“Art with poisonous honey stolen from France” : Oscar Wilde and Decadent imitations between England and France

This thesis studies national conceptions of sexuality and the geo-politics of the Decadent movement in the writing and the literary afterlife of the Irish author and critic Oscar Wilde. In his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and his play Salomé, Wilde’s French influences are immediately appa...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Posthumus, Michaela
Language:English
Published: University of British Columbia 2014
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/2429/46923
id ndltd-UBC-oai-circle.library.ubc.ca-2429-46923
record_format oai_dc
spelling ndltd-UBC-oai-circle.library.ubc.ca-2429-469232018-01-05T17:27:26Z “Art with poisonous honey stolen from France” : Oscar Wilde and Decadent imitations between England and France Posthumus, Michaela This thesis studies national conceptions of sexuality and the geo-politics of the Decadent movement in the writing and the literary afterlife of the Irish author and critic Oscar Wilde. In his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and his play Salomé, Wilde’s French influences are immediately apparent, but their purpose demands critique. I argue Wilde’s use of French Decadence functions as a code for types of art and sexuality that were not permissible to express in the social and legal environment of England in the late 19th century. French Decadence exemplified contrasting and complementary ideas of beauty and perversity which Wilde incorporated into his own writing. From his engagement with French Decadent art arose an idealised vision of Paris as a region where individuals may practice unconventional types of art and sexuality with greater freedom in comparison to the oppressive moral atmosphere of England. In Wilde’s works, modern Paris holds affinities with the Classical Mediterranean world not only through her literature, but through her law. After 1791, sodomy was no longer a criminal offense in France: this legal circumstance in combination with the unrestrained eroticism in French art produced a tempting fantasy of sexual tolerance in France at the fin-de-siècle. Arts, Faculty of English, Department of Graduate 2014-06-03T15:16:23Z 2014-06-03T15:16:23Z 2014 2014-09 Text Thesis/Dissertation http://hdl.handle.net/2429/46923 eng Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ca/ University of British Columbia
collection NDLTD
language English
sources NDLTD
description This thesis studies national conceptions of sexuality and the geo-politics of the Decadent movement in the writing and the literary afterlife of the Irish author and critic Oscar Wilde. In his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and his play Salomé, Wilde’s French influences are immediately apparent, but their purpose demands critique. I argue Wilde’s use of French Decadence functions as a code for types of art and sexuality that were not permissible to express in the social and legal environment of England in the late 19th century. French Decadence exemplified contrasting and complementary ideas of beauty and perversity which Wilde incorporated into his own writing. From his engagement with French Decadent art arose an idealised vision of Paris as a region where individuals may practice unconventional types of art and sexuality with greater freedom in comparison to the oppressive moral atmosphere of England. In Wilde’s works, modern Paris holds affinities with the Classical Mediterranean world not only through her literature, but through her law. After 1791, sodomy was no longer a criminal offense in France: this legal circumstance in combination with the unrestrained eroticism in French art produced a tempting fantasy of sexual tolerance in France at the fin-de-siècle. === Arts, Faculty of === English, Department of === Graduate
author Posthumus, Michaela
spellingShingle Posthumus, Michaela
“Art with poisonous honey stolen from France” : Oscar Wilde and Decadent imitations between England and France
author_facet Posthumus, Michaela
author_sort Posthumus, Michaela
title “Art with poisonous honey stolen from France” : Oscar Wilde and Decadent imitations between England and France
title_short “Art with poisonous honey stolen from France” : Oscar Wilde and Decadent imitations between England and France
title_full “Art with poisonous honey stolen from France” : Oscar Wilde and Decadent imitations between England and France
title_fullStr “Art with poisonous honey stolen from France” : Oscar Wilde and Decadent imitations between England and France
title_full_unstemmed “Art with poisonous honey stolen from France” : Oscar Wilde and Decadent imitations between England and France
title_sort “art with poisonous honey stolen from france” : oscar wilde and decadent imitations between england and france
publisher University of British Columbia
publishDate 2014
url http://hdl.handle.net/2429/46923
work_keys_str_mv AT posthumusmichaela artwithpoisonoushoneystolenfromfranceoscarwildeanddecadentimitationsbetweenenglandandfrance
_version_ 1718584288761348096