"A Creation Within a Creation"

A response to Oscar Wilde's "The Critic as Artist"

Set as a critical dialogue between two characters, a questioning Ernest and a knowing Gilbert, Oscar Wilde argues and defends his views of criticism - criticism as an art form, the true definition of a critic, and criticism's value over art, for example – in his piece, “The Critic as Artist.” For Wilde, conveyed in the voice of Gilbert, good criticism “treats the work of art simply as a starting point for a new creation.” Moreover, he goes on to say that good criticism does not confine itself “to discovering the real intention of the artist and accepting that as final.” This is the foundation of the Aesthetic movement (written during this time of the Victorian era) as the purpose of art is not to convey meaning but rather to provide pleasure and beauty – “art for art’s sake.”

Therefore, in order to be a good critic, one is not meant to explain the meaning in a piece of art (as this is subjective and meant to be personal for each individual) but to be an interpreter for the public. As Wilde describes, it is the critic’s privilege to be able to make the Beauty of a piece available for the common man. For Wilde, this requires personality as “it is only by intensifying his own personality that the critic can interpret the personality and work of others, and the more real the interpretation becomes, the more satisfying, the more convincing, and the more true.”

Wilde ultimately places the critic above the artist and criticism itself as an art – creative and independent (as it does not necessarily have to reflect the creation for which it is based) – it is a creation within a creation. However, he also believes that unless there is criticism, creativity is meaningless. If he means criticism as personal interpretation, then this would be true as personal interpretation is subjective and potentially creates meaning, from the creativity, for that person. But criticism has to start somewhere and so in order to be a “creation within a creation,” criticism needs a creation – criticism needs art.