Oscar Wilde in Context
Part of Literature in Context
- Editors:
- Kerry Powell, Miami University
- Peter Raby, Homerton College, Cambridge
- Date Published: March 2017
- availability: Available
- format: Paperback
- isbn: 9781316647585
Paperback
Other available formats:
Hardback, eBook
Looking for an inspection copy?
This title is not currently available on inspection
-
Oscar Wilde was a courageous individualist whose path-breaking life and work were shaped in the crucible of his time and place, deeply marked by the controversies of his era. This collection of concise and illuminating articles reveals the complex relationship between Wilde's work and ideas, and contemporary contexts including Victorian feminism, aestheticism and socialism. Chapters investigate how Wilde's writing was both a resistance to and quotation of Victorian master narratives and genre codes. From performance history to film and operatic adaptations, the ongoing influence and reception of Wilde's story and work is explored, proposing not one but many Oscar Wildes. To approach the meaning of Wilde as an artist and historical figure, the book emphasises not only his ability to imagine new worlds, but also his bond to the turbulent cultural and historical landscape around him - the context within which his life and art took shape.
Read more- Places Wilde in the context of the ideological forces, aesthetic movements and styles of living that defined his era
- Explores Wilde's Victorian, Irish and classical roots, and how he both used and transcended them to create work uniquely his own
- Demonstrates the rich variety of Wilde's character and writing, revealing not one man but many as the product of his own self-presentations and their re-articulation since his death in many forms including opera and film
Reviews & endorsements
'… this volume will serve as an indispensable primer for those who wish to fit text to context and context to Wilde.' Gregory Castle, Breac: A Digital Journal of Irish Studies
See more reviews'… Powell and Raby offer a wonderful spectrum of new and old contexts for Oscar Wilde that will interest scholars and afficionados alike. Taken together, the chapters illustrate just how impossible it is to pin Wilde down in any particular context. Like Dorian's ego, Wilde's life 'fits no single narrative', as Ravenhill reminds us. Oscar Wilde in Context is a testament to the richness of Wilde scholarship today and a welcome new addition to it.' Petra Dierkes-Thrun, Journal of Pre-Raphaelite Studies
Customer reviews
Not yet reviewed
Be the first to review
Review was not posted due to profanity
×Product details
- Date Published: March 2017
- format: Paperback
- isbn: 9781316647585
- length: 438 pages
- dimensions: 230 x 154 x 20 mm
- weight: 0.64kg
- contains: 39 b/w illus.
- availability: Available
Table of Contents
Preface
Chronology
An appreciation: Oscar Wilde: the art of the somdomite Mark Ravenhill
Part I. Placing Wilde:
1. Son and parents: Speranza and Sir William Wilde Sean Ryder
2. Wilde's Dublin
Dublin's Wilde Jerusha McCormack
3. Oxford, Hellenism, male friendship Philip E. Smith, II
4. An aesthete in America Leon Litvak
5. Wilde's London Matt Cook
6. Wilde and Paris John Stokes
Part II. Aesthetic and Critical Contexts:
7. Wilde's poetic traditions: from Aristophanes' Clouds to The Ballad of Reading Gaol Joseph Bristow
8. William Morris and the house beautiful Marcus Waithe
9. Wilde and British art Richard Dorment
10. Aubrey Beardsley and Salome Susan Owens
11. Between two worlds and beyond them: John Ruskin and Walter Pater John Paul Riquelme
12. Wilde, Henry James, and the fate of aestheticism Michèle Mendelssohn
13. Style at the fin de siècle: aestheticist, decadent, symbolist Ellis Hanson
14. Poisoned by a book: the lethal aura of The Picture of Dorian Gray Peter Raby
15. Rewriting farce Kerry Powell
16. Bernard Shaw and 'Hibernian drama' Anthony Roche
17. Wilde, the fairy tales, and the oral tradition Jarlath Killeen
Part III. Cultural and Historical Contexts: Ideas, Iterations, Innovations:
18. Oscar Wilde's crime and punishment: fictions, facts, and questions Merlin Holland
19. Wilde and evolution David Clifford
20. Dandyism and late-Victorian masculinity James Eli Adams
21. Oscar Wilde and the New Woman Margaret D. Stetz
22. Wilde and socialism Josephine Guy
23. Wilde and Christ Jan-Melissa Schramm
24. Aestheticism Ruth Livesey
25. Journalism Mark W. Turner
26. Censorship of the stage: writing on the edge of the allowed Helen Freshwater
27. Feminism Barbara Caine
28. Wilde and the law H. G. Cocks
Part IV. Reception and Afterlives:
29. Reception and performance history of The Importance of Being Earnest Joseph Donohue
30. Reception and performance history of Wilde's 'society plays' Sos Eltis
31. A short history of Salome Steven Price
32. Wilde and stage design: some deductions, appraisals and selected instances Richard Cave
33. Wilde life: Oscar on film Oliver S. Buckton
34. Wilde and performativity Lynn Voskuil
35. Wilde and his editors Russell Jackson
36. Wilde's texts, contexts and The Portrait of Mr W. H. Ian Small
Further reading.
Sorry, this resource is locked
Please register or sign in to request access. If you are having problems accessing these resources please email lecturers@cambridge.org
Register Sign in» Proceed
You are now leaving the Cambridge University Press website. Your eBook purchase and download will be completed by our partner www.ebooks.com. Please see the permission section of the www.ebooks.com catalogue page for details of the print & copy limits on our eBooks.
Continue ×Are you sure you want to delete your account?
This cannot be undone.
Thank you for your feedback which will help us improve our service.
If you requested a response, we will make sure to get back to you shortly.
×