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JG Ballard's Wildean Wit
Author: Simon Sellars • Aug 20th, 2005 •Category: Ballardosphere
Not having read much Wilde, I can’t really verify the accuracy of this comparison…but this was in the Seattle Times, 19 Aug 2005:
"The late 19th century had Oscar Wilde to challenge its pieties. Our closest equivalent is British novelist J.G. Ballard, iconoclastic author of Crash, High Rise and Empire of the Sun."
Are there any Wildeans out there who can shed light? All I know is that if a film was made of Ballard’s life, Stephen Fry wouldn’t be in the lead role. Actually…
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I think I agree — at least in terms of their relationship to their
times. Wilde’s morality (but avoidance of moralisation) produces the same appearance of ambivalence that you see in JGB. (Why critics can’t make up their minds as to whether Crash is cautionary or not?)
Another idle parlour game: given that Stephen Fry is out of the
question, what actor would play JGB in a bio-pic about him?
From the JGB Yahoo list, where the same post was posted:
“Here are some Wilde quotes I found online. (Just feed “Oscar
Wilde quotes” into Google and you can instantly find reams of
this stuff.) Do any of them strike you as Ballardian?
The Literature Page Quotations by Author
Oscar Wilde (1854 – 1900)
A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it
is absolutely fatal.
Oscar Wilde
A man can be happy with any woman as long as he does not love
her.
Oscar Wilde
Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.
Oscar Wilde
America had often been discovered before Columbus, but it had
always been hushed up.
Oscar Wilde
America is the only country that went from barbarism to
decadence without civilization in between.
Oscar Wilde
Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of
imagination.
Oscar Wilde
Arguments are to be avoided; they are always vulgar and often
convincing.
Oscar Wilde
At twilight, nature is not without loveliness, though perhaps
its chief use is to illustrate quotations from the poets.
Oscar Wilde
Biography lends to death a new terror.
Oscar Wilde
Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.
Oscar Wilde
[I've a feeling JGB actually used a version of that one!
"Accuracy is the last refuge of the unimaginative" -- in one of
his early sf reviews. -- DP]
Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to
alter it every six months.
Oscar Wilde
Genius is born–not paid.
Oscar Wilde
I always like to know everything about my new friends, and
nothing about my old ones.
Oscar Wilde
I am not young enough to know everything.
Oscar Wilde
I think that God in creating Man somewhat overestimated his
ability.
Oscar Wilde
I was working on the proof of one of my poems all the morning,
and took out a comma. In the afternoon I put it back again.
Oscar Wilde
Illusion is the first of all pleasures.
Oscar Wilde
It is a very sad thing that nowadays there is so little useless
information.
Oscar Wilde
Morality, like art, means drawing a line someplace.
Oscar Wilde
Most modern calendars mar the sweet simplicity of our lives by
reminding us that each day that passes is the anniversary of
some perfectly uninteresting event.
Oscar Wilde
Music makes one feel so romantic – at least it always gets on
one’s nerves – which is the same thing nowadays.
Oscar Wilde
One can survive everything, nowadays, except death, and live
down everything except a good reputation.
Oscar Wilde
One should always play fairly when one has the winning cards.
Oscar Wilde
Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking
others to live as one wishes to live.
Oscar Wilde
Seriousness is the only refuge of the shallow.
Oscar Wilde
The aim of life is self-development. To realize one’s nature
perfectly – that is what each of us is here for.
Oscar Wilde
The only thing to do with good advice is pass it on. It is never
any use to oneself.
Oscar Wilde
The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible.
Oscar Wilde
There are only two kinds of people who are really fascinating:
people who know absolutely everything, and people who know
absolutely nothing.
Oscar Wilde