Oscar wilde claimed that all literature is quite useless, to what extent do you agree with this?

Answer 1

Not at all, knowledge is extremely useful. Imagine if mankind had no science books, books on how to create this, do that, cure whatever.
They're entertaining, might make you think about things, inspire you etc. My list goes on, literature is very useful I think.

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Answer 2

I don't agree, literature is thought provoking and getting people to have some meaningful thoughts is never useless.

When did he say it I wonder? When he was society's darling playwright or after he had been incarcerated for that love which dare not say it's name?

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Answer 3

I believe it is a half truth. Literature is quite useless if you merely read it. Literature needs to be understood, (bearing in mind many people can interpret different pieces in many different ways). I find literature comes to life when I can view a situation and apply it in some way to my life/circumstances, friends etc. Finally Oscar Wilde's argument is totally lost when there is a whole section on Yahoo Answers for quotations - most of the quotes are taken from literature. It is true that some people's answers about quotes are merely given as references to Wikipedia, but most people search their memories and learning to give answers hence their learning was not useless.

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