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The Great Contrarians: Oscar Wilde & Friedrich Nietzsche
The externals of their lives could not have been more different. One was a celebrated wit and dramatist, the other a reclusive philosopher who, throughout his conscious life, lived and wrote in relative obscurity. Yet to varying extents, and with varying results, both thought of themselves as poets. Both, also in their way, concerned themselves with founding a philosophy grounded in the art of living, turning to antiquity (Ancient Greece) for their ideal, and considering contemporary France the accepted heir to their sensual sophistication. Natural provocateurs, they were incorrigible cultural agitators, and reserved some of their most withering criticism for their ‘so-called countrymen’. Ultimately, both were regarded as the premier stylists of their time (late 1800s) and said as much. Although contemporaries, they were probably unaware of each other, yet came to embody in their flamboyant personae and utterances the tensions and antagonisms of fin de siècle Europe.
About the Author
Yahia Lababidi, Arab-American of Palestinian background, is the author of 13 critically-acclaimed books. Lababidi has been called “our greatest living aphorist” and a “current-day master” of this ancient form. His prose and poetry meditations have gone viral, are used in classrooms and religious services, and are featured at international festivals.
Lababidi has contributed to news, literary and cultural institutions throughout the USA, Europe and the Middle East, such as: Oxford University, Pearson Education, PBS NewsHour, NPR, HBO & ABC Radio.
Lababidi’s latest works include: What Remains To Be Said (Wild Goose Publications, 2025) new & selected aphorisms of his composed over the past three decades, as well as Palestine Wail (Daraja Press, 2024) a love letter to Gaza in response to the ongoing Genocide.
