An interesting, and perhaps unexpected, outcome of undertaking a course about Oscar Wilde is discovering that many aphorisms some of us have repeated for years were penned by the great man himself. This was true even for me, for whom Wilde’s aphorisms have long been a source of wry delight and head-nodding. (See, for example, my article entitled Education according to Oscar Wilde.) For example, I hadn’t realised (or perhaps hadn’t remembered) that “Each man kills the thing he loves” is to be found in the Ballad of Reading Gaol.

The course took place online through the City Lit, and lasted for 6 weeks, and I thought I’d review it in case it’s put on again.

Given how prolific Wilde was, deciding what to include and what to leave out must have been quite a challenge. In the event, it covered two of Wilde’s best-known stories (Lord Arthur Saville’s Crime, and The Canterville Ghost), his best-known play, The Importance of Being Earnest (a play I starred in, incidentally, circa 1982 in the role of the butler Merriman, when I belonged to an amateur dramatics society!), and the trials followed by the Ballad.

I enjoyed the course, but would have preferred it to have been longer. That would have enabled us to look at his fairy stories, and perhaps compare different versions of the “handbag” episode in the Importance of Earnest. Yes, yes, I know I could do all that myself, but without the discipline of having to sit down for two hours a week other needs must take precedence.

The tutor, Julian Birkett, was on top form as usual, and provided interesting reading material and recommendations. It’s definitely a course worth considering if it pops up on the City Lit course list again.