The winner of last week's Great Wednesday Compare (Oscar Wilde Vs. Salman Rushdie) with a final score of 10-2 was Oscar Wilde.
I haven't read any Rushdie yet, so it wouldn't have been easy for me to vote last week. In cases like that, and because these votes aren't really important (shhhh!), I simply rationalize it by saying, Wilde inspired me to read him first, so he gets my vote. But that's just me! I don't want to discourage all the responsible voters out there.
After Kirbc's comment last week that Rushdie's Midnight's Children is her 2nd favourite book of all time, it got me to thinking. Rushdie must really resent that whole fatwā thing. I mean Midnight's Children even earned him a Booker, but now all most people ever think about is The Satanic Verses. (Oh yeah, and it almost got him killed.) Do you think-- and I doubt if he'd ever admit it-- that some mornings he just lies there thinking, "oh man, I wish I didn't write that book!" Poor guy'll never be able to tour Iran like the rest of us.
Anyway, this week we hit the green, green grass of Ireland.
Remember, vote simply by adding your comment below, base it on whatever merit you choose, voting does not end until Tuesday at 11:59 p.m. (Jan. 27, 2009), and if you want your author to get more votes, feel free to promote them here or on your blog!
Who's better?
18 comments:
I refuse to take part in this one!
Ferry Tales: Ah, come on! It was an inspired pairing, don't you think?
It's still Wilde for me.
I'm going to have to abstain again. Don't think Wilde deserves all these wins and I forced myself to read Portrait of the Artist... and have stared blankly at pages of Ulysses so will definitely *not* be voting for Joyce.
My vote goes to Wilde again. And I'm looking forward to seeing Earnest at Stratford this summer.
Joyce on guts alone. I may never fully get what he wrote but I can appreciate that he basically reinvented the english language to suit his purpose.
Absolutely Wilde. Though admittedly, I would pick most people over Joyce.
It was definitely an inspired choice! I just have trouble picking one. But if I have to...
OK fine! I choose Joyce!
As I have yet to make it to the end of anything by Joyce, and I have read right to the end of Wilde (and enjoyed it), Wilde gets my vote this week.
Hope I'm not too late...its still Wednesday here. I vote for Wilde!
Allison: You get a whole week to vote, so you're well in under the wire.
Joyce. I think Ulysses is one of the funniest books I've ever read. So brilliant! (It's also the source of my favourite Shakespeare joke, though Joyce takes it from the diary of John Manningham in 1602: Upon a time, when Burbage played Richard III, there was a citizen grew so far in liking with him that before she went from the play she appointed him to come that night unto her by the name of Richard the Third. Shakespeare, overhearing their conclusion, went before, was entertained, and at his game ere Burbage came. Then, message being brought that Richard the Third was at the door, Shakespeare caused return to be made that William the Conqueror was before Richard the Third.)
Wilde again for me.
Most definitely Joyce.
Wilde - very definitely!
I cannot bring myself to read Joyce, so I can't vote for him either.
Wilde!
...Joyce is too difficult for me, too, I admit. So, Wilde.
- Myshkin.
Definitely James Joyce. I love Oscar Wilde as a personality, but find much of his writing downright unreadable. The Picture of Dorian Gray, was a particular disappointment. Certainly Joyce can be opaque, especially in his later work. But even when difficult to understand, the rhythm of the language is a pleasure. And he's a master of more conventional forms when he wants to be. The Dubliners, for example, is both brilliant and accessible.
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