Author Description

Differentiated book- It has a historical context with research of the time-Intentions by Oscar Wilde.Originally published in 1891 when Wilde was at the height of his form, these brilliant essays on art, literature, criticism, and society show the famous ingenuity and extensive learning of the flamboyant poseur. Wilde, one of the leading spokesmen for the English aesthetic movement, promoted "art for art's sake" against critics who argued that art must serve a moral purpose. On every page of this collection, the talented literary stylist admirably demonstrates not only that the characteristics of art are "distinction, charm, beauty, and imaginative power," but also that criticism itself can rise to an art form that possesses these same qualities. In the opening rehearsal, Wilde laments the "decline of lying as an art, a science, and a social pleasure."He takes on the task of modern literary realists like Henry James and Emile Zola for their "monstrous adoration of the facts" and the stifling of the imagination. What makes art wonderful, he says, is that it is "absolutely indifferent to the facts, [art] invents, imagines, dreams and maintains between it and reality the impenetrable barrier of beautiful style, of decorative or ideal treatment" .