can ignore the posts and stay at our blog for the beer reviews, brewery reviews, etc. I read roughly 100 – 110 books a year, and I’ve been wanting to write and combine my various interests on the blog (beer, books, hiking, gardening, sports, video games, etc.) and this seems one of many natural ways to do it.

I’ve already done this similarly with many of my travelogue articles. Most of them are hiking adventures or visits and tours with Ming or other people that include stops at breweries along the way. The travelogues seem to be some of the more popular posts (and outside of the March Madness tournament we just did, my travelogue about the 1000 Steps Trail and Levity Brewing is a top ten visited article here on The Beer Thrillers).

So why am I starting off with “Wit’s End” by James Geary? Well, frankly its because its the latest book I’ve read and finished. So, I figured I’d start with the most recent book read, and work back on some of the others, as well as the ones I am still reading and finishing. So there will certainly be no lack of book reviews, that’s for sure.

Wit’s End

Let’s tackle this book and give it a proper review. Not sure if I’m going to follow a specific way of reviewing every book similar to how I do my beer reviews (Example: Chocolate Covered Pretzel by Braxton Brewing Company) or if each book review will be something different onto itself.

Maybe its apropos that I start my first non book review here on the blog (well, first non – beer related book review) with one titled “Wit’s End”. This might just be the end to the wit here on The Beer Thrillers; or will it? Who knows, maybe this will grow the blog even further, who knows again. Shrug.

Wit’s End by James Geary is a series of essays on the various forms of wits and witticisms and how it’s used. Each is written in different styles, from poems, to a screen play, to a faux academic (scientific) journal article, etc. Different essays to discuss the different ways wit is used, created, performed, and displayed.

There is a decent bit here, and the book both reads fast and slow at times. Which might also be a bit of just my reading style, where I’ll get into the book, and read a fair bit, then lose myself and be bored of it, and start picking up the numerous other books I’m reading (usually four or five books at a time), and jump about. Damn you ADHD.

The writing style is obviously all over the place as each essay is done in different styles. And for the most part I think this works; but I also think Geary is a bit lackluster in some aspects to it. Not fully delving into the styles, or relying too much on the styles to get his point across rather than the work and words themselves. I enjoyed some of the essays, whilst others fell completely flat or were uninteresting, and this wasn’t primarily due to just the styling or the writing, but the actual work behind it. I haven’t read anything from James Geary before, but his writing prose seems both deft and also incomplete at times. There is quality writing, but there is also a lack of putting two and two together and making connections.

I love reading about creativity and intelligence, because I am often curious how it spawns, why I have the thoughts or ideas in my head and where things pop in at. As someone who is often told “Where the hell do you get your ideas from” or “why do you think the way you do”, I love trying to read about how this all works out; and sadly, this doesn’t do a real good job of explaining any of that.

I’m also not a big ‘punster’ and there is quite a fair amount of that in this, with a few essays / chapters fully devoted to it. Despite being a dad, I’m far from prone to dad jokes – which the pun is a staple of – and for that, actually puns usually bore me. I’m not angered by them, just bored of them. I don’t believe of them as the “lowest form of wit” but I also just tire of them easily.

I wish there was more substance to this, and more on ‘how wit is derived’ rather than describing various forms of wit. Because I think we can all point to something witty when we hear / see / read it; and so I rather see the inner workings, the behind the scenes, rather than the obvious and what I can clearly see in front of me.

I think this is an entertaining read, but I think it just lacks a lot of substance and could use a lot more to it. Frankly wish the general idea behind it was a bit more expansive than what we got, or maybe the scope was a bit different than what the book alluded to it being.

Similar to my beer reviews, where I gave my Untappd score, followed the global average Untappd rating, I will do the similar here but with GoodReads. GoodReads and LibraryThing are my primary forms of Book Cataloguing and recording using apps; they are basically the Untappd for the book world. I started with LibraryThing many years ago (honestly can’t even remember, but I want to say 2013 or maybe 2012. Sadly, GoodReads has surpassed it and I use that much more now (despite my not caring – and actually loathing – of Amazon). GoodReads only lets you review in full stars, where LibraryThing let you review down to the 1/4th star. So I will most likely be giving my review scores to the 1/4th star (similar to Untappd letting you review to the 1/4th bottle cap), but showing my rounded score via GoodReads, and then showing the global average GoodReads score.

My GoodReads score: **3/4 (rounded – ***)
Global GoodReads Score: 3.32 (as of 4.5.20).

Thank you everyone for reading my first non – beer related article on the blog and site. Curious how reaction will be to me using my beer blog to post non – beer related things and more personal things. Who knows, maybe the blog gets expanded into all kinds of new categories in the future, and it’ll look just like one gigantic spider with tons of spider webs linking to millions of things. Or maybe in the future I’ll branch out and just have a different site for these things and move them over to there.

Let me know in the comments what you think of the branching out. What you think of me doing book reviews, etc. Don’t worry though, there will still be beer related content here on the blog, especially from the other writers, as I take a bit of a hiatus from the beer side of things personally for a bit. Thank you for joining us here at The Beer Thrillers. Be sure to stay tuned for many of the various things in the future that I have planned.

Cheers!

-B. Kline