Approaches to Teaching the Works of Oscar Wilde

by Smith, Philip E.

• ISBN13: 9781603290098
• ISBN10: 1603290095
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-11-15
• Publisher: Modern Language Assn of Amer

Summary

It is both a challenge and a pleasure to teach the works of Oscar Wilde, "the master of paradox," in the words of this volume's editor. Wilde wrote at a pivotal moment between the Victorian period and modernism, and his work is sometimes considered prescient of the postmodern age. He is now taught in a variety of university courses: in literature, theater, criticism, Irish studies, cultural studies, gender studies, and gay studies.This volume, like others in the MLA series Approaches to Teaching World Litereature, is divided into two parts. The first, "Materials," suggests editions, resources, and criticism, both in print and online, that may be useful for the teacher. The second part, "Approaches," contains twenty-five essays that discuss Wilde's stories, fairy tales, poetry, plays, essays, letters, and life--from the perspective of a wide range of disciplines.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Series	p. ix
Preface to the Volume	p. xi
Materials
Classroom Texts	p. 3
Online Texts	p. 4
The Instructor's Library	p. 5
Reference Works	p. 5
Biographical Resources	p. 6
Critical Collections	p. 8
Critical Studies	p. 8
Intellectual and Critical Contexts: Fin de Siecle Europe and America	p. 14
Selected Web Sites	p. 15
Approaches
Introduction: Wilde's Challenge to Teachers	p. 19
Contexts for Teaching Wilde
The Critic as Student: An Argumentative Approach	p. 24
The Irish Wilde	p. 35
Oscar Wilde and the 1890s: A Single-Figure Course	p. 42
Teaching Wilde's Fiction: The Picture of Dorian Gray, the Short Stories, and the Fairy Tales
Gray Zones: Teaching The Picture of Dorian Gray as a Victorian Novel	p. 52
Teaching The Picture of Dorian Gray as a "Gay" Text	p. 62
Dorian Gray in the Twentieth Century: The Politics and Pedagogy of Filming Oscar Wilde's Novel	p. 75
The Shorter Fiction Approached and Questioned	p. 83
Teaching Wilde's Fairy Tales: Aestheticism as Social and Cultural Critique in "The Happy Prince" and "The Nightingale and the Rose"	p. 93
Teaching Wilde's Comedies
An Introductory Approach to Teaching Wilde's Comedies	p. 100
A Method for Using Biography in the Teaching of Oscar Wilde's Comedies	p. 108
Teaching Melodrama, Modernity, and Postmodernity in Lady Windermere's Fan	p. 117
Wilde about Ibsen: The Fusion of Dramatic Modes in A Woman of No Importance	p. 126
Wilde in the Comparative Arts Course: Teaching An Ideal Husband	p. 135
Form and Freedom in The Importance of Being Earnest	p. 142
Teaching Salome: A Test Case for Modern Approaches
Teaching Oscar Wilde's Salome in a Theater History and Dramatic Literature Seminar	p. 151
Oscar Wilde and the Motif of Looking: An Approach to Teaching Gender Issues in Salome	p. 157
Viewing Salome Symbolically	p. 163
Salome, C'est Moi? Salome and Wilde as Icons of Sexual Transgression	p. 171
Unveiling Salome: The Word-Made-Flesh Undone	p. 180
Teaching Wilde's Criticism
Using Wilde's Intentions to Help Students Establish Wilde's Intentions	p. 188
Teaching Oscar Wilde: "The Portrait of Mr. W. H." and the Crisis of Faith in Victorian England and English Studies	p. 196
Teaching Wilde's Trial and Later Writing
Tomorrow on Trial: Wilde's Case in the Classroom	p. 204
The Love That Dare Not Teach Its Name: Wilde, Religious Studies, and Teaching Tolerance	p. 212
Learning the Importance of Being an Earnest Reader through De Profundis and Gross Indecency	p. 220
"All Men Kill the Thing They Love": Romance, Realism, and The Ballad of Reading Gaol	p. 230
Notes on Contributors	p. 249
Survey Respondents	p. 253
Works Cited	p. 255
Index	p. 273
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