The Reception of Oscar Wilde in Europe

by Evangelista, Stefano

• ISBN13: 9781474245968
• ISBN10: 147424596X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2015-05-21
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic

Summary

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) is now widely recognised not only as one of the most representative figures of the British fin de siècle, but as one of the most influential Anglophone authors of the nineteenth century. In Britain Wilde suffered a long period of comparative neglect following the scandal of his conviction for 'gross indecency' in 1895; and it is only recently that his works have been reassessed. But while Wilde was subjected to silence in Britain, he became a European phenomenon. His famous dandyism, his witticisms, paradoxes and provocations became the object of imitation and parody; his controversial aesthetic doctrines were a strong influence not only on decadent writers, but also on the development of symbolist and modernist cultures.

This collection of essays by leading international scholars and translators traces the cultural impact of Oscar Wilde's work across Europe, from the earliest translations and performances of his works in the 1890s to the present day.

Author Biography

Stefano Evangelista is Fellow and Tutor in English at Trinity College, Oxford, and Lecturer in English at the University of Oxford, UK. His book British Aestheticism and Ancient Greece:Hellenism, Reception, Gods in Exile (2009).

Table of Contents

Series Editor's Preface
Acknowledgements
List of Contributors
Abbreviations
Reception Timeline, Paul Barnaby (Edinburgh University Library, UK)
Performance Timeline, Michelle Paull (St. Mary's University College, UK)
Introduction: Oscar Wilde: European by Sympathy, Stefano Evangelista (University of Oxford, UK)
1. Picturing His Exact Decadence: The British Reception of Oscar Wilde, Joseph Bristow (UCLA, USA)
2. Performance and Place: Oscar Wilde and the Irish National Interest, Noreen Doody (St. Patrick's College, Ireland)
3. The Artist as Aesthete: the French creation of Wilde, Richard Hibbitt (University of Leeds, UK)
4.  Naturalizing Oscar Wilde as an homme de lettres: The French Reception of Dorian Gray and Salomé (1895-1922), Emily Eells (Université de Paris 10 - Nanterre, France)
5. André Gide's 'Hommage à Oscar Wilde' or 'The Tale of Judas', Victoria Reid (University of Glasgow, UK)
6. 'Astonishing in my Italian': Oscar Wilde's First Italian Editions, 1890-1952, Rita Severi (University of Verona, Italy)
7. 'Children of Pleasure': Oscar Wilde and Italian Decadence, Elisa Bizzotto (IUAV University, Venice, Italy)
8. The Strange Adventures of Oscar Wilde in Spain (1892-1912), Richard A. Cardwell (University of Nottingham, UK) 9. The Reception of Wilde's Works in Spain through Theatre Performances at the Turn of the Twentieth and Twenty-first centuries, Marta Mateo (University of Oviedo, Spain)
10. Tragedy and the Apostle of Beauty: The Early Literary Reception of Oscar Wilde in Germany and Austria, Robert Vilain (Royal Holloway, University of London, UK)
11. Bunbury in Germany: Alive and Kicking, Rainer Kohlmayer and Lucia Krämer (University of Mainz and Leibniz University, Hanover, Germany)
12. When Critics Disagree, the Artist Survives. Oscar Wilde: An All-Time Favourite of the Viennese Stage in the Twentieth Century, Sandra Mayer (University of Vienna, Austria)
13. Composing Oscar: Settings of Wilde for the German stage, Chris Walton (University of Stellenbosch, South Africa)
14. From Continental Discourse to 'A breath from a better world': Oscar Wilde and Denmark, Lene Østermark-Johansen (University of Copenhagen, Denmark)
15. An Ideal Situation? The Importance of Oscar Wilde's Dramatic Work in Hungary, Mária Kurdi (University of Pécs, Hungary)
16. Oscar Wilde and the Czech Decadence, Zdenêk Beran (Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic)
17. The 'Byron of Kipling's England': Oscar Wilde in Croatia, Irena Grubica (University of Rijeka, Croatia)
18. 'Next to Christ': Oscar Wilde in Russian Modernism, Evgenii Bershtein (Reed College, Oregon, USA)
Index