OSCAR WILDE AND MYSELF
A commentary by
VED from VICTORIA INSTITUTIONS
It is foretold! The torrential flow of inexorable destiny!
The ‘Irishness’
The next item for taking up is about the ‘why’ Alfred Douglas was attracted to Oscar Wilde. It need not be anything sexual at all. But just due to the same reason that many others all around the world have been attracted to Oscar Wilde.
Mr. Warren’s (the then President of Magdalen) words literally define the stature that Oscar Wilde was building up in the literary world.
There are these quotes from various parts of this book:
QUOTE: It is very hard, indeed, well-nigh impossible, for me to recapture and set forth for the benefit of my readers the secret of the fascination that Oscar Wilde had for me in those far-off days. END OF QUOTE
QUOTE: The man had been my friend, I had been very fond of him, and I had formerly had an exaggerated view as to the value of his work. END OF QUOTE
QUOTE: I conceived a great and lasting affection for this man ; and, when he was in trouble, I fought for him and defended him through thick and thin and without any regard to rhyme or reason or my own interest. END OF QUOTE
Even though the above-words can be misconstrued as words of some kind of extreme romantic relationship, from a more experienced mind I can insist that there need not be anything like that in these things. It might more be a sort of stubborn standing-up for one’s friend, who one believes has been maligned by vicious persons.
It is seen that Oscar Wilde treated Alfred Douglas with deference.
QUOTE: He treated me always with the greatest and, I may even say, the most elaborate courtesy, and I noticed particularly that when we were in the society of men who were apt to kick somewhat over the traces and indulge in Rabelaisian conversation Wilde was eagerly careful to turn or suppress the talk. END OF QUOTE.
It is plainly seen that even though the whole of Britain might have been reverberating with the issues connected to the case connected to Oscar Wilde and his imprisonment, Alfred Douglas did take a very deliberate distance from their claims and counterclaims. Even though this attitude of keeping a distance can be construed as some kind of admission of guilt, it is more possible that persons of higher mental stature refuse to enter into any kind of debate with individuals who are not properly trained in the proper codes of decorum to be followed in all such discussions.
It is true that the nation was England. And since the language was English, the level of indecencies possible in feudal languages would not be there in England. Yet, England was even then transforming. These are things that do not generally come up for discussions on literary matters. The flutter of the Union Jack was slowly spreading to the many barbarian and semi-barbarian locations in the world. England was slowly diffusing high quality communication standards and extreme levels of decency to these wretched locations.
Yet, what was coming back into England? From the South Asian subcontinent, many native-kings, and semi-kings were donning the label of ‘princes’ and entering England just to experience the exotic social experience over there. It was literally like entering paradise for many of them. Along with them, many other local feudal landlord classes were also entering the nation. The fact should be mentioned that many of these kings and landlord individuals were not actually from British-India, but from kingdoms which were just outside British-India. However, none of them would have any qualms about claiming that they were from British-India. For, a connection to England had its worth in gold to them back home and elsewhere.
It might not be too much of a detour to mention that even MK Gandhi who entered England in the early years of the 1900s was not actually from British-India. Then how come he was the ‘leader of the freedom struggle’ in British-India might be a moot point to pondering. He was the son of the prime minister of a miniscule native kingdom just outside British-India. As to who gave him the permission or deputation to speak for the rights of the people of another nation, not his own, might also be taken for debate in history.
England of those days must have been simply inundated with all these kinds of individuals of dubious social claims to stature and quality. They are all feudal language speakers in their inner core. But then, many of them would be quite good in English. For, English is a very easy language to learn if one gets the right exposure. (The word ‘right’ used here does need some explanation. However, I cannot go into that here.)
Generally the natives of these barbarian and semi-barbarian lands, once they enter England would have so many cravings. They know that by very feeble-sounding verbal codes they can literally induce catastrophic changes in the English social scene. That makes them quite cunning and satanic, by the mere possession of this capability.
The next thing would be that their very presence would insert terrific changes in the mental demeanour of the various sections of the serene English society. When feudal language speakers look at anyone, sharply different codes of social positioning will radiate from their eyes. It can be detected by the brain software of the other person. If it is a code of adoration, veneration, servitude etc. (like a higher You), the brain software will get a very gratifying experience. If it is the codes of pejorative verbal usages of the feudal languages (like a lower You), the other person would be literally feeling the creepy Satanism in the eyes. It is this creepy Satanism that has created the terrible social systems in feudal language nations.
There might be some creepy inputs from feudal language populations who had wandered into England during the colonial days. However, these persons are supremely rich in England. For instance, way back in 1917, the British-Indian rupee was around 5 to USD in value. As of now, the USD is around 65 Indian rupees. Pakistani and Bangladeshi currencies are also at similar abysmal levels.
When rich persons from feudal language nations arrive inside native-English nations, their next craving would be to get some native-English individual for sexual activity. The experience is not merely connected to the enjoyment of sex alone, but something much beyond it. For, it is a very neat arriving at the supremacy above a native-English social system. When such an exotic experience is conveyed back to the feudal language society, it would create extremely gorgeous verbal frames that can simply heap a supernatural sacredness and hallowedness on to the person who has had this experience.
The English stance that all human beings are innately equal and of equal dignity, has no meaning beyond the slender borders of pristine-English. There are many information that are cleverly withheld from all native-English nations. Native-English academicians who speak about human dignity and human rights have no information on the realities that exists in feudal language nations.
Even though Oscar Wilde was a great English writer, he was also an Irishman. In this book, Alfred Douglas has mentioned a few instances in a mood of jeering his ‘Irishness’.
QUOTE: He was plagued with the Irishman's propensity to muddle his "shalls" and "wills," END OF QUOTE
It is quite curious that this same issue does affect the English spoken in Malabar by persons who had learnt to speak English through their vernacular medium.
QUOTE: Like most Irishmen, he was troubled all his life with attacks of regret which he was accustomed to call remorse. END OF QUOTE
Actually this issue of remorse and regret etc. are encoded in many feudal languages in ways which cannot be imagined in pristine-English. In many feudal languages of South Asia, there is a huge bundle of songs and writings that dwell on remorse, tragic thoughts, melancholic moods, regrets, nostalgic sadness, painful and heavy moods of missing a lover, tragic state of life, lack of freedom, shackled down state of life &c.
Actually if these things are read and reread in English, I think that reader would literally go into a terrific mood of depression. However, that is not the way the thought processes work inside feudal languages. People sit and sing these tragic songs and enjoy them in a way similar to enjoying liquor. Liquor incidentally has a repulsive taste, but one learns to enjoy the repulsive taste and start craving for it.
I have come across songs in the vernacular which go on brooding on the terrible enslavement in which the local people are living. And people go around praising the language and verbal usages in the songs which insert a celestial beauty in tragic living conditions. Yet the fact that most of these tragic states of human existence mentioned in the songs will vanish the moment the feudal languages are removed will not be taken up for pondering.
Yet, the beauty that lies inside these verbalisations of tragic scenes is of a kind that cannot be replicated in pristine-English. For English have no such verbal codes, even to create such lovely tragic scenes.
The same might be the case with Irish. See this quote I saw elsewhere on brainyquotes.com:
QUOTE: Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy, which sustained him through temporary periods of joy. _William Butler Yeats END OF QUOTE (Source is not known).
There is another quote which might also be quite revealing.
QUOTE: His brother is reputed to have said : ''Oscar is an Irish gentleman and will face the music.'' END OF QUOTE
Here the theme might be connected to the codes of ‘honour’ as understood in feudal languages.
QUOTE: I remember having a lengthy and fearful argument with him over Shakespeare's use of the word ''your'' in such phrases as “your tanner will last you eleven years." He could understand neither the force nor the sense of such usages and, though he ''tumbled" in the end, he was a fearful time about it. END OF QUOTE
It is quite curious that the word ‘Your’ is seen mentioned. The word You which is a stature-neutral word in English is not actually understandable in feudal languages. The very concept that every person can be addressed by a single You, Your, Yours etc. is beyond that bounds of feudal languages. Actually persons who have been brought up in feudal languages are of differing stature as encoded inside the virtual software arena of reality.
Apart from that, when the term ‘force’ is used, there is much to be mentioned. English words have a slender force that literally can open up crushed human and animal personality. The contorted facial expressions (caused by the crushing power of feudal language verbal codes) can be slowly changed into a cherubic demeanour in a single life-time or over the generations.
In the case of feudal languages, the effect is different depending on whether the verbal codes are conveying ennoblement or enslavement. The latter will insert contorted facial features, while the former will encode divine demeanour codes.
Apart from the above ideas, there is this thing to be mentioned about Shakespeare's writings. I have read a few of them in my high school and college days. It is true that they are loaded with profundity. However, I could never associate them with any kind of English classical literature or with such books like those of Enid Blyton’s. And in fact, I did come across many mediocre English academicians of South Asia, who could quote from Shakespeare, but had not much reading background in English classics or had even heard of Enid Blyton, unless someone asks them about them.
I have the feeling that Shakespeare writings are full of Continental European themes which might not be English in spirit, language or emotion.
Hence I quote these words from this book:
QUOTE: I remember that when some idiot talked of starting an ''Anti-Shakespeare Society” on the ground that ''Shakespeare never wrote a line of poetry in his life," Wilde was vastly tickled by the idea, and said that Shakespeare had been much overrated. END OF QUOTE.
I do feel that Oscar Wilde was correct. His vision was from beyond the boundaries of pristine-English.
From all these minor bits of information, I should gather that the Irish language is a feudal language quite similar to some feudal languages of Asia, Africa, South Asia, or even of certain nations in Continental Europe.
Commentary
0. Book profile
2. An undercurrent of a non-English
3. Hiding a trigger for homicide
5. Impressions on Alfred Douglas
6. Inserting oneself into an English
9. Verbal communication issues
10. Sensing hidden communication-code
12. To create a social pedestal
13. What comes out of the revelations
14. A very brief commentary on De Profundis
The book
0. Preface
1. Introductory
2. Oxford
7. Lord Queensberry Intervenes
10. Naples and Paris
11. The "Ballad of Reading Gaol”
12. The Truth about "De Profundis"
15. The Article in the ''Revue Blanche"
16. Fifteen Years of Persecution
17. Wilde's Poetry
19. For Posterity
20. The British Museum and "De Profundis"
21. Ransome's "Critical Study"
23. "The Picture of Dorian Gray"
25. Crosland and "The First Stone"
27. Wilde in Russia, France and Germany
28. The Smaller Fry