Shaw and Religion ed. by Charles A. Berst (review)

II6 Book Reviews adversely criticizes De Profundis and enthusiastically lauds the Ballad of Reading Gaol; and the last chapter dispassionately examines his essays and concludes with a final evaluation of Wilde, aesthete and writer. Most of what this volume contains will appeal to the average reader, at whom it is aimed. Those with more than apassing acquaintance with Wilde's wit and works will be more interested in the speculations and critiques. To cite but one example: Miller, at loggerheads with virtually all Wilde critics, asserts that De Profundis "never approaches the level of artistry which characterizes Wilde's work at its best." For every reader who enjoys The Picture ofDorian Gray, Miller further proclaims, there are a dozen who can recall one of Wilde'5 comedies. Be that as it may, Miller quite properly emphasizes the importance of Wilde's plays. Wilde hoped Vera and The Duchess ofPadua would take London by stann. When they did not, he was forced to comment that both plays were unworthy of him. Miller notes that today, Vera and The Duchess of Padua "have fallen into well-deserved obscurity"; and he maintains that Lady Windermere's Fan, A Woman of No Importance, and An Ideal Husband have "foolish and sentimental plots peopled with one-dimensional characters." Only one of these social comedies, An Ideal Husband, "even comes close to being great drama." He alludes once to Salome, but does not discuss the work. Striving a bit too hard to be disinterested, Miller is all too frequently hypercritical. On the one hand, he seems intent upon objectivity; on the other, he almost seems bent on cutting Wilde down to size - almost, because one defect ofthis study is its uneven tone. Miller nevertheless does greatly admire Wilde's last play, The Importance of Being Earnest, and he labels it "one of the finest comedies in English." To hope for a photograph or two of Wilde, considering the length and price of this book, is expecting too much, perhaps; and a five-and-a-half-page chronology prefacing the text does provide a reasonably good verbal portrait of its subject. Then, too, the clearly written seven chapters are followed by primary and secondary bibliographies and a suitable index. As for the text itself, it suggests that Wilde's own life was a tragicomedy of drastic proportions. "To fall in love with oneself," Wilde once quipped, "was the beginning ofa lifelong romance." And possibly, since he fell so deeply in love with himself, with his wit, his poetry, his works offiction, and his plays, his life took upon itself the nature ofa drama in which he played fop, wit, victim and martyr. When Wilde's life is seen in its triumphs and its final tragedy, when his tragic flaw is better understood, a pronouncement that Frank Harris once delivered in summing Wilde up becomes especially relevant. "Oscar Wilde's greatest play was his own life," Harris wrote. "It was a five-act tragedy with Greek implications and he was its most ardent spectator." G.A. CEVASCO, ST. JOHN'S UNIVERSITY CHARLES A. BERST, ed. Shaw andReligion (Shaw: The Annual ofBernardShaw Studies. Volume One). University Park, PA and London: Pennsylvania State University Press 1981. Pp. vi, 258. $15.95. Shaw and Religion, a collection of twelve essays of varying length by various hands, introduces the reincarnation of the journal known and respected for many years as The Book Reviews 117 ShawReview. Still under the general editorship ofStanley Weintraub, it follows the lead of Shakespeare Studies and Milton Studies as an annual hardback, with the directly simple title: Shaw. With a skepticism doubtless bred in the supennarket, I tend to view all new packaging as a strategy to give me less for more money - a suspicion partially allayed in this case by the assurance on the dust jacket that I will get twice as many pages annually as with the old three-issue fonnat. There is no question but that this substantial, well-edited and handsomely printed volume will have a more durable shelf life than its predecessor; but I am happy to report that the atmosphere of self-importance that too often surrounds a "book" has not destroyed...