Christa Giles

imagination. The artist realises the non-existent, and
therein lies his greatness. Thus, invoking the imagination,
Wilde calls for a time when romance will reign:
Out of the sea will rise Behemoth and
Leviathan, and sail round the high-pooped
galleys, as they do on the delightful maps of
those ages when books on geography were
actually readable. Dragons will wander about
the waste places, and the phoenix will soar
from her nest of fire into the air. We shall lay
our hands upon the basilisk, and see the jewel
in the toad’s head. Champing his gilded oats,
the Hippogriff will stand in our stalls, and
over our heads will float the Blue Bird singing
of beautiful and impossible things, of things
that are lovely and that never happen, of
things that are not and that should be. But
before this comes to pass we must cultivate
the lost art of Lying. 17
Facts are the province of the Philistine and Wilde claims
that ˝if something cannot be done to check … our
monstrous worship of facts, Art will become sterile and
beauty will pass away from the land.˝ 18 For art exists
independent of facts, and while it may use ˝life and nature˝
as rough material, these are remoulded by the imagination.
Thus Wilde concludes, ˝As a method, Realism is a complete
failure.˝ 19 Similarly, Des Esseintes feels that given full rein,
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