Intentions: The Decay of Lying; Pen, Pencil, and Poison; The Critic as Artist; The Truth of Masks

197 pp. Green boards with gilt titles. A collection of essays from Oscar Wilde, some presented as Socratic dialogues, such as "The Decay of Lying-An Observation," with the characters of Vivian and Cyril having a conversation throughout. Vivian tells Cyril of an article he has been writing called "The Decay Of Lying: A Protest". In the article Vivian defends Aestheticism and "Art for Art's sake". As summarized by Vivian, it contains four doctrines: Art never expresses anything but itself All bad art comes from returning to Life and Nature, and elevating them into ideals Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life Lying, the telling of beautiful untrue things, is the proper aim of Art.