Is there another literary figure on a par with Oscar Wilde in

>>8405669
Vidal?

>>8405717
Literally never heard of
>a public intellectual known for his patrician manner, epigrammatic wit, and polished style of writing
>patrician manner

What did Wikipedia mean by this?

The artist formerly known as Samuel Clemens.

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>>8405669
Yes

>>8405775
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Even voltaire's death mask was grinning, that smug bastard

>>8405669
contrarianism =/= wit

>>8405771
This. Between writing fiction he mostly doled out scathing and hilarious criticism of his contemporaries.

P.G. Wodehouse

Not really, but Beckett's Dublin University quote always gives me a fine chuckle

>>8405732
>never heard of Gore Vidal
Wew lad

Bierce

Samuel Johnson or Voltaire

>>8405669
>Takes truism.
>Reverses it.

Oh, Oscar, you're so witty!

>>8405732
I suggest you check out the Buckley Jr. versus Vidal debates from 1968. They're still a blast to watch all these years later and show Vidal during one of the highest points in his career.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxXW6tfl2Y0

why did he choose to be gay?

>>8405669
Voltaire btfos himself in a masterful display of meta-wit. Top that shit.

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Pierre motherfucking Caron motherfucking de Beaumarchais

>nobody mentions Dorothy Parker

>>8406470
Like Eminem in the climax rap battle of 8 Mile?

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>>8405669

>>8406840

>>8406804
hahhaahahahaha

>>8405669

>>8406422
because it was edgy

Alexander Pope

>>8406422
most english are gay they're just closeted

>no mention of the Algonquin Tound Table

Really though all of these witticisms get attached to characters who were supposed to have been witty. Usually they didn't actually say half of what gets attributed to them

>>8405717
>As such, and because he thought that men and women potentially are bisexual, Vidal rejected the adjectives "homosexual" and "heterosexual" when used as nouns, as inherently false terms used to classify and control people in society.
I thought I was the only one who believed this. I like this guy already.

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>>8405775

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>>8405775
>
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the picture of dorian gray

is this book good?

de la Rochefoucauld

>>8405669
Definitely Dr Johnson

Wasn't a fan of Dorian Gray. But for some reason I want to like Wilde. Is there anything else he's written that could potentially reverse my negative opinion?

>>8409166
The importance of being earnest is quite witty and humorous

Ambrose Bierce may be a contender, though more sardonic

Shakespeare is the wittiest man ever to have lived

>>8408608
Read the Narratives of Empire series. Unbelievably good, genuinely enjoyable, frequently hilarious, irreverent (overly so, in my opinion) and an excellent American history course to boot.

>>8409166
I didn't like Dorian Gray either. But I do love his plays. Ernest is the best place to start. You might be put off by reading a play (maybe not), but read it. You'll just laugh the whole time. Easy to find a good audio performance too. Read along with it. The jokes will be delivered as they should be. It's fast-moving and smart. Nothing complex. Just hilarious.

>>8409737
I might get around to it, but nonfiction isn't something I'm generally inclined to read.

>>8406144
This. Reading Dorian Gray right now, enjoying it, but Lord Henry's (Wilde's mouthpiece) aphorisms are just inversions of cliches.

Still, the prose alone is worth it.

>>8406840
Did Twain and Wilde ever meet? They were contemporaries, more or less, and both spent significant time in the other's country.

>>8408608
Read Foucault

>>8409166
His essays

>>8405669
>ctrl+f
>no mention of Max Beerbohm
He may not be the kind of bon mots, but his essays are pretty gud if you want wit.

>>8409907
I don't believe they did, but Whitman and Wilde met, and possibly fucked.
>Stoddart tactfully left the two poets alone. ‘If you are willing – will excuse me – I will go off for an hour or so – come back again – leaving you together,’ he said. ‘We would be glad to have you stay,’ Whitman replied. ‘But do not feel to come back in an hour. Don’t come for two or three.’ Whitman opened a bottle of elderberry wine and he and Oscar drank it all before Whitman suggested they go upstairs to his ‘den’ on the third floor where, he told Oscar, ‘We could be on ‘thee and thou’ terms.’

>>8409967
How scandalous.

>>8409967
Fascinating. Maybe Twain was there watching and jacking off.

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>>8406804
This. Amazing in both wit and looks.

>>8405732
>>8406171
Check out Best of Enemies.

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>>8405669
Boris Vian might compare

For all his autism, John Stuart Mill could be quite witty at times, particularly his forays into public debate.

Try reading his take-down of Burke or the slavery apologists of his day without smiling.

>>8407873
He was Irish m8

>>8405775
Nigga, please.

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>>8405669

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>>8405717
you mean pic related Gore Vidal? He's so wooden when he sits down you can't tell which is the chair. His gravelly voice, mechanical movements and offputting facial features mean he shouldn't be mentioned in the same breath as the great Wilde.

>>8411559
that is because he is dead

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>>8410484
Good post

>>8406840
vonnegut?