Christa Giles

185
and these forms are expressed ˝after an accepted manner of
thinking.˝ 485 In other words, the forms address themselves
to the affective life of the mind. Certainly, not only did
Wilde and Huysmans believe that life in the form of art
was preferable and superior to reality, but also that life
only became meaningful when transmuted by means of an
artistic vision. A corollary of this position was that the
individual became a spectator or observer, intellectualizing
his passions or appreciation. For ˝nothing refines but the
intellect,˝ 486 and this cultivated detachment was, as we have
seen, the hallmark of the dandy, whose very life is art.
An obvious extension of the idea of life as art was
that although art had nothing to do with utility it was an
integral part of life: ˝Art is not something you can take or
leave. It is a necessity of human life.˝ 487 Thus both Wilde
and Huysmans had a great interest in interior decoration.
The belief that all arts are interdependent and that tasteful
surroundings could nourish an artistic sensibility was
evinced in Wilde’s lecture ˝House Beautiful,˝ in which he
maintained, for example, that: ˝The school should be the
most beautiful house in the village . . . and punishment to
children should be not to go to school.˝ 488 Huysmans saw
artistic propensities and appreciation as the province of a
gifted elite, and had no desire that it should be fostered in