
“Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth”
Words by Oscar Wilde in his 1891 essay The Critic as Artist.

“Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth”
Words by Oscar Wilde in his 1891 essay The Critic as Artist.

“The self-righteousness of that age was really camouflage to disguise its own hypocrisy, and the people who were loudest in their condemnation of my father were often those whose own lives could least bear investigation.”
– Vyvyan Holland writing in Son of Oscar Wilde. Published by Rupert Hart-Davis (1954)
And I can’t help thinking that the same still applies…

“He slid forward in his chair, head thrown back, boots straight out across the hearthrug. Evert knew already how David took drink, and noted the way he mugged being drunker than he was. He saw for three seconds David was showing him a thing beyond speech, and looked away and back again in hot-faced excitement. Then David dropped his hand and covered himself loosely, as if Evert were indeed a pervert to peep at a man’s lap.”
Alan Hollinghurst – The Sparsholt Affair (2017)