Do Americans Have an Oscar Wilde?

[Austin Butler]

Is there an American equivalent to Oscar Wilde? I can't think of any others that have the same wit and humor about them. Or of any nationality. I finished his Complete Works and If you have any suggestions I'd love to hear them.

[MarkBastable]

Thurber, Mencken, Allen, Bruce, Hicks, Rock and the writers of Frasier.

For a start.

[Seasider]

Dorothy Parker both witty and sophisticated...as was Wilde

[Alexander III]

Mark Twain would be his closet counter part, but Twain was no Dandy.

[OrphanPip]

Dorothy Parker both witty and sophisticated...as was Wilde

"If, with the literate, I am
Impelled to try an epigram,
I never seek to take the credit;
We all assume that Oscar said it."
- Dorothy Parker

[Desolation]

Hunter Thompson. :wink5:

http://i923.photobucket.com/albums/ad75/death_on_credit/HunterSThompson2.jpg
Just look at that cigarette holder...Tres fancy.

[Ragnar Freund]

gone.

[PeterL]

I think that there was no need for any more Oscar Wildes There certainly have been American authors with better wut, and there were British authors with better wit.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

Thurber, Mencken, Allen, Bruce, Hicks, Rock and the writers of Frasier.

For a start.
Yeah. Frasier rules. What a great show.

Twain was the first name to pop in my head. It was immediate.

[prendrelemick]

Dorothy Parker popped into my head.

[LitNetIsGreat]

For me, the absolute strength of Wilde lies in his spoken conversation. His works are lesser reflections of Wilde the conversationalist. I have lost track of just how many contemporary reports I have read which argue Wilde as an absolute genius of conversation. There are critics who argue Wilde was absolutely unparalleled in the art of conversation in the 19th century at perhaps well beyond. So no, I can see no figure like him to compare in this area, American or otherwise. He was a born speaker and very gifted individual indeed.

[Stewed]

Yeah, he's played by Steve Carell.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

Actually, I think Stephen Colbert is more like Wilde than Carell. Don't get me wrong, I love Carell, but Colbert has to have one of the quickest wits out there. The speed at which he can come up with comebacks and witticisms during interviews is astounding. Carell's comedy is more manneristic.

[english_rose]

I really don't think so, but he is so enigmatic as far as I am concerned, that I could just be biased.

I can see Mark Twain, but I still think their styles are too different for a real comparison.

[Stewed]

Just an obscure joke, never mind.

[Climacus]

No one, really, is comparable. But how about Ambrose Bierce?

If you've never heard of him, have some fun browsing his Devil's Dictionary.

http://www.alcyone.com/max/lit/devils/