last night, somehow, i got conned into working two shifts back-to-back. i work in a group home for people diagnosed with "mental illness". so i was there for twenty consecutive hours. it sounds unreasonable, but it actually was quite doable--though by 9 am (i worked from 1 pm to 9 am) i was ready to leave. it gave me a chance to finish reading The Picture of Dorian Gray (by Oscar Wilde), which was quite excellent. i shivered upon stumbling across this exquisite passage:
"My dear Gladys!" cried Lord Henry. "How can you say that? Romance lives by repetition, and repetition converts an appetite into an art. Besides, each time that one loves is the only time one has ever loved. Difference of object does not alter singleness of passion. It merely intensifies it. We can have in life but one great experience at best, and the secret of life is to reproduce that experience as often as possible."
"Even when one has been wounded by it, Harry?" asked the Duchess, after a pause.
"Especially when one has been wounded by it," answered Lord Henry.
is this not an exquisite formulation of Nietzsche's eternal return as principle of ethical selection? it turns out Oscar Wilde is an ethicist i can admire. the secret to reading The Picture of Dorian Gray is paying attention to the details, not necessarily the overall narrative structure. there are many pearls of brilliance and highly sloganizable bits of wisdom scattered through the pages (and anyone who has studied lojong is aware of the efficacy of sloganizing one's wisdom). it is startling to see on the printed page such a succinct expression of what has been, for many years, one of my own secret ways of living life...
"My dear Gladys!" cried Lord Henry. "How can you say that? Romance lives by repetition, and repetition converts an appetite into an art. Besides, each time that one loves is the only time one has ever loved. Difference of object does not alter singleness of passion. It merely intensifies it. We can have in life but one great experience at best, and the secret of life is to reproduce that experience as often as possible."
"Even when one has been wounded by it, Harry?" asked the Duchess, after a pause.
"Especially when one has been wounded by it," answered Lord Henry.
is this not an exquisite formulation of Nietzsche's eternal return as principle of ethical selection? it turns out Oscar Wilde is an ethicist i can admire. the secret to reading The Picture of Dorian Gray is paying attention to the details, not necessarily the overall narrative structure. there are many pearls of brilliance and highly sloganizable bits of wisdom scattered through the pages (and anyone who has studied lojong is aware of the efficacy of sloganizing one's wisdom). it is startling to see on the printed page such a succinct expression of what has been, for many years, one of my own secret ways of living life...
VIEW 4 of 4 COMMENTS
aleksa:
I'm ashamed to admit that I've never read Dorian Gray. I'm going to have to pick that up at my next bookstore trip.
duckeh:
I believe I've heard of this book before, I've just never given it a try. It definitely sounds worth the read, to say the least, so I'll have to look ip up next time I'm in a bookstore (which will hopefully be soon).