Oscar Wilde: British or Irish?

Rick Johnson   Wed Feb 07, 2007 10:17 pm GMT
All the arguments seem to boil down to the same point - that just because someone comes from a certain nation doesn't mean that their political views are the same as their neighbour. As mentioned, there were plenty of French whose political outlooks were in line with the Germans. A few years before that many Spanish had views aligned with the Russians against the fascists. Many Irish catholics held high positions within the Victorian colonies both in government and in commerce.

Once you start to peal away the facade of national identity there is one theme which is consistent, and that's wealth = status = power. The poor from one country were rarely better treated than the poor from another- and the same is true today.
M56   Wed Feb 07, 2007 10:47 pm GMT
Who gives a flying?
Guest   Thu Feb 08, 2007 1:14 am GMT
The Irish and British, I suppose, and maybe his fans.
A query   Thu Feb 08, 2007 4:37 am GMT
Edmund Spenser --

Was he British, English or Irish?

Or... a Nazi?
Riadach   Thu Feb 08, 2007 1:21 pm GMT
<<"Indeed as were jewish people, who O'Connell also campaigned for. However, how many of these groups were majorities in their respective nationalities?"

What does it matter?>>

It matters because it meant the majority of Irish were discriminated against and alienated, whereas only the minority of welsh and english were.

Therefore, the majority of Irish people were, until dissestablishment and the franchise re-extension in the 1870's, unequal partners in the united kingdom.
Damian in Edinburgh   Sat Feb 10, 2007 1:34 pm GMT
Oscar was Irish (Dublin) born but lived most of his life in London. His old London home is still a bit of a shrine and open to the public, and when I was in Paris (where he died) I placed a small floral tribute among all the others covering the huge tombstone on his grave in Pere Lachaise cemetery.
10CE   Sat Feb 10, 2007 11:25 pm GMT
Damian make a good point that raises the debate above petty issues of nationalism.

By virtue of having been born in Ireland but having passed hs formative artistic years in London, Oscar Wilde can be considered both Irish and British at the same time.
Travis   Sun Feb 11, 2007 12:22 am GMT
>>Damian make a good point that raises the debate above petty issues of nationalism.

By virtue of having been born in Ireland but having passed hs formative artistic years in London, Oscar Wilde can be considered both Irish and British at the same time. <<

In that kind of way, yes, you could consider him to have been British; such is like many an individual who was born in one place but who spent most of their life in another, where they probably have more in common with the place where they lived most of their life at than with where they were born.
Stan   Sun Feb 11, 2007 3:17 am GMT
Usually; I use the attributes and contents of the works of an author for the purpose of electing their homeland(s), however; and in this case as such, I must dispose of ingenious essentials of the likes. From unconventional inferences, I would say the man would have chosen to be French had he been given leverage over the odds. His statue rests at the Merrion Square (in Dublin), as well as memories of his early childhood BUT the pages of "The Picture of Dorian Gray" suggests he was one with an English heart. It seemed though that in life, he was more concerned about his sexual orientation than his literature works [http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/wilde/wilde.htm].

"...in Paris, where he was notorious and uninhibited about enjoying the pleasures he had been denied in England..."

Mr Wilde was French.

All said; though I would be the least to embrace his dispositions (sexuality), I would still say 'thank you Mr. Wilde' for a certain principle I live by...that a man looks into the eyes of a woman and ponders on the past; and a woman looks into the eyes of a man and ponders on the future.
[:-Somewhere in the Picture of Dorian Gray]
Stan   Sun Feb 11, 2007 3:23 am GMT
<< Edmund Spenser --
Was he British, English or Irish? >>


He was an IDIOT.
My 0.2 worth   Sun Feb 11, 2007 5:01 am GMT
He was a human being. It does not matter where he chose to live. Our earth is a God's land. Everyone can choose to live anywhere on it. He spent some years of his life on God's land and left it for eternity. Call him Irish or British or American. Does he now care about this petty issue considering where he's gone now? He witnessed the same sun from paris or london or dublin - he did not witness a different sun by living in these different places. Considering himself an Irish made him a better person than considering himself as a British? Ponder over this question, and share your answers.
Guest   Sun Feb 11, 2007 5:22 am GMT
Given a choice, he would have chosen to be an Irish as he was born in dublin, Ireland. A girl might not love her brother, might not lover her husband, but she will love her kids to her heart as a mother than there is anything else in the world. Why is that? because it is innate and God-gifted. So where a kid opens his eyes and spends his early days, that piece of land he relates to his/her heart, why is that? because it is innate and God-gifted and can't be changed. It is written on stone. After that, it does not matter where he chooses to spend most of his life and where he dies.