English literature at the end of the 19

Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900)

Oscar Wilde was regarded as the leader of the aesthetic movement, but many of his works do not follow his decadent theory "art for art's sake", they sometimes even contradict it. In fact, the best of them are closer to Romanticism and Realism.

Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin on October 16, 1854. His father was a famous Irish surgeon. His mother was well known in Dublin as a writer. At school, and later at the Oxford University Oscar displayed a considerable gift for art and creative work. The young man received a number of classical prizes, and gradu­ated with first-class honors. After graduating from the University, Wilde turned his attention to writing, travelling and lecturing. The Aesthetic Movement became popular, and Oscar Wilde earned the reputation of being the leader of the movement.

Oscar Wilde gained popularity in the genre of comedy of manners. The aim of social comedy, according to Wilde, is to mirror the manners, not to reform the morals of its day. Art in general, Wilde stated, is in no way connected with the reality of life; real life incarnates neither social nor moral values. It is the artist's fantasy that produces the refined and the beautiful. So it is pointless to demand that there be any similarity between reality and its depiction in art. Thus, he was a supporter of the "art-for-art's sake" doctrine.

In his plays the author mainly dealt with the life of educated people of refined tastes. Belonging to the privileged layer of soci­ety they spent their time in entertainments. In "The Importance of Being Earnest" the author shows what useless lives his characters are leading. Some of them are obviously caricatures, but their outlook and mode of behavior truthfully characterize London's upper crust. Wilde rebels against their limitedness, strongly opposes hypocrisy, but, being a representative of the up­per class himself, he is too closely connected with that very soci­ety; that is why his opposition bears no effective resistance.

The most popular works of the author are "The Happy Prince and Other Tales" (1888), "The Picture of Dorian Gray" (1891). and the comedies "Lady Windermere's Fan" (1892). "A Woman of No Importance" (1893), "An Ideal Husband" (1895), "The Importance of Being Earnest" (1895). At the height of his popu­larity and success a tragedy struck. He was accused of immorality and sentenced to two years imprisonment. When released from prison in 1897 he lived mainly on the Continent and later in Paris. In 1898 he published his powerful poem, "Ballad of Reading Gaol". He died in Paris in 1900.

'The Picture of Dorian Gray" is the only novel written by Oscar Wilde. It is centered round problems of relationship be­tween art and reality. In the novel the author describes the spiri­tual life of a young man and touches upon many important prob­lems of contemporary life: morality, art and beauty. At the begin­ning of the novel we see an inexperienced youth, a kind and innocent young man. Dorian is influenced by two men with sharply contrasting characters: Basil Hallward and Lord Henry Wotton. The attitude of these two towards the young man shows their different approach to life, art and beauty. The author shows the gradual degradation of Dorian Gray. The end of the book is a contradiction to Wilde's decadent theory. The fact that the por­trait acquired its former beauty and Dorian Gray "withered, wrinkled and loathsome of visage" lay on the floor with a knife in his heart, shows the triumph of real beauty - a piece of art created by an artist, a unity of beautiful form and content. Besides that, it conveys the idea that real beauty cannot accompany an immoral life.