Echos of the Past

I'm at it again! Reading Brit Lit from 1893. Here's a quote, from Oscar Wilde's play "A Woman of No Importance," for which, if you remove the word "English" and replace it with "American," you can feel today. Er, at least, I can feel today:

"Oh, your English society seems to me shallow, selfish, foolish. It has blinded its eyes, and stopped its ears. It lies like a leper in purple. It sits like a dead thing smeared with gold. It is all wrong, all wrong."
- A Woman of No Importance, Act II.

If I were not reading this play online, I'd be underlining several bits of text and getting ready to transfer them to a post for modern day comparisons. Because many literary plots transcend time. But I'm American, and I'm lazy, and I'm not in school anymore, and apparantly I am "a leper in purple" whatever that means. [ed note: yes, I know what it means. Geez, give me some credit] So. There it is.

I will leave you with a warning: If I somehow happen to bookmark this online edition of Wilde's play, and go back and actually finish it, I'm afraid there will be some very dramatic, 19th Century whimsical writing going on over here. I can't help it! In fact, it's a good thing you're not sitting in my apartment... because I'm reading the play... OUT LOUD. I love pretending to be British!!

Tags:

• life
• reading
• Wilde
• plays