Speaker 1: Cool Zone Media book Club book Club book Club book Club.
Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to Coolson Media book Club, the only
Speaker 1: book club where I do the reading for you. I'm
Speaker 1: your host, Margaret Kiljoy. And this week I'm really excited
Speaker 1: about this week. I probably say that most weeks I'm
Speaker 1: pretty excited about most weeks. I kind of love my job.
Speaker 1: So today's story is by one of my all time
Speaker 1: favorite people, Oscar Wilde. He's one of the most misquoted
Speaker 1: and misremembered people in history. Oscar Wilde was an Irish
Speaker 1: anarchist who lived at the end of the nineteenth century
Speaker 1: and became for a while the most famous Irish Man
Speaker 1: in England. He's remembered for being clever and various quips
Speaker 1: like telling border guards I have nothing to declare but
Speaker 1: my genius, or for how on his deathbed he kept
Speaker 1: telling visitors me and that wallpaper, or in a fight
Speaker 1: to the death. He's remembered as this basically a political
Speaker 1: clever fellow, not just as a dandy, but as the dandie.
Speaker 1: I remember him differently after all that I've read about him.
Speaker 1: I did a two parter on cool people who did
Speaker 1: cool stuff about him recently. Check it. Out if you
Speaker 1: haven't already. Oscar Wilde was a flamboyant queer icon who
Speaker 1: beat up his bullies and talked openly and intelligently about anarchism,
Speaker 1: including paying the bail for an anarchist and writing this essay,
Speaker 1: The Soul of Man under Socialism, which became one of
Speaker 1: the most widely read tracts about socialism, and it was
Speaker 1: about anti authoritarian socialism. Because he was cool, he was
Speaker 1: persecuted relentlessly for his sexuality, and eventually the state essentially
Speaker 1: hounded him to death. After a spectacular show trial, he
Speaker 1: was convicted to hard labor for his sexual interest in men,
Speaker 1: which broke his health and led him to an early grave.
Speaker 1: It's how I learned that a treadmill was originally called
Speaker 1: that because prisoners would walk on it to mill things
Speaker 1: like he had to do. He wrote introspectively about his
Speaker 1: time in prison, about how suffering is as much a
Speaker 1: part of life as the joy and reckless abandoned that
Speaker 1: he'd also sought out in his life. On his deathbed,
Speaker 1: with his longtime lover and sometimes partner at his side,
Speaker 1: he converted to Catholicism. He was also yes woody as hell,
Speaker 1: so queer Irish Catholic anarchist Oscar Wilde. I see you.
Speaker 1: This week's story is the title story of a book
Speaker 1: he published in eighteen eighty eight, at the peak of
Speaker 1: his career and as he was just discovering his politics.
Speaker 1: The book is called The Happy Prince and Other Stories,
Speaker 1: and the story is called The Happy Prince. You probably
Speaker 1: figured that out because it's in the title of the
Speaker 1: episode you downloaded, and also because I told you it
Speaker 1: was the title story of a book called The Happy Prince.
Speaker 1: I hope you enjoy this story as much as I do.
Speaker 1: Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde eighteen eighty eight. High above
Speaker 1: the city, on a tall column stood the statue of
Speaker 1: the Happy Prince. He was gilded all over with thin
Speaker 1: leaves of fine gold for eyes. He had two bright sapphires,
Speaker 1: and a large red ruby glowed on his sword hilt.
Speaker 1: He was very much admired. Indeed, he is as beautiful
Speaker 1: as a weathercock, remarked one of the town counselors, who
Speaker 1: wished to gain a reputation for having artistic tastes. Only
Speaker 1: not quite so useful, he added, fearing lest people should
Speaker 1: think him unpractical, which he really was. Not. Why can't
Speaker 1: you be like the happy prince, asked a sensible mother
Speaker 1: of her little boy, who was crying for the moon.
Speaker 1: The happy prince never dreams of crying for anything. I
Speaker 1: am glad there is someone in the world who is
Speaker 1: quite happy, muttered a disappointed man as he gazed at
Speaker 1: the wonderful statue. He looks just like an angel, said
Speaker 1: the charity children as they came out of the cathedral
Speaker 1: in their bright scarlet cloaks and their clean white pen
Speaker 1: How do you know, said the mathematical master. You have
Speaker 1: never seen one, Ah, but we have in our dreams,
Speaker 1: answered the children, And the mathematical master frowned and looked
Speaker 1: very severe, for he did not approve of children dreaming.
Speaker 1: One night, there flew over the city a little swallow.
Speaker 1: His friends had gone away to Egypt six weeks before,
Speaker 1: but he had stayed behind, for he was in love
Speaker 1: with most beautiful Reed. He had met her early in
Speaker 1: the spring as he was flying down the river after
Speaker 1: a big yellow moth, and had been so attracted by
Speaker 1: her slender waiste that he had stopped to talk to her.
Speaker 1: Shall I love you? Said the swallow, who liked to
Speaker 1: come to the point at once, and the reed made
Speaker 1: him a low bow. So he flew round and round her,
Speaker 1: touching the water with his wings, making silver ripples. This
Speaker 1: was his courtship, and it lasted all through the summer.
Speaker 1: It is a ridiculous attachment, twittered the other swallows. She
Speaker 1: has no money and far too many relations. And indeed
Speaker 1: the river was quite full of reeds. Then when the
Speaker 1: autumn came, they all flew away. After they had gone,
Speaker 1: he felt lonely and began to tire of his lady love.
Speaker 1: She is no conversation, he said, And I am afraid
Speaker 1: she is a coquette, for she is always flirting with
Speaker 1: the wind, and certainly whenever the wind blew, the reed
Speaker 1: made the most graceful curtsies. I admit that she is domestic,
Speaker 1: he continued. But I love traveling, and my wife consequently
Speaker 1: should love traveling also. Will you come away with me,
Speaker 1: he said finally to her. But the reeds shook her head.
Speaker 1: She was so attached to her home. You have been
Speaker 1: trifling with me, he cried. I am off to the pyramids.
Speaker 1: Good bye, And he flew away. All day long he flew,
Speaker 1: and at night time he arrived at the city. Where
Speaker 1: shall I put up, he said, I hope the town
Speaker 1: has made preparations. Then he saw the statue on the
Speaker 1: tall column. I will put up there, he cried. It
Speaker 1: is a fine position with plenty of fresh air. So
Speaker 1: he alighted just between the feet of the happy prince.
Speaker 1: I have a golden bedroom, he said softly to himself
Speaker 1: as he looked round, and he prepared to go to sleep.
Speaker 1: But just as he was putting his head under his wing,
Speaker 1: a large drop of water fell on him. What a
Speaker 1: curious thing, he cried. There is not a single cloud
Speaker 1: in the sky. The stars are quite clear and bright,
Speaker 1: and yet it is raining. The climate in the north
Speaker 1: of Europe is really dreadful. The reed used to like
Speaker 1: the rain, but that was merely her selfishness. Then another
Speaker 1: drop fell. What is the use of a statue if
Speaker 1: it cannot keep the rain off? He said, I must
Speaker 1: look for a good chimney pot, and he determined to
Speaker 1: fly away. But before he had opened his wings, a
Speaker 1: third drop fell, and he looked up and saw, Ah,
Speaker 1: what did he see? I'll tell you what he saw,
Speaker 1: but only after you listen to ads like a captive audience,
Speaker 1: or press the forward fifteen seconds button. As many times
Speaker 1: as you want, until you hear the bumper music, and
Speaker 1: then I'll start again, and we're back. The eyes of
Speaker 1: the Happy Prince were filled with tears, and tears were
Speaker 1: running down his golden cheeks. His face was so beautiful
Speaker 1: in the moonlight that the little swallow was filled with pity.
Speaker 1: Who are you? He said, I am the happy Prince.
Speaker 1: Why are you weeping? Then asked the swallow, You've quite
Speaker 1: drenched me. When I was alive and had a human heart,
Speaker 1: answered the statue, I did not know what tears were,
Speaker 1: for I lived in the Palace of San Souci, where
Speaker 1: sorrow is not allowed to enter. In the daytime, I
Speaker 1: played with my companions in the garden, and in the
Speaker 1: evening I led the dance in the great hall. Round
Speaker 1: the garden ran a very lofty wall, but I never
Speaker 1: cared to ask what lay beyond it. Everything around me
Speaker 1: was so beautiful. My courtiers called me the happy Prince,
Speaker 1: and happy indeed I was, if pleasure be happiness. So
Speaker 1: I lived, and so I died, And now that I
Speaker 1: am dead, they have set me up here so high
Speaker 1: that I can see all the ugliness and all the
Speaker 1: misery of my city. And though my heart is made
Speaker 1: of lead. I cannot choose, but weep. What is he
Speaker 1: not solid gold? Said the swallow to himself. He was
Speaker 1: too polite to make any personal remarks out loud. Far away,
Speaker 1: continued the statue in a low musical voice. Far away,
Speaker 1: in a little street, there is a poorhouse. One of
Speaker 1: the windows is open, and through it I can see
Speaker 1: a woman seated at a table. Her face is thin
Speaker 1: and worn, and she has coarse, red hands, all pricked
Speaker 1: by the needle, for she is a seamstress. She is
Speaker 1: embroidering passion flowers on a satin gown for the loveliest
Speaker 1: of the Queen's maids of honor to wear at the
Speaker 1: next court ball. In a bed in the corner of
Speaker 1: the room, her little boy is lying ill. He has
Speaker 1: a fever and is asking for oranges. His mother has
Speaker 1: nothing to give him but river water, so he is crying. Swallow, swallow,
Speaker 1: little swallow, will you not bring her the ruby out
Speaker 1: of my sword hilt. My feet are fastened to this pedestal,
Speaker 1: and I cannot move. I am waited for in Egypt,
Speaker 1: said the swallow. My friends are flying up and down
Speaker 1: the nile and talking to the large lotus flowers. Soon
Speaker 1: they will go to sleep in the tomb of the
Speaker 1: Great King. The king is there himself in his painted coffin.
Speaker 1: He is wrapped in yellow linen and embalmed with spices.
Speaker 1: Round his neck is a chain of pale green jade,
Speaker 1: and his hands are like withered leaves. Swallow, Swallow, little swallow,
Speaker 1: said the prince, will you not stay with me for
Speaker 1: one night and be my messenger? The boy is so thirsty,
Speaker 1: and the mother so sad. I don't think I like boys,
Speaker 1: answered the swallow. Last summer, when I was staying on
Speaker 1: the river, there were two rude boys, the miller's sons,
Speaker 1: who are always throwing stones at me. They never hit me.
Speaker 1: Of course, we swallows fly far too well for that,
Speaker 1: and besides, I come of a family famous for its agility.
Speaker 1: But still it was a mark of disrespect. But the
Speaker 1: happy prince looked so sad that the little swallow was sorry.
Speaker 1: It is very cold here, he said, but I will
Speaker 1: stay with you for one night and be your messenger.
Speaker 1: Thank you, little swallow, said the prince. So the swallow
Speaker 1: picked out the great ruby from the Prince's sword and
Speaker 1: flew away with it in his beak. Over the roofs
Speaker 1: of the town. He passed by the cathedral tower, where
Speaker 1: the white marble angels were sculptured. He passed by the
Speaker 1: palace and heard the sound of dancing. A beautiful girl
Speaker 1: came out on the balcony with her lover. How wonderful
Speaker 1: the stars are, he said to her, And how wonderful
Speaker 1: is the power of love. I hope my dress will
Speaker 1: be ready in time for the state ball. She answered,
Speaker 1: I have ordered passion flowers to be embroidered on it,
Speaker 1: but this seems stresses are so lazy. He passed over
Speaker 1: the river and saw the lanterns hanging to the masts
Speaker 1: of the ships. He passed over the ghetto and saw
Speaker 1: the old Jews bargaining with each other and weighing out
Speaker 1: money in copper scales. At last he came to the
Speaker 1: poorhouse and looked in. The boy was tossing feverishly on
Speaker 1: his bed, and the mother had fallen asleep, she was
Speaker 1: so tired. In he hopped and laid the great ruby
Speaker 1: on the table beside the woman's thimble. Then he flew
Speaker 1: gently round the bed, fanning the boy's forehead with his wings.
Speaker 1: How cool I feel, said the boy. It must be
Speaker 1: getting better, and he sank into a delicious slumber. Then
Speaker 1: the swallow flew back to the happy Prince and told
Speaker 1: him what he had done. It is curious, he remarked,
Speaker 1: But I feel quite warm now, although it is so cold.
Speaker 1: That is because you have done a good action, said
Speaker 1: the prince. And the little swallow began to think, and
Speaker 1: then he fell asleep. Thinking always made him sleepy. When
Speaker 1: day broke, he fled down to the river and had
Speaker 1: a bath. What a remarkable phenomenon, said the professor of
Speaker 1: ornithology as he was passing over the bridge. A swallow
Speaker 1: in winter, and he wrote a long letter about him
Speaker 1: to the local newspaper. Everyone quoted it. It was so
Speaker 1: full of so many words that they could not understand. Tonight,
Speaker 1: I shall go to Egypt, said the swallow, and he
Speaker 1: was in high spirits at the prospect. He visited all
Speaker 1: the public monuments and sat a long time on top
Speaker 1: of the church steeple. Wherever he went, the sparrows chirruped
Speaker 1: and said to each other, what a distinguished stranger. So
Speaker 1: he enjoyed himself very much. When the moon rose, he
Speaker 1: flew back to the happy Prince. Have you any commissions
Speaker 1: for Egypt, he cried, I am just starting. Swallow, Swallow,
Speaker 1: little swallow, said the prince, Will you not stay with
Speaker 1: me one night longer? I am waited for in Egypt,
Speaker 1: answered the swallow. Tomorrow my friends will fly up to
Speaker 1: the second cataract. The river horse couches there among the bulrushes,
Speaker 1: and on a great granite throne sits the god Memnon.
Speaker 1: All night long he watches the stars, and when the
Speaker 1: morning star shines, he utters one cry of joy, and
Speaker 1: then he is silent. At noon, the yellow lions come
Speaker 1: down to the water's edge to drink. They have eyes
Speaker 1: like green barrels, and their roar is louder than the
Speaker 1: roar of the cataract. Swallow, Swallow, little swallow, said the prince.
Speaker 1: Far away, across the city, I see a young man
Speaker 1: in a garret. He is leaning over a desk covered
Speaker 1: with papers, and in a tumbler. By his side there
Speaker 1: is a bunch of withered violets. His hair is brown
Speaker 1: and crisp, and his lips are as red as pomegranate,
Speaker 1: and he has large and dreamy eyes. He is trying
Speaker 1: to finish a play for the director of the theater,
Speaker 1: but he is too cold to write any more. There
Speaker 1: is no fire in the grate, and hunger has made
Speaker 1: him faint. I will wait with you one night longer,
Speaker 1: said the swallow, who really had a good heart. Shall
Speaker 1: I take him another ruby? Alas I have no ruby now,
Speaker 1: said the prince. My eyes are all that I have left.
Speaker 1: They are made of rare sapphires, which were brought out
Speaker 1: of India a thousand years ago. Pluck out one of
Speaker 1: them and take it to him. He will sell it
Speaker 1: to the jeweler and buy food and firewood and finish
Speaker 1: his play. Dear Prince, said the swallow. I cannot do that,
Speaker 1: and he began to weep. Swallow, swallow, little swallow, said
Speaker 1: the prince, Do as I command you. So the swallow
Speaker 1: plucked out the prince's eye and flew away to the
Speaker 1: student's garret. It was easy enough to get in, as
Speaker 1: there was a hole in the roof. Through this he
Speaker 1: darted and came into the room. The young man had
Speaker 1: his head buried in his hands, so he did not
Speaker 1: hear the flutter of the bird's wings, and when he
Speaker 1: looked up he found the beautiful sapphire lying on the
Speaker 1: withered violets. I am beginning to be appreciated. He cried,
Speaker 1: this is from some great admirer. Now I can finish
Speaker 1: my play, and he looked quite happy. The next day,
Speaker 1: the swallow flew down to the harbor. He sat on
Speaker 1: the mast of a large vessel and watched the sailors
Speaker 1: hauling big chests out of the hold with ropes. Heave
Speaker 1: a hoy, they shouted as each chest came up. I
Speaker 1: am going to Egypt, cried the swallow. But nobody minded,
Speaker 1: and when the moon rose, he flew back to the
Speaker 1: happy prince. I am come to bid you good bye,
Speaker 1: he cried, Swallow, Swallow, little swallow, said the prince. Will
Speaker 1: you not stay with me one night longer? It is winter,
Speaker 1: answered the swallow, and the chill snow will soon be
Speaker 1: here in Egypt. The sun is warm on the green
Speaker 1: palm trees, and the crocodiles lie in the mud and
Speaker 1: look lazily about them. My companions are building a nest
Speaker 1: in the temple of Baldbeck, and the pink and white
Speaker 1: doves are watching them and cooing to each other. Dear Prince,
Speaker 1: I must leave you, but I will never forget you,
Speaker 1: and next spring I will bring you back. Two beautiful
Speaker 1: jewels in place of those you have given away. The
Speaker 1: ruby shall be redder than a red rose, and the
Speaker 1: sapphire shall be as blue as the great sea. In
Speaker 1: the square below, said the happy Prince, there stands a
Speaker 1: little match girl. She has let her matches fall in
Speaker 1: the gutter, and they are all spoiled. Her father will
Speaker 1: beat her if she does not bring home some money,
Speaker 1: and she is crying. She has no shoes or stockings,
Speaker 1: and her little head is bare. Pluck out my other
Speaker 1: eye and give it to her, and her father will
Speaker 1: not beat her. I will stay with you one night longer,
Speaker 1: said the swallow. But I cannot pluck out your eye.
Speaker 1: You would be quite blind. Then, swallow, swallow, little swallow,
Speaker 1: said the prince, Do as I command you. So he
Speaker 1: plucked out the Prince's other eye and darted down with it.
Speaker 1: He swooped past the match girl and slipped the jewel
Speaker 1: into the palm of her hand. What a lovely bit
Speaker 1: of glass, cried the little girl, and she ran home laughing.
Speaker 1: Then the swallow came back to the prince. You are
Speaker 1: blind now, he said, so I will stay with you always. No, swallow,
Speaker 1: said the poor prince, You must go away to Egypt.
Speaker 1: I will stay with you, always, said the swallow, and
Speaker 1: he slept at the Prince's feet, and Umm, here's ads,
Speaker 1: and we're back. All the next day he sat on
Speaker 1: the Prince's shoulder and told him stories of what he
Speaker 1: had seen in strange lands. He told him of the
Speaker 1: red ibises, who stand in long rows on the banks
Speaker 1: of the nile and catch goldfish in their beaks, Of
Speaker 1: the sphinx, who is as old as the world itself
Speaker 1: and lives in the desert and knows everything. Of the
Speaker 1: merchants who walk slowly by the sides of their camels
Speaker 1: and carry amber beads in their hands. Of the king
Speaker 1: of the mountains of the moon, who is as black
Speaker 1: as ebony and worships a large crystal. Of the great
Speaker 1: green snake that sleeps in the palm tree and has
Speaker 1: twenty priests to feed it with honeycakes. And of the pigmies,
Speaker 1: who sail over a big lake on large flat leaves
Speaker 1: and are always at war with the butterflies. Dear little swallow,
Speaker 1: said the Prince, you tell me of marvelous things, but
Speaker 1: more marvelous than anything, as the suffering of men and
Speaker 1: of women. There is no mystery so great as misery.
Speaker 1: Fly over my city, little swallow, and tell me what
Speaker 1: you see there. So the swallow flew over the great
Speaker 1: city and saw the rich making merry in their beautiful houses,
Speaker 1: while the beggars were sitting at the gates. He flew
Speaker 1: into dark lanes and saw the white faces of starving
Speaker 1: children looking out listlessly at the black streets. Under the
Speaker 1: archway of a bridge, two little boys were lying in
Speaker 1: one another's arms and trying to keep themselves warm. How
Speaker 1: hungry we are, they said. You must not lie here,
Speaker 1: shouted the watchmen, and they wandered out into the rain.
Speaker 1: Then he flew back and told the prince what he
Speaker 1: had seen. I am covered with fine gold, said the prince.
Speaker 1: You must take it off, leaf by leaf and give
Speaker 1: it to my poor. The living always think that gold
Speaker 1: can make them happy. Leaf after leaf of the fine
Speaker 1: gold the swallow picked off, till the happy prince looked
Speaker 1: quite dull and gray. Leaf after leaf of the fine
Speaker 1: gold he brought to the poor, And the children's faces
Speaker 1: grew rosier, and they laughed and played games in the streets.
Speaker 1: We have bread now, they cried. Then the snow came,
Speaker 1: and after the snow came the frost. The streets looked
Speaker 1: as if they were made of silver, they were so
Speaker 1: bright and glistening. Long icicles like crystal daggers hung down
Speaker 1: from the eaves of the houses, and everybody went about
Speaker 1: in furs, and the little boys wore scarlet caps and
Speaker 1: skatered on the ice. The poor little swallow grew colder
Speaker 1: and colder, but he would not leave the prince. He
Speaker 1: loved him too well. He picked up crumbs outside the
Speaker 1: baker's door when the baker was not looking, and tried
Speaker 1: to keep himself warm by flapping his wings. But at
Speaker 1: last he knew he was going to die. He had
Speaker 1: just enough strength to fly up to the prince's shoulder
Speaker 1: once more. Goodbye, dear Prince, he murmured, will you let
Speaker 1: me kiss your hand? I am glad that you are
Speaker 1: going to Egypt. At last, a little swallow, said the prince.
Speaker 1: You have stayed too long here, but you must kiss
Speaker 1: me on the lips, for I love you. It is
Speaker 1: not to Egypt that I am going, said the swallow.
Speaker 1: I am going to the house of death. Death is
Speaker 1: the brother of sleep, is he not? And he kissed
Speaker 1: the happy prince on the lips and fell down dead
Speaker 1: at his feet. At that moment, a curious crack sounded
Speaker 1: inside the statue, as if something had broken. The fact
Speaker 1: is that the leaden heart had snapt right in two.
Speaker 1: It certainly was a dreadfully hard frost. Early next morning,
Speaker 1: the mayor was walking in the square below in company
Speaker 1: with the town councilors. As they passed the column, he
Speaker 1: looked up at the statue. Dear me, how shabby the
Speaker 1: happy Prince looks, he said, How shabby? Indeed, cried the
Speaker 1: town councilors, who always agreed with the mayor, and they
Speaker 1: went up to look at it. The ruby has fallen
Speaker 1: out of his sword, his eyes are gone, and he
Speaker 1: is golden no longer, said the mare. In fact, he
Speaker 1: is little better than a beggar. Little better than a beggar,
Speaker 1: said the town councilors. And here is actually a dead
Speaker 1: bird at his feet, continued the mayor. We really must
Speaker 1: issue a proclamation that birds are not allowed to die there.
Speaker 1: And the town clerk made a note of the suggestion.
Speaker 1: So they pulled down the statue of the happy Prince.
Speaker 1: As he is no longer beautiful, he is no longer useful,
Speaker 1: said the art professor at the university. Then they melted
Speaker 1: the statue in a furnace, and the mayor held a
Speaker 1: meeting of the corporation to decide what was to be
Speaker 1: done with the metal. We must have an statue, of course,
Speaker 1: he said. And it shall be a statue of myself.
Speaker 1: Of myself, said each of the town counselors, and they quarreled.
Speaker 1: When I last heard of them, they were quarreling. Still,
Speaker 1: what a strange thing, said the overseer of the workmen
Speaker 1: at the foundry. This broken lead heart will not melt
Speaker 1: in the furnace. We must throw it away. So they
Speaker 1: threw it on the dust heap, where the dead swallow
Speaker 1: was also lying. Bring me the two most precious things
Speaker 1: in the city, said God to one of his angels,
Speaker 1: And the angel brought him the leaden heart and the
Speaker 1: dead bird. You have rightly chosen, said God, For in
Speaker 1: my garden of Paradise, this little bird shall sing for evermore,
Speaker 1: and in my city of Gold, the happy prince shall
Speaker 1: praise me. And that's the story. I got emotional when
Speaker 1: the bird died. I likes the bird. I like this
Speaker 1: story so much. I do have to acknowledge. Right, you
Speaker 1: can see of very Victorian orientalism going on throughout here, right,
Speaker 1: But it's interesting to me for a couple reasons. The
Speaker 1: part that stands out to me, of course the most
Speaker 1: is you know, then the Jews in their ghetto counting
Speaker 1: money on scales, right, And it's like not exactly the
Speaker 1: best representation. It comes in the context as I understand it,
Speaker 1: and I could be wrong about this, it's like kind
Speaker 1: of a description of how interesting and diverse the city is.
Speaker 1: You know. The swallow is someone who clearly cares about
Speaker 1: the great many different and interesting and beautiful things that
Speaker 1: happen all over the world, and also like right at
Speaker 1: home where he lives. And so you can look at
Speaker 1: the orientalism as part of that. But then another aspect
Speaker 1: of it that I think was probably conscious. You could
Speaker 1: get hanged for being gay at this time, or maybe
Speaker 1: they had just passed that, like we no longer hang you.
Speaker 1: He just sends you to hard labor and then koll
Speaker 1: you that way, which is what happened to Oscar Wilde.
Speaker 1: He is the swallow very obviously in the story, and
Speaker 1: he dies right about fifteen years after this came out.
Speaker 1: And gay men would go to the Ottoman mp higher
Speaker 1: because being a gay man in the Ottoman Empire was
Speaker 1: not a death sentence, and instead it was like a
Speaker 1: place where being gay it was a okay by and large.
Speaker 1: There were like certain laws against it that weren't really enforced.
Speaker 1: Those different at different times and places. But I've read
Speaker 1: a bunch of different times about European men with enough
Speaker 1: means getting themselves the fuck over to the Ottoman Empire,
Speaker 1: and so it seems like all of the other swallows
Speaker 1: have gone to Egypt. It feels to me like that's
Speaker 1: what he's talking about. Though of course obviously swallows, you know,
Speaker 1: literally migrate, right. But that's my read on that part
Speaker 1: of it. Is there a word for when someone writes
Speaker 1: a parable about their own future and gets it kind
Speaker 1: of creepily right? Like, I don't know, because that's what's
Speaker 1: happening in this story. Oscar Wilde was a dandy and
Speaker 1: he you know, kind of didn't care about anything, and
Speaker 1: he was you know, he was Irish. He was a
Speaker 1: colonized subject, but he was a Protestant and from a
Speaker 1: good background and not doing particularly badly right, and he
Speaker 1: was part of high society in London. And so here's
Speaker 1: this thing about being like, oh wait, no, fuck all
Speaker 1: of that. The thing that matters is to turn my
Speaker 1: attention to oppression and start trying, through whatever means, to
Speaker 1: start dealing with that. And that's what he did. The
Speaker 1: most quotable man in history. But one of the quotes
Speaker 1: that people don't say as often is I'm going to
Speaker 1: get it wrong, but misquoting Oscar Wild's like part of
Speaker 1: the fun. But people ask what is the best government
Speaker 1: for the artists to live under? And the answer is
Speaker 1: no government at all. The other thing let's talk about
Speaker 1: more in the episode about him, but I just like
Speaker 1: really want to reiterate. You know, yes, there is a
Speaker 1: moral lesson to this story, right, and it's like not
Speaker 1: surprising that this man ended up both an anarchist and
Speaker 1: Catholic after reading this story. But his whole thing was
Speaker 1: that art should not be in service of the revolution,
Speaker 1: that the revolution should be in so of art. And
Speaker 1: you can see that even in this story, even though
Speaker 1: the story is like in service of the revolution in
Speaker 1: as much as like a moral tale, right, But it's
Speaker 1: like the playwright can't write because he's fucking starving, and
Speaker 1: so he is aware of the fact that he gets
Speaker 1: to write is a privilege and He's like, how do
Speaker 1: we share the wealth so that these other people have
Speaker 1: a chance to write? You know, and just happens to
Speaker 1: be the playwrights attractive. This doesn't necessarily bother him that
Speaker 1: the playwright's attractive and any other thing. For anyone's not aware.
Speaker 1: The match girl is a common and shitty job that
Speaker 1: poor children, especially girls had during this era, to stand
Speaker 1: on the street and sell matches to people, let alone
Speaker 1: the horrors of the people who made the matches. But
Speaker 1: that's a story for a different time. Probably not next week.
Speaker 1: Oh maybe I'll find some story about a match girl
Speaker 1: who I actually know the story about a match girl.
Speaker 1: Maybe I'll do that. I'm not sure you'll find out
Speaker 1: next week on cool Zone Media book Club Club. It
Speaker 1: Could Happen here as a production of cool Zone Media.
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