Impressions of America

"One is impressed in America, but not favourably impressed, by the inordinate size of everything. The country seems to try to bully one into a belief in its power by its impressive bigness."

In 1881 Oscar Wilde boarded the "Arizona" and sailed to New York to embark on a year-long lecture tour. In 'Impressions of America' he examines the cultural differences between America and Britain. He notes, for instance, that the Americans aren’t necessarily well-dressed but comfortably dressed. He argues that the American youth is more acceptive of new ideas because their education is more practical, and he recounts how unimpressed he was with Niagara Falls and the ugly yellow protective wear he had to put on.

Like Charles Dickens’ 'American Notes for General Circulation' from some forty years prior, this essay is both entertaining and thought-provoking.



Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) was an Irish playwright, novelist, essayist, and poet, famous for ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ and ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ to name a couple. He died in Paris at the age of 46.

The Importance of Being Earnest is Oscar Wilde’s most popular and enduring play. Poking fun at the ridiculousness of human nature, especially that of the Victorian elite, it is both incredibly clever and undeniably silly.
It has been performed and made into films and for television many times, most recently in the 2002 film starring Colin Firth, Reese Witherspoon and Judi Dench.