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Oscar Wilde (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900)

Oscar Wilde (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900). Four main influences. Pre- raphaelites Aestheticism Hedonist philosophy Arts for arts’ sake philosophy. PRE-RAPHAELITES. Valued the pre-Renaissance artistic qualities of religious symbolism, lavish pictorialism and natural sensuousness

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Oscar Wilde (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900)

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  1. Oscar Wilde (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900)

  2. Four main influences • Pre-raphaelites • Aestheticism • Hedonist philosophy • Arts for arts’ sake philosophy

  3. PRE-RAPHAELITES • Valued the pre-Renaissance artistic qualities of religious symbolism, lavish pictorialism and natural sensuousness • Their paintings reflect the pre-Renaissance ideal of man, the Hellenic ideal, harmony of body and soul • The main members of the group include Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Christina Rossetti and Walter Pater

  4. Grail by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

  5. Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Self-Portrait, 1847

  6. Wind flowers by Christina Rosetti

  7. Ophelia by John Walter Waterhouse, 1905

  8. The Lady of Shalottby John Walter Waterhouse, 1888

  9. AESTHETICISM, the British branch of French symbolism/Decadence • Beauty will save the world • Beauty is the measure of goodness • “it was something (beautiful) in his face that made you trust him” • One of the best manifestations of beauty is music

  10. HEDONIST PHILOSOPHY • Pleasure is the highest good • The ultimate goal of one’s life is to seek pleasure and to avoid pain • Pleasure = happiness • Self-denial “mars” one’s life, leaving a person unhappy and disappointed over the inability to experience pleasure • In light of the Freudian theory, self-denial leads to the accumulation of negative reactions, that in their turn may lead to neurosis

  11. Sigmund Freud’s topographical model of personality

  12. ARTS FOR ARTS’ SAKE (Gautier) PHILOSOPHY • Art is powerful; there is nothing art cannot express • It has no utilitarian/moral value • It’s free of moral, political, philosophical and social claims and made simply for its sake; art is allowed to be morally subversive • Art is valued for its artistic value not for religious or moral ones

  13. Art should provide refined sensuous pleasure • Art does no have any didactic purpose • Life should copy Art • Nature, compared to art, is crude and lacking in design

  14. Echo and Narcissus by John Walter Waterhouse, 1903

  15. Metamorphosis of Narcissus by S. Dali

  16. Why DORIAN GRAY? • = Doris (the masculine name did not exist) • The ancient Greek tribe – Dorians ( connotes an element of danger and savagery) • The most simple of ancient architectural orders, the unadorned Doric • Gray – a flat name for such a luminous, inspirational young man • John Gray was a strikingly handsome young poet and translator, who in all probability was one of Wilde’s lovers at the time of DG’s writing

  17. USEFUL DEFINITIONS

  18. Paradox is a statement that is self-contradictory • Oxymoron – a paradox reduced to two words that contradict each other (e.g. eloquent silence, inertly strong, bitter sweet) • Aphorism – a terse (laconic) pointed statement expressing some wise or clever observation about life • Witticism – a spontaneous witty remark

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