June 11, 2013

The Original Sin: "Being Boring"

William Giraldi said in the Daily Best that Oscar Wilde regarded "being boring" as the ultimate, inexcusable sin:
"For Wilde, to be boring was the only unpardonable sin."
The passage drew a tangent out of a narrative discussion on modern literature that came to discuss Martin Amis, among others. The nexus being that Oscar Wilde was the hero of Martin Amis.

Moving on, this Wilde idea of "being boring" echoes directly the stance of Christopher Hitchens, who himself is the self-proclaimed best friend of Martin Amis and self-professed hater of boredom. Hitchens said to attendees at the Hay Festival in 2003 that he regarded "being boring" as the one thing that "frightens him the most. Watch that here.

It would be wrong not to mention the linkages here, between Wilde, Amis and Hitchens. Three literary giants which shows the incestuous circularity of the writing world. And by that you can tell that I'm not sure if this triumvirate is a good thing or not.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...