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[[File:Oscar Wilde Getty.jpg | 200px | right | thumb |Oscar Wilde]] [[File:Wilde_books_Smash_Hits.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Morrissey surrounded by his Wilde collection (1984)]] [[Category:Influences on Morrissey - Literature]] [[Category:Influences on Morrissey - Comedy]] [[Category:Concert Backdrop]] [[Category:Tour Iconography]] ==Relevance== One of Morrissey's favourite books: "Complete Works" - via NME interview (1983):<br> [https://www.morrissey-solo.com/content/interview/nme0983.html Morrissey - "Portrait Of The Artist As A Consumer"]<br> Morrissey chose the "Complete Works", again, as an island book on [https://www.morrissey-solo.com/wiki/Desert_Island_Discs_-_BBC_Radio_4_(2009) Desert Island Discs - BBC Radio 4 (2009)]<br> In [[Mention::Autobiography]], Morrissey states:<br> <blockquote> As the world’s first populist figure (first pop figure), Oscar Wilde exploded with original wisdom, advocating freedom for heart and soul, and for all – regardless of how the soul swirled. He laughed at the squeezers and the benders and those born only to tell others what to do. Tellingly, a disfigured barrister and a half-wit in a wig destroyed Wilde in the end, and in doing so one lordly barrister and one lordly judge deprived the world of further works from Oscar Wilde. </blockquote> In the May 6, 1984 issue of [http://www.tiptopwebsite.com/websites/index2.php?username=thesmithsfile&page=8 Jamming! Magazine], Morrissey answers:<br> <blockquote> "'''So what makes you shout and jump and write and how close are The Smiths to real life?'''<br> Most of my inspiration does come from outside music - especially literature and particularly Oscar Wilde..." </blockquote> From [[The Morrissey Collection - Smash Hits (June 21 - July 4, 1984)]]: <blockquote> "My mother, who's an assistant librarian, introduced me to his writing when I was 8. She insisted I read him and I immediately became obsessed. Every single line affected me in some way. I liked the simplicity of the way he wrote. There was a piece called ''The Nightingale And The Rose'' that appealed to me immensely then. It was about a nightingale who sacrificed herself for these two star-crossed lovers. It ends when the nightingale presses her heart against this rose because in a strange, mystical way it means that if she dies, then the two lovers can be together. This sense of truly high drama zipped through everything he wrote. He had a life that was really tragic and it's curious that he was so witty. Here we have a creature persistently creased in pain whose life was a total travesty. He married, rashly had two children and almost immediately embarked on a love affair with a man. He was sent to prison for this. It's a total disadvantage to care about Oscar Wilde, certainly when you come from a working class background. It's total self-destruction almost. My personal saving grace at school was that I was something of a model athlete. I'm sure if I hadn't been, I'd have been sacrificed in the first year. I got streams and streams of medals for running. As I blundered through my late teens, I was quite isolated and Oscar Wilde meant much more to me. In a way he became a companion. If that sounds pitiful, that was the way it was. I rarely left the house. I had no social life. Then, as I became a Smith, I used flowers because Oscar Wilde always used flowers. He once went to the Colorado salt mines and addressed a mass of miners there. He started the speech with, 'Let me tell you why we worship the daffodil'. Of course, he was stoned to death. But I really admired his bravery and the idea of being constantly attached to some form of plant. As I get older, the adoration increases. I'm never without him. It's almost biblical. It's like carrying your rosary around with you." </blockquote> [[Miserable Lie]] appears to have taken the term "flower-like life" from Wilde's [[De Profundis]]: <blockquote> "He was the first person who ever said to people that they should live ‘flower-like lives.’" </blockquote> A caricature of Wilde by illustrator Chas Kendrick was used on the limited edition [[Mention::Interesting Drug]] etched vinyl & sleeve (taken from a pamphlet about Wilde). It would feature as a poster, advertising & t-shirt image surrounded by the words: "Interesting Morrissey" in 1989. The shirt was part of a promotional giveaway for the Interesting Drug release (Smash Hits magazine also gave some away as a competition prize). In 2022, a more colourful version of the shirt was sold via [[Mporium]] and at concerts. <gallery> File:Kendrick-charles-ye-B20128-47.jpg File:HiRes-1.jpg | [https://www.mdmarchive.co.uk/artefact/26522/MORRISSEY_ADVERT_1989 source] File:Dickiefelton-25012023-0001.jpg | [https://www.instagram.com/p/CjAlF1ANVAO/ Competition Clipping] File:MORRISSEY INTERESTING+DRUG-369822.jpg |[https://eil.com/shop/moreinfo.asp?catalogid=369822 source] File:MORRISSEYinteresting grande.jpg |[https://uk.mporium.org/products/interesting-morrissey-t-shirt-brown-mor source] </gallery> During performances of [[Mention::Panic]] in 2006, Morrissey used a horizontally flipped Wilde image: <gallery> File:Dandy-style-style-icons.jpg|[https://co.pinterest.com/pin/327566572879771074/ (source)] File:Screenshot 20241015-160419~2.png|[https://www.instagram.com/reel/DBBS-AnN1bz/ (source)] </gallery> Image used as a 2012 backdrop ([https://www.morrissey-solo.com/media/nagoya.4061/ source]): <gallery> File:Oscar wilde backdrop nagoya.jpg </gallery> Image captioned with "Who Is Morrissey?" sold at 2012 concerts: <gallery> File:Oscar Wilde in 1882 (3).jpg | [https://www.vintag.es/2017/04/oscar-wilde-in-new-york-portrait-photo.html?m=1 source] File:28378 morrisseytd068.jpg | [https://d.morrissey-solo.com/attachment-files/2012/12/28378_morrisseytd068.jpg source] </gallery> Image used as backdrop circa 2021 during [[Mention::Irish Blood, English Heart]] ([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82xe0UbNFq4&t=500s video source]): <gallery> File:Oscar wilde backdrop.jpg </gallery> Pendant worn by Morrissey at concerts (2023): <gallery> File:Etsy pendant of Wilde.jpg | [https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1033769816/oscar-wilde-large-antique-silver-pendant?click_key=b83b3c3759623fd6fb196ceefe10b23aa8c22637%3A1033769816 source] File:Morrissey Wilde pendant.jpg | Liverpool, 2023 </gallery> Colourised Wilde backdrop, 2024: <gallery> File:Dc7fa923a77973d62319ad8716d903a4.jpg|[https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/889390626391762058/ (source)] </gallery>
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