Aesthetics and Criticism

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Oscar Wilde (1854-1900): Aesthetics and Criticism Megan Becker-Leckrone [This article was first published in The Continuum Encyclopedia of Modern Criticism and Theory eds. Julian Wolfreys, Ruth Robbins, Kenneth Womack (New York: Continuum Press, May 2002) pp.658-65. It is here republished by kind permission and remains copyright © to the author, from whom permission for citation should be sought.] Devoting most of his career to poetry, prose fiction, and drama, Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) wrote the bulk of his critical work between 1885 and 1891. Along with a number of book reviews and brief articles, this corpus consists chiefly of just six major essays: ‘The Truth of Masks’ (1885), ‘The Decay of Lying’ (1889), ‘Pen, Pencil and Poison’ (1889), ‘The Portrait of Mr. W. H.’ (1889), ‘The Soul of Man Under Socialism’ (1890), and ‘The Critic as Artist’ (1890). In May 1891, four of these six essays were published together in a volume suggestively entitled Intentions, although each of the six was at one time or another considered for inclusion in the book (Danson, 1997, 7-8). Wilde also published in 1891 the well-known ‘Preface’ to his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray; a brief series of aphorisms on beauty and art, the ‘Preface’ serves as a pithy distillation of the paradoxical, subtly equivocal theoretical framework the essays collectively establish. In 1895, Wilde’s own words would be interpreted, ironically, as utterly unequivocal evidence against him in the scandalous libel and criminal suits that eventually sent him to jail and effectively ended his career. This tragic conclusion did not extinguish Wilde’s legacy. In fact, it is safe to say that his words have graced more greeting cards and bookbags than any other author featured in this book – all testaments to the prominent place Wilde holds in our cultural landscape to this day. Yet such a

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