Today I finished Oscar Wilde's Salomé. It feels nice to finish a text, no matter how short it is. I have a habit of starting literally thousands of texts and never actually reaching their concluding statements. I've read the Holy Grail legend (Persival) by de Troys, yet never found out what happened to (or what is) the Holy Grail... to this day!
Previously, my attention on St. Wilde was focussed mainly on his much-neglected fairy tales. Salomé delightfully continues with the same "signature" albeit altogether different as a work of art. I feel particularly blessed to be able to enjoy it without continuously stopping to reference history, since it takes place in the historic middle-east and Wilde's depictions of the characters are not far-off from the real thing (it was well-known that Herod had a less-than-ideal family life and actually eventually went nuts because of it). I am rather impressed that Wilde is able to speak to a mid-east native like myself and still make him laugh.
What I did find particularly striking, is Wilde's style (which continues from the fairy tales). He actually sounds more like someone from the middle east than someone born on the Emerald isles. with his drifts of fancy linking exotic simile to exotic simile, very reminiscent of Medieval Persian (and mid-eastern in general) poetry. He frequently segues into dreamy chains of what some may call "orientalist" simile. Some may find it pretentious, but I find it nothing short of beautiful.
Hats off (again) to Mr. Wilde
.
Previously, my attention on St. Wilde was focussed mainly on his much-neglected fairy tales. Salomé delightfully continues with the same "signature" albeit altogether different as a work of art. I feel particularly blessed to be able to enjoy it without continuously stopping to reference history, since it takes place in the historic middle-east and Wilde's depictions of the characters are not far-off from the real thing (it was well-known that Herod had a less-than-ideal family life and actually eventually went nuts because of it). I am rather impressed that Wilde is able to speak to a mid-east native like myself and still make him laugh.
What I did find particularly striking, is Wilde's style (which continues from the fairy tales). He actually sounds more like someone from the middle east than someone born on the Emerald isles. with his drifts of fancy linking exotic simile to exotic simile, very reminiscent of Medieval Persian (and mid-eastern in general) poetry. He frequently segues into dreamy chains of what some may call "orientalist" simile. Some may find it pretentious, but I find it nothing short of beautiful.
Hats off (again) to Mr. Wilde
.
