Christa Giles

192
It is telling that Wilde in ˝The Critic as Artist,˝ reiterates
Huysmans’ position:
It is only about things that do not interest one
that one can give a really unbiassed opinion,
which is no doubt the reason why an
unbiassed opinion is always absolutely
valueless…Art is a passion, and, in matters of
art, Thought is inevitably coloured by
emotion, and so is fluid rather than
fixed…One should, of course, have no
prejudices; but, as a great Frenchman once
remarked a hundred years ago, it is one’s
business in such matters to have
preferences… 503
And lack of ˝fairness˝ was justified on the grounds that
taking a well-thought out position based on a genuine
aesthetic response validates any critical stance for ˝in
aesthetic criticism attitude is everything.˝ 504 This is an
extension of Wilde’s view that one must adopt a mask or a
pose in order to use the paradox and ambiguity which is
necessary to treat the complexity and ˝relativity˝ of modern
life. Huysmans did not take such a clear-cut position
although, as we have seen, he too presented characters who
adopted masks and attitudes, and deliberate use of
ambiguity and undercutting devices such as self-mockery