Oscar wilde blooms classic critical views

Bloom’s Classic Critical Views OSCAR WILDE Bloom’s Classic Critical Views Benjamin Franklin The Brontës Charles Dickens Edgar Allan Poe Geoffrey Chaucer Henry David Thoreau Herman Melville Jane Austen John Donne and the Metaphysical Poets Mark Twain Mary Shelley Nathaniel Hawthorne Oscar Wilde Ralph Waldo Emerson Walt Whitman William Blake Bloom’s Classic Critical Views OSCAR WILDE Edited and with an Introduction by Harold Bloom Sterling Professor of the Humanities Yale University Bloom’s Classic Critical Views: Oscar Wilde Copyright © 2008 Infobase Publishing Introduction © 2008 by Harold Bloom All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher For more information contact: Bloom’s Literary Criticism An imprint of Infobase Publishing 132 West 31st Street New York NY 10001 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Oscar Wilde / edited and with an introduction by Harold Bloom p cm.— (Bloom’s classic critical views) Includes bibliographical references and index ISBN 978-1-60413-140-6 (acid-free paper) Wilde, Oscar, 1854–1900—Criticism and interpretation I Bloom, Harold II Title III Series PR5824.O82 2008 828’.809—dc22 2008011869 Bloom’s Literary Criticism books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk quantities for businesses, associations, institutions, or sales promotions Please call our Special Sales Department in New York at (212) 967-8800 or (800) 322-8755 You can find Bloom’s Literary Criticism on the World Wide Web at http://www.chelseahouse.com Contributing editor: Paul Fox Series design by Erika K Arroyo Cover design by Takeshi Takahashi Printed in the United States of America Bang EJB 10 This book is printed on acid-free paper All links and Web addresses were checked and verified to be correct at the time of publication Because of the dynamic nature of the Web, some addresses and links may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid Contents QQQ Series Introduction vii Introduction by Harold Bloom ix Biography Personal Thomas F Plowman “The Aesthetes: The Story of a Nineteenth-Century Cult” (1895) Chris Healy (1904) Wilfred Scawen Blunt (1905) Robert H Sherard (1905) Ford Madox Ford (1911) Katharine Tynan (1913) General Ambrose Bierce “Prattle” (1882) W.B Yeats “Oscar Wilde’s Last Book” (1891) Arthur Symons “An Artist in Attitudes: Oscar Wilde” (1901) Max Beerbohm “A Lord of Language” (1905) Wilfrid M Leadman “The Literary Position of Oscar Wilde” (1906) J Comyns Carr (1908) St John Hankin “The Collected Plays of Oscar Wilde” (1908) Lord Alfred Douglas “The Genius of Oscar Wilde” (1908) G.K Chesterton “Oscar Wilde” (1909) James Joyce “Oscar Wilde: The Poet of Salomé” (1909) Lewis Piaget Shanks “Oscar Wilde’s Place in Literature” (1910) Archibald Henderson (1911) xiii 11 12 18 20 23 29 30 32 36 40 49 50 53 57 60 63 70 vi Contents Arthur Ransome “Afterthought” (1912) Holbrook Jackson “Oscar Wilde: The Last Phase” (1913) Edward Shanks “Oscar Wilde” (1924) 73 78 94 WORKS 107 The Picture of Dorian Gray Julian Hawthorne “The Romance of the Impossible” (1890) Walter Pater “A Novel by Mr Wilde” (1891) 112 112 114 Intentions Richard Le Gallienne (1891) Agnes Repplier “The Best Book of the Year” (1892) 117 117 120 A House of Pomegranates H.L Menken “A House of Pomegranates” (1918) 124 124 Salomé Lord Alfred Douglas (1893) Edward E Hale, Jr “Signs of Life in Literature” (1894) 128 128 130 A Woman of No Importance and An Ideal Husband William Archer “A Woman of No Importance” (1893) George Bernard Shaw “Two New Plays” (1895) 132 132 136 The Importance of Being Earnest George Bernard Shaw (1895) J.T Grein “The Importance of Being Earnest” (1901) Max Beerbohm “A Classic Farce” (1909) John Drinkwater (1923) 139 139 140 143 145 De Profundis E.V Lucas (1905) G Lowes Dickinson (1905) Hugh Walker “The Birth of a Soul: (Oscar Wilde: The Closing Phase)” (1905) 148 148 151 Chronology 167 Index 168 154 Series Introduction 111 Bloom’s Classic Critical Views is a new series presenting a selection of the most important older literary criticism on the greatest authors commonly read in high school and college classes today Unlike the Bloom’s Modern Critical Views series, which for more than 20 years has provided the best contemporary criticism on great authors, Bloom’s Classic Critical Views attempts to present the authors in the context of their time and to provide criticism that has proved over the years to be the most valuable to readers and writers Selections range from contemporary reviews in popular magazines, which demonstrate how a work was received in its own era, to profound essays by some of the strongest critics in the British and American tradition, including Henry James, G.K Chesterton, Matthew Arnold, and many more Some of the critical essays and extracts presented here have appeared previously in other titles edited by Harold Bloom, such as the New Moulton’s Library of Literary Criticism Other selections appear here for the first time in any book by this publisher All were selected under Harold Bloom’s guidance In addition, each volume in this series contains a series of essays by a contemporary expert, who comments on the most important critical selections, putting them in context and suggesting how they might be used by a student writer to influence his or her own writing This series is intended above all for students, to help them think more deeply and write more powerfully about great writers and their works vii Introduction by Harold Bloom 111 The Divine Oscar, as I delight in naming him, was the overt disciple of the Sublime Walter Pater, whose anxiety of influence in regard to John Ruskin resulted in no mentions of Ruskin anywhere in Pater’s writings We remember Wilde for his stage comedies, The Importance of Being Earnest in particular, and tend to forget that he was also a strong literary critic My favorite among his critical ventures is a delightful dialogue, “The Decay of Lying.” Here is Vivian, Wilde’s surrogate, in a grand epiphany: No great artist ever sees things as they really are If he did, he would cease to be an artist Take an example from our own day, I know that you are fond of Japanese things Now, you really imagine that the Japanese people, as they are presented to us in art, have any existence? If you do, you have never understood Japanese art at all The Japanese people are the deliberate self-conscious creation of certain individual artists If you set a picture by Hokusai, or Hokkei, or any of the great native painters, beside a real Japanese gentleman or lady, you will see that there is not the slightest resemblance between them The actual people who live in Japan are not unlike the general run of English people; that is to say, they are extremely commonplace, and have nothing curious or extraordinary about them In fact that whole of Japan is a pure invention There is no such country, there are no such people One of our most charming painters went recently to the Land of the Chrysanthemum in the foolish hope of seeing the Japanese All he saw, all he had the chance of painting, were a few lanterns and some fans ix 162 Oscar Wilde “It seems a very dangerous idea,” he goes on “It is—all great ideas are dangerous That it was Christ’s creed admits of no doubt That it is the true creed I not doubt myself “Of course the sinner must repent But why? Simply because otherwise he would be unable to realise what he had done The moment of repentance is the moment of initiation More than that: it is the means by which one alters one’s past The Greeks thought that impossible They often say in their Gnomic aphorisms, ‘Even the Gods cannot alter the past.’ Christ showed that the commonest sinner could it, that it was the one thing he could Christ, had he been asked, would have said—I feel quite certain about it—that the moment the prodigal son fell on his knees and wept, he made his having wasted his substance on harlots, his swine-herding and hungering for the husks they ate, beautiful and holy moments in his life It is difficult for most people to grasp the idea I daresay one has to go to prison to understand it If so, it may be worth while going to prison.” It should be noticed that there is in the former of these passages an apparent oversight of expression Wilde speaks of Christ as having regarded “sin and suffering as being in themselves beautiful and holy things.” When he comes to illustrate, what he says is that when the prodigal son fell on his knees and wept, he made his sins beautiful and holy moments in his life The difference is important: the sins are no longer beautiful and holy in themselves, but in their results The repentant prodigal is a better man—or, if Wilde prefers it, a deeper man—than many just men which need no repentance; but his sins alone, without the repenta would not make him better or deeper These paragraphs are the core of De Profundis Out of the depths to which he had sunk, or from the heights towards which he was rising, Wilde proclaimed this startling gospel, that sin and suffering are beautiful holy things and modes of perfection That is what one of the most appalling of all imaginable experiences had taught him He appears to have believed that this doctrine was original with him, or rather that it was original with Christ, and that he was the first who had taken it from the teaching of Christ He was not altogether right: it was not absolutely necessary—for all men, though probably it was for him—to go to prison in order to learn it The doctrine is closely akin to that of Hegel, who likewise taught that good is evolved out of evil; and though Wilde, who tells us that metaphysics interested him very little and morality not at all, may well have neglected the philosopher, it is more strange that he had not detected the same teaching in the verse of Browning One of the most frequently recurrent thoughts in Browning’s poetry is that of the necessity of evil to progress It runs through Works 163 his work from beginning to end, appearing at least as early as Sordello, and finding perhaps its clearest and fullest expression in the last volume he ever published It is the whole meaning of the poem Rephan, where the sentence pronounced upon the aspiring soul is, “Thou art past Rephan, thy place be Earth.” And Browning as well as Wilde refuses to take shelter behind the distinction between suffering and sin Both are necessary The soul must be “by hate taught love.” The Earth to which the growing spirit is sent is earth with all her innumerable forms of evil:— Diseased in the body, sick in soul, Pinched poverty, satiate wealth,—your whole Array of despairs Doubtless Wilde read Browning at a time when such teaching was wholly alien from his mind, and for that reason missed the poet’s meaning He is less original than he believed himself to be; but he is even more interesting than he knew For in one respect he is unique He not only taught this doctrine, but he affords in his own person the most striking illustration of it To him it came, not from books, but fresh stamped with the impress of truth from the mint of experience From him it passes to the reader, not a mere theory, but a life There, on the one hand, is Oscar Wilde, flâneur and dandy, treading the primrose path to the sound of flutes, sporting upon the surface of life, beautiful as a floating bubble played upon by the sunlight, and almost as evanescent,—here, on the other, is a new Oscar Wilde, branded with infamy, worn with suffering, but forced by that very infamy and suffering to work down towards the depths, where he finds and makes his own, as no one else had ever done, the thought of the greatest European philosopher and the most philosophic English poet of the nineteenth century By that achievement he has probably made his fame permanent; and he has certainly made it impossible for any contemporary to ignore him A catastrophe more utter and apparently irretrievable than Wilde’s can hardly be conceived His very fame made it the more hopeless Other prisoners might retire into obscurity, they could easily hide themselves from the few who knew them But for him the whole earth was “shrivelled to a handsbreadth,” and he must wear the brand of infamy in the face of day It was just from the completeness of the ruin, in the worldly sense, that the new soul took its birth With penetrating insight Wilde perceived that he must not attempt to deny his imprisonment, or to pretend that such an incident had never occurred in his life Not only would the pretence in his 164 Oscar Wilde case have been hopeless, but it would have been a blunder even if he could have succeeded in deceiving men “I want,” he says, “to get to the point when I shall be able to say quite simply, and without affectation, that the two great turning-points in my life were when my father sent me to Oxford, and when society sent me to prison.” “To deny one’s own experiences is to put a lie into the lips of one’s own life It is no less than a denial of the soul.” It is pathetic to observe this pleasure-loving spirit bent by an iron necessity to a fate as hard as the worst which mediaeval asceticism ever contrived for itself But the justification of the suffering comes from the extraordinary change which it produced “Most people,” says he, “are other people Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.” It is profoundly true; and, though to the end he did not suspect the fact, it is true of Wilde himself till the period of his imprisonment He was, indeed, the leader of a fashion; but the fashion itself was an unconscious plagiarism from a highly artificial society Until his terrible disaster Wilde had never been forced to dive into the depths of his own spirit; he had delighted to play on the surface By compulsion he learnt wisdom The change worked in Wilde is so enormous that it may fairly be described as the birth of a soul The new soul was begotten by sin and born of agony Its life was short; and there is sad reason to fear that even before the close Wilde had slid far back towards the gulf from which he had emerged Probably he had by his early career too completely sapped and undermined his own character to be capable of standing firm upon the height which he had gained Yet even so the change was sufficient reward for the throes of birth; it was worth while to have trodden even such a wine-press of the wrath of God The prodigal had fallen on his knees and wept, his soul had had one glimpse of the immortal sea, he had stood for a moment upon the peak in Darien; and however long had been his life, however stained with errors, weaknesses and vices, it must have been influenced by that transmuting experience It had changed Wilde’s whole view of life; and though he might have sinned deeply against himself, he could never have forgotten the “revelation” of suffering The most momentous question suggested by the amazing result is: Could the reformation have been brought about at a cheaper price? Could the new soul have been born of any other parentage? Would anything but that terrible suffering have given the apostle of aestheticism the depth and the earnestness necessary to conceive the Ballad of Reading Gaol and De Profundis? If not, for him it may have been worth while, not only to go to prison, but even to sin as deeply as he did The idea may be, as he says, a dangerous one; but what if Works 165 it be true? Have all the churches, in nineteen centuries, thrown such light upon the problem of evil as is shed by these two books in contrast with their author’s earlier writings? —Hugh Walker, “The Birth of a Soul: (Oscar Wilde: The Closing Phase),” Hibbert Journal, January 1905, pp 756–768 Chronology 111 1854 1871–74 1874–78 1884 1887–89 1891 1892 1893 1895 1897 1898 1900 Born in Dublin on October 16 Student at Trinity College, Dublin Student at Magdalen College, Oxford, where in 1878 he won the Newdigate Prize for poetry and took a first-class degree in classics and humane letters Married to Constance Lloyd on May 29 Serves as editor of The Woman’s World First meeting with his future lover, Lord Alfred Douglas, a rapacious poet Publication of The Picture of Dorian Gray, Intentions, Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime and A House of Pomegranates Lady Windermere’s Fan: first performance on February 20 Salomé published A Woman of No Importance performed An Ideal Husband first performed on January 3, and The Importance of Being Earnest first performed on February 14 Wilde sued the Marquess of Queensberry, Lord Alfred Douglas’s father, for libel The trial, lasting from April to 5, resulted in the marquess’s acquittal This was followed by two trials in which Wilde faced criminal charges of homosexuality The first, April 26 to May 1, ended in a jury, but the second, May 20 to 25, resulted in Wilde’s conviction and subsequent imprisonment for two years of hard labor Writes De Profundis in Reading Gaol as a letter to Lord Alfred Douglas Departs for France on May 19, after his release from prison “The Ballad of Reading Gaol” is published Dies in Paris on November 30 at the age of forty-six 167 Index 111 Characters in literary works are indexed by first name (if any), followed by the name of the work in parentheses 1895 trials, aftermath, 6, 9, 13, 148 criticism of, 18–20, 79 crowd’s reaction to verdict, 6–7, 13, 16–17, 25, 27, 96, 104 events leading to, 5, 7, 26, 61, 79, 126 “The Evidence,” 13–15, 17, 44 first, guilty verdict, 6, 16, 26, 40–49, 57, 96, 137 male prostitutes, 13 A aestheticism campaign, 45 flamboyant, 1, 145 followers of, 31, 33, 80 influence on, 109–110, 113, 117, 128–129 lack of sincerity, 109 leader of the “cult” of, 5, philosophy, 25, 38, 112, 114–115, 124, 148 positioning of, 18, 121 propaganda, 80 truth of masks, 25 understanding, 27, 36, 40, 51, 63–69, 151 whimsical and forgettable, 27, 29, 33, 57 Ahab and Jezebel (play), 86 Alexander, George, 82 America fame in, 25 journal, 63 lecture tour in, 1, 7–8, 26, 29–30, 45 plays in, 1, 82, 136 poets, 10 slang, 29 Wilde’s influence in, 26, 40, 48, 80, 94–95 writers, 29, 110, 112, 124, 130 Ancient Mariner, The (Coleridge), 66 Anderson, Mary, 82 Archer, William on A Woman of No Importance, 132–136 Aristotle, 62 Arnold, Matthew, 115 Essays in Criticism, 120 B “Ballad of Reading Gaol” (poem), 78 compared to The Ancient Mariner, 66 168 Index human consciousness in, 35, 99–100 praise of, 33, 54–55 morality, 34 pity in, 87–88 prison experiences in, publication of, 33–34, 41, 85–86, 109 reviews of, 66, 69 sin and salvation in, 109, 156, 158–159, 164 suffering in, 9, 48, 109, 155 Balzac, Honoré de, 81, 91 La Peau de chagrin, 68 Baudelaire, Charles influence of, 36, 88, 91, 98, 104 Beardsley, Aubrey, 9, 82, 131–132 Beerbohm, Max on The Importance of Being Earnest, 143–145 on Wilde and his art, 26, 36–40, 64, 148 Bernhardt, Sarah performance in Salomé, 1, 51–52, 82 Besant, Walter, 32 Bierce, Ambrose attack on Wilde, 26, 29–30 nickname, 29 Blake, William, 151 Blunt, Wilfred Scawen on Ross’s impression of Wilde, 6, 11–12 Borrowed Plumes, 72 Browning, Robert, 65, 78, 155, 163 Buchanan, Robert “The Fleshy School of Poetry,” 71 Byron, Lord, 56 death, 94 influence of, 95–96, 103–104, 139 C “Canterville Ghost, The” (short story), 81 Carlyle, Thomas, 122, 156, 158 169 Carr, Comyns J on Wilde’s abilities as a dramatist, 26, 49–50 Catholicism, 53 possible conversion to, 6, 9, 11–12 soul of, 62 character, Wilde’s charlatan, 57–59, 73–74 decadence, 28 immutable, 37–38 kaleidoscope puzzle, 40–41, 47, 70, 73, 77 man of letters, 57–58, 61, 81, 85–86, 97 nature of, 79 posing, 6, 73–75, 111, 124 power to entertain “smart people,” 7–8 self-promotion, 6, 21–22, 36, 72 spiritual side, 57, 59–60 succession of masks and guises, 5, 25, 57 views of, 5–12 vulgar financial reasons, Chesterton, G.K., 69 Heretics, 151 on Wilde’s morality and suffering, 26, 57–58 Christian, 61 apologetics, 57, 129–130 martyr, 111, 151, 154–155, 159– 162 Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, 76, 99 The Ancient Mariner, 66 Collected Works editor, Complete Works publication, 26, 53 Confessions of a Journalist (Healy) friendship with Wilde in, “Critic as Artist, The” (critical dialogue), 1, 81 humor, 122–123 “Cruelties of Prison Life, The” (essay), 85 170 Index D Daily Chronicle, The, 85 Dante, 65 The Divine Comedy, 10 Daudet, Alphonse, 13, 17 Decadent movement, 94 “Decay of Lying, The” (critical dialogue), 1, 42, 73 diction of, 67 humor, 115, 122 De Profundis, 46, 78, 100 emotion and humility in, 37, 39, 44, 48, 103, 152–153 introduction to, 38 letters in, 2, 37, 85, 111, 155 publication, 37, 41, 43, 109 public imagination, 47–48 resentment in, 13, 152 reviews of, 37–38, 69, 111, 148– 165 sincerity of, 87, 149–151 sin and salvation in, 109, 152–164 style of, 64, 69 writing of, 11–12, 37, 54, 61–62, 85, 96, 111, 159 De Quincey, Thomas, 36, 123 Dial, The, 63 Dickinson, G Lowes on De Profundis, 151–154 Disraeli, 58, 100, 113 Divine Comedy, The (Dante), 10 “Don’t Read this if you Want to be Happy To-day” (essay), 85 Dorian Gray (The Picture of Dorian Gray), 92 character of, 109, 112–116 conscience of, 68, 77 and identity, unnamed sins, 60, 62 Douglas, Lord Alfred character, 53 father, lawsuit, 73 letters to, 2, 37, 109 relationship with Wilde, 1–2, 53, 73, 82, 110, 128, 131, 148 on Salomé, 110, 128–130 on Wilde’s morality and suffering, 26, 53–56 Douglas, Olive Eleanor Custance, 53 downfall, 111 before, 27, 40, 44, 48, 53–54, 141 friends’ reactions to, 6, 13–14, 18, 37, 60, 84, 96 publicized, 25, 42, 49, 79, 97, 109, 123, 151 Dowson, Ernest, 15 Drinkwater, John on The Importance of Being Earnest, 111, 145–148 Dublin, Ireland birthplace, fame in, 25 Duchess of Padua, The (play), production, 82 Dunn, Cuthbert, 12 E Eighteen Nineties, The (Jackson), 27 English censors, 51 critics, 10, 94 history, 28 humorless Puritans, 27, 41–42, 84, 110, 124, 126–127 John Bull, 31–32 letters, 53 literature, 28, 33, 36, 38, 40, 43– 44, 46, 57, 60, 65–66, 73–75, 92, 94–95, 98, 111, 113–114, 117, 121, 128, 133–134, 137 morals, 57, 61, 69 poetry, 20 public, 26, 42, 109, 124 Renaissance, 64 scapegoat, 27, 60–61 social circles, 40, 53–54, 110–111, 113 theories of art, 43 universities, 28, 36 English Review, The, 18 Index epicureanism interpretation of, 109, 114–116, 155 epigrams in search of, 63, 65, 67–69, 100 skill with, 112, 118, 142 Essays in Criticism (Arnold), 120 F Flaubert, Gustave, 36, 68 “Fleshy School of Poetry, The” (Buchanan), 71 Florentine Tragedy, The (play), 82, 147 Ford, Ford Maddox on Wilde’s final days, 6, 18–20 Fortnightly Review, The, 50, 81 France, 82 lyrists of, 65, 98, 103, 117, 128–131 French Revolution, 13, 21 G Galsworthy, John, 50 Garland, Hamlin, 131 Gautier, Théophile influence of, 66, 90–91, 104, 119 Mademoiselle de Maupin, 101 Germany Wilde’s influence in, 94–95 Gide, André, 72, 76, 79 on Wilde, 84–84 Gilbert, W.S influence of, 21, 80, 124, 139–140 Goethe, 158 Green Carnation, The (Hichens), 85 Grein, J.T on The Importance of Being Earnest, 140–143 Grundy, Sidney, 84 Guy Domville (play), 49 H Hale, Edward E., Jr., on Salomé, 110, 130–132 Hallward (The Picture of Dorian Gray), 68 and fatality, 74 171 Hankin, John, 147 on Wilde’s abilities as a dramatist, 26, 50–52 “Happy Prince, The” (short story), 68 poetic justice in, 43 social reform in, 47 Happy Prince and Other Tales, The, 32, 81, 93 publication, Hardy, Thomas, 95 “Harlot House, The” (poem) emotion in, 87–88 Harris, Frank, 114, 127 Hart-Davis, Rupert, Hawthorne, Julian on The Picture of Dorian Gray, 109, 112–114 Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 112 Haymarket Theatre, 82, 137 Hazlitt, William, 76 Head, Bodley, 82 Healy, Chris Confessions of a Journalist, on Wilde’s wit and attitude, 6, 8–11 Henderson, Archibald on morality of art, 27, 70–73 Henley, W.E on Wilde, 53–56 Henry Wotton (The Picture of Dorian Gray), 68, 92 evil, 112–113 talk of, 76 Herbert Beerbohm Tree, 82 Heretics (Chesterton), 151 Hibbert Journal, 48 Hichens, Robert The Green Carnation, 85 Homer, 65 homosexuality, 151 affairs, 1, 12–13, 19, 53, 73, 110, 117 madness, 8, 55, 96, 104 rumors, 1, 26–27, 40–49, 85, 126 scapegoat, 60–61 Hood, Tom, 98–99 172 Index House of Pomegranates, The, 62, 68, 100 allegories in, 46, 92–93 color and warmth, 124 fairy stories in, 110 publication, reviews of, 81–82, 110, 124–128 Hunt, Holman Saviour in the Temple, 20 I Ibsen, Henrik, 132 abilities as a dramatist, 50–52 Ideal Husband, An (play) Lord Goring in, 92 pervading levity in, 138 plot, 143 production, 82–83 reviews of, 147 social observation in, success of, 49 witty style of, Importance of Being Earnest, The (play), 72, 78 Algernon Moncrieff in, 92, 144 humanity of, 140 humor in, 92–93, 102, 110, 140– 141, 145, 147 John Worthing in, 144–145 Lady Bracknell in, 145 Miss Prism in, 145 plot and dialogue of, 139, 143 production, 83, 139, 141–143 reviews, 110–111, 139–148, 150 social observation in, structure of, 110, 139 success of, 49, 52, 100 textual history of, 51 witty style of, 1, 139 Independent Theatre, 140 Intentions, 78, 92, 100 critical dialogues in, 1, 67, 81–82, 90, 115, 121–123 humor in, 117–118 language of, 76, 110, 117 paradox in, 32 playful dismissal of facts, 110, 118–120 reviews of, 117–123 J Jackson, Holbrook on the disagreement among Wilde’s critics, 27, 78–93 The Eighteen Nineties, 27 James, Henry, 49 Johns Hopkins University, 63 Jones, Henry Arthur, 139 Joyce, James, 94, 137 on Wilde’s morality and suffering, 27, 60–62 K Keats, John, 10, 30 influence of, 42, 65, 67, 95, 97–98 Kingsley, Charles, 129–130 L Lady Windermere’s Fan (play), 139 Lord Darlington in, 92 plot, 143 production of, 54, 133, 141, 143, 147 social observation in, success with, 82–83, 100–102 witty style of, “La Fuite de la Lune” (poem), 66 Lamb, Charles, 76, 118 Lang, Andrew, 98 La Peau de chagrin (Balzac), 68 Leadman, Wilfrid on Wilde’s homosexuality and conviction, 26, 40–49 lecture tours criticism of, 26, 29–30 in the United States, 1, 7–8, 26, 29–30, 45 Le Gallienne, Richard on Intentions, 117–120 Letters editor, Index 173 Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine, 1, 82, 112, 114 London, England living in, 1, 6, 21, 29–31, 75, 83, 85 social and artistic circles, 25, 128 Wilde’s influence on, 26 Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, 10 Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime and Other Stories, 1, 81, 101 Lucas, E.V on De Profundis, 148–150 Lynch, Hannah, 22 Moliere, 65 Monroe Doctrine, 63, 65 “Mummer-Worship” (essay), 122 M Mademoiselle de Maupin (Gautier), 101 Magdalen College, Oxford, Mallarme, Stephane, 67, 84 Mallock, William Hurrell New Republic, 68 Marat, Jean-Paul, 21 Marius the Epicurean (Pater), 114–115, 119 Marquess of Queensberry libel case, 2, 53, 85 Mason, Stuart, 80 Maturin, Charles Robert Melmoth the Wanderer, 2, Melmoth, Sebastian (assumed name), 2, 8–9, 86 Melmoth the Wanderer (Maturin), 2, meningitis, 12 Menken, H.L on A House of Pomegrantes, 124–128 Meredith, George, 78, 95 Richard Feverel, 44 Milton, John, 66, 123 Paradise Lost, 132 “Model Millionaire, The” (short story) poetic justice in, 43, 67 modernism perspectives, 28 promotion of, 63, 132 rise of, 18, 20, 27, 64 writers, 39, 63, 140 O Oscar Wilde: The Story of an Unhappy Friendship (Sherard), 44, 79 Oxford University, 114 N Neo-Impressionist, 70 Nerval, Gérard de, 104 Newdigate Prize, New Republic (Mallock), 68 Nietzsche, 92 Nineteenth Century, The, 81, 122 Nordau, Max, 9, 71 P Palace Theatre, 82 Pall Mall Gazette, 33 Paradise Lost (Milton), 132 paradoxes, 134 homeless, 118–119 in search of, 63, 67, 69, 93, 115, 121 Irishness of, 31–32 Paris, France debts, 12 fame in, 25 final days in, 6, 8, 11–12, 19, 86 living in, 2, 8, 12, 85, 104 plays in, Pater, Walter influence of, 1, 35–36, 65, 67, 81, 91, 114, 127, 155 Marius the Epicurean, 114–115, 119 narrative, 117 on The Picture of Dorian Gray, 109, 114–117 Studies in the History of the Renaissance, 114–115 Patience (comic opera), 21, 80 Pearson’s Weekly, 83–84 174 Index “Pen, Pencil, and Poison” (essay), 67, 69, 81 lack of sincerity in, 121 personality, Wilde’s, 28 artificial temperament, 11, 25, 71, 79, 88, 90, 118 complicated nature of, 11, 41, 57, 70–71, 86–87, 110–111, 118, 131 during the trial, 14–16, 44–45 staged, views on, wit and attitude, 6–8, 29, 31, 34– 35, 37–38, 42, 44–45, 50, 52, 54, 63–64, 74, 90, 92, 112, 117 Picture of Dorian Gray, The, 46, 118 attitude towards life in, 88, 102, 105 doom in, 47, 100 faults of method, 32 Jim Vane in, 115 language in, 44 men and women in, 68, 76 morality, 92 plot, 112 preface, 101 publication, 1, 82 reviews of, 55, 109–117 unnamed sins in, 60, 62, 155 Pigott, E.F.S., 128 Pinero, 84 plagiarism, 42 accusations of, 63, 65, 91, 94, 97 Plowman, Thomas F on Wilde’s character, 5–8 Poe, Edgar Allan consciousness of, 74, 116–117 scorn, 73, 75 Poems poems in, 97–98 publication, 1, 45 success of, 29 worship of form and colour in, 46 Poems in Prose, 92–93 fairy-tale talk in, 76 pointilliste, 70–71 Pre-Raphaelite lyrics, 65 prison after, 8, 11–12, 27, 40, 53, 86, 97, 141 experiences in, 2, 11, 13, 17–18, 33, 37, 40, 73, 75, 85 fare, 13 letters from, years in, 2, 8–9, 37, 47, 60–61, 79, 109, 111, 148–149, 155, 157, 159, 163–164 Punch, 124 R Rabelais, Ransome, Arthur lawsuit, 73 Swallows and Amazons, 73 on Wilde’s legacy, 27, 73–78, 80, 86 “Ravenna” (poem), Reade, Charles, realism, 34, 115–116 arid and dreary, 121–122 Repplier, Agnes on Intentions, 120–123 Rhymer’s Club, 30–31, 117 Rhys, Ernest, 30 Richard Feverel (Meredith), 44 Ricketts, Charles, 81 Robespierre, Maximilien, 21 Rodin, M., 38 Ross, Robert, Catholicism, 11 impression of Wilde, 6, 11–12 introduction to De Profundis, 38 letters to, 8, 85 relationship with Oscar, 6, 11–12, 52, 80, 86, 128, 148 Rossetti, Dante Gabriel influence of, 10, 30, 65, 98 Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, 65 Ruskin, John, 39, 103–104 S Salomé, 78, 102, 124 banning of, 128 Index French publication of, 1, 82 Herod in, 90, 93 hidden desire in, 89–90 Jokanaan in, 93 language, 128, 130–131 plot, 129 reviews of, 50–52, 110, 128–132, 147 Salomé in, 90, 93 social observation in, staging of, 133 witty style of, Sardou, Victorien, 52, 143 Saviour in the Temple (Hunt), 20 Scots Observer, 62 Scott, Clement, 54 “Shakespeare and Stage Costume” (essay), 81 Shakespeare, William imitation of others, 63–65 puns, 69 work, 54, 94–95, 139, 148, 151 Shanks, Edward, 28 on Wilde’s derivative art, 27, 94–105 Shanks, Lewis Piaget on Wilde’s aestheticism, 27, 63–69 Shaw, George Bernard abilities as a dramatist, 50–51, 56, 58–59, 127, 133 on The Importance of Being Earnest, 139–140 paradoxes, 69 plays of, 84 on A Woman of No Importance, 136–138 Shelley, Percy Bysshe, 65, 95 Sherard, Robert Harborough biography on Wilde, 6, 12, 44–45 on the guilty verdict, 6, 13–17 Oscar Wilde: The Story of an Unhappy Friendship, 44, 79 relationship with Wilde, 12–14, 85 175 Sims, George R., 133 Smithers, Leonard, 85 Socialism, 69, 93 “Soul of Man under Socialism, The” (essay), 42 plea for artistic freedom in, Speranza (pen name), “Sphinx, The” (poem), 66, 72, 78 emotion in, 87–88, 98–100, 102 fascination of sin, 98 imagery of, 81 publication, 81 “Sphinx, without a Secret, The” (short story), 81 Spirit Lamp, 128 “Star-Child, The” (short story) poetic justice in, 43 Stevenson, Robert Louis criticism, 53, 55 St James Theatre productions at, 82–83, 141–143 Studies in the History of the Renaissance (Pater), 114–115 Sullivan, Arthur, 21, 80 Swallows and Amazons (Ransome), 73 Swinburne, Algernon Charles, 30, 36 influence of, 42, 65, 81, 97–98, 119 Sybil Vane (The Picture of Dorian Gray), 68 symbolism French, 33, 35 Symons, Arthur on Wilde and his art, 26, 32–36, 86, 90 Synge, John Millington, 91 T Tennyson, Lord Alfred, 98 Transatlantic Review, The, 18 Trinity College, “Truth of Masks, The” (essay), 81, 121 Tynan, Katharine on Wilde before his marriage, 6, 21–22 176 Index U University of Tennessee, 63 University of Wales, 154 V Vera: or the Nihilists (play) production of, 1, 82 W Wainewright, Thomas Griffiths, 31, 75, 118, 121 Walker, Hugh on De Profundis, 154–165 Walpole, Horace, 77 Wasp, The (magazine), 29 Westminster Review, The, 40 Whistler, 90–91 paintings, 37–38 witticism, 80–81 Whitman, Walt, 10, 90 Wilde, Constance Lloyd (wife), 11 death, 12 marriage, 1, suffering of, 6, 13, 21 Wilde, Jane Francesca Elgee (mother), 1, 21 death, 39 needs of, 15 Wilde, Oscar birth, death, 2, 6, 11–13, 34, 56, 73–74, 77, 79, 86, 96, 141, 148 marriage, 1, Wilde, William (father), 1, 39 Woman Covered in Jewels, The (play), 82 Woman of No Importance, A (play), 139 Mrs Arbuthnot in, 134–136 epigrams in, 65 Gerald Arbuthnot in, 135–136 immoral thought in, 59 insights into life, 110, 132–138 language in, 110, 137 Lord Illingworth in, 92, 134–136 paradox in, 134 plot, 143 production, 82–83, 137 reviews of, 110, 147 social observation in, witty style of, 1, 110, 137 Woman’s World, The, 81 Wordsworth, William, 12 influence of, 95, 97 Y Yeats, William Butler, 20, 94, 137 on Wilde and his art, 26–27, 30–32 Yellow Book, 117 “Young King” (short story) social reform in, 47 Z Zola, Émile, 10 ... of Oscar Wilde (1908) Lord Alfred Douglas “The Genius of Oscar Wilde (1908) G.K Chesterton Oscar Wilde (1909) James Joyce Oscar Wilde: The Poet of Salomé” (1909) Lewis Piaget Shanks Oscar. ..Bloom’s Classic Critical Views OSCAR WILDE Bloom’s Classic Critical Views Benjamin Franklin The Brontës Charles Dickens Edgar Allan Poe... Poets Mark Twain Mary Shelley Nathaniel Hawthorne Oscar Wilde Ralph Waldo Emerson Walt Whitman William Blake Bloom’s Classic Critical Views OSCAR WILDE Edited and with an Introduction by Harold