Hey Everyone!!
I hope you enjoyed ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ this month!! I without doubt did!
Throughout my years, I’ve pried its cover open all but a dozen times, and as luck would have it, never has Dorian’s duality—or double-life—resonated so much..
On countless occasion, we witnessed how he juggled multidimensionality—or various persona—within his character, case in point, when a persona he exhibited before upper-class partygoers in the country laid poles apart from a persona deep within himself who longed to put an excuse to the party hostess, bolt home to the city, and snatch a moth-ridden drape off the latest alteration of his self-portrait—which he ultimately did!
While I’ve never resided in Victorian England, owned a soul-revealing self-portrait, or maintained an overly-cynical acquaintance (…or, at least I don’t believe I have! lol), Dorian’s duality resonated nonetheless because of innumerable instances when I myself had juggled personas—whether it was when I’d met-up with friends versus someone new, or when I’d attended a sporting event versus a workplace meeting.
We’ve all experienced duality or shuffled our persona to some extent, except perhaps not as much as Jack and Algernon in July’s reading, ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’!!
First performed 1895, ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ is a comedic play by Oscar Wilde which follows two gentlemen—Jack from the country and Algernon from the city—who upon travel to the other’s place of origin—Jack to the city and Algernon to the country—undertake an alternate identity under the name ‘Ernest’ to avoid social obligations (i.e. to behave as they pleased without risk to their name back home). But when both meet the lady of his wildest dreams who, by the way, insists on only marrying a man named ‘Ernest’ (..lol), both gentlemen go to rib-cracking lengths to maintain his alternate persona.
Please note that beginning in August, we’ll return to women in literature (and perhaps one more trip down the road to Avonlea!), but until then, if you’d like to read a piece with comedic duality and flare, please visit your local library, snag ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ by Oscar Wilde, and read it this month with me!
Many thanks, folks, & we’ll ttys!!
Phil