Oscar Wilde
By: Ruth Robbins
Series: Writer's lives; Writers' lives (Continuum (Firm))
Publisher: Continuum
Published: 2011
Place of publication: London; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 193
ISBN-13: 9780826498519; 9780826498526
Subjects: Criticism and interpretation; Irish Authors; Biography
Description: Oscar Wilde's reputation has shifted dramatically during the twentieth century from outcast in the wake of his trials for homosexual offences, to martyr to the gay cause in the 1980s and '90s, to important figure in the history of writing in English. Ruth Robbins introduces Wilde through a focus on his manipulations of genre and sets Wilde's life and work in its literary and cultural context.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 183-188) and index.
Table of contents: title: 1. Introduction: Celebrity Wilde; 2. Poet, Poseur, Plagiarist: Allusion and Sincerity in Wilde's Poetry; 3. Short Fiction: Homage and Parody in Wilde's Short Stories; 4. Trials of Wit: Wilde's Essays; 5. Closets and Pictures: Disguise and Display in Dorian Gray and 'The Portrait of Mr W. H.'; 6. Well-Made and Un-Made Plays: Wilde's Theatre; 9. Out of the Depths: Wilde, De Profundis, Autobiography and Afterlife; Chronology of Wilde's Life and Times; Glossary of Keywords; Bibliography of Works Cited; Index.