The Dilemma of Movements

The Scatology of Oscar Wilde’s Bloomington lecture

Local councillors in Bloomington, IL had a committee meeting arranged for the evening of March 10, 1882, so when Oscar Wilde was announced to lecture later the same evening it was always going to be a tough choice: whether to attend the reported tedium of Oscar’s aesthetic lecture on art decoration or continue in contemplating the town drainage—which was the pressing agendum that evening.

For councillors wishing to have a foot in both camps it was a choice between the executive and the decorative. What made matters worse was that Oscar was scheduled to begin his lecture at a point when the politicians would be, so to speak, in full flow—an awkward time for any member to withdraw. The decision testing Bloomington’s civic duty must have been divisive. It was the dilemma of movements: to come out on the side of aesthetics or remain closeted.

For the resolution to activities we must consult the local daily organ, The Pantagraph, to see whether the Bloomington council achieved a quorum or merely decorum.

From press reports we learn that there was indeed a minor brain drain among the drain brains in favor of Oscar’s lecture. But happily there was much relief on both side that evening: first for those attending the lecture when Oscar’s finished his business, and second for those still sitting in the drainage committee when a motion was eventually passed.

© John Cooper, 2015.

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• Pictured at top is Durley Hall, identified here for the first time as the venue for Wilde’s lecture in Bloomington, IL.
• Clippings from The Pantagraph (Bloomington), March 11, 1882, pp. 3 and 4.