Oscar Wilde wrote, “Literature always anticipates life. It does not copy it but molds its purpose.” The wording seems a little strange to us because it comes from the 19th century. Oscar Wilde lived from 1854 to 1900. Much of his work was a commentary on Victorian life. We still enjoy the play The Importance of Being Ernest. The absurdity of the importance of a name makes it humorous. His other comedic plays aren’t as enjoyable to us because they are about the absurdities of Victorian life. You can make sense of the two quoted sentences with that in mind.
If you’d like to know more about Oscar Wilde, I recommend the Wikipedia article about him. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Wilde
