Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Never match wits with a master. That is to say, when reviewing a genius wit like Oscar Wilde (and who is there like him?), don’t try to be witty yourself. You can’t measure up.
So what to say about “In the Company of Oscar Wilde”? Insofar as it channels Wilde’s wit, insight, passion and despair, it is pretty much beyond any critical tools I can wield. In a potpourri of aphorisms, excerpts from poems and plays and, to conclude, an eloquent and deeply painful excerpt from his final, bleak view of his own life, “De Profundis,” it gives us a Wilde both sprightly and somber, with the ultimate emphasis on the latter.
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