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Oscar Wilde: Myths, Miracles and Imitations

Hardback

Main Details

Title Oscar Wilde: Myths, Miracles and Imitations
Authors and Contributors      By (author) John Stokes
Physical Properties
Format:Hardback
Pages:232
Dimensions(mm): Height 216,Width 140
Category/GenreLiterary studies - c 1800 to c 1900
Literary studies - plays and playwrights
ISBN/Barcode 9780521475372
ClassificationsDewey:828.809
Audience
Professional & Vocational
Illustrations 1 Maps; 13 Halftones, unspecified

Publishing Details

Publisher Cambridge University Press
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publication Date 14 March 1996
Publication Country United Kingdom

Description

Oscar Wilde was a major influence on the culture of his time, and remains relevant today, as a model of wit and style, a sexual icon, and a moral example. In a sequence of detailed and imaginative chapters on Wilde and his times, John Stokes shows how in the 1880s and 1890s Wilde played a vital part in the development of modern culture, inspiring others to carry his ideas on into the twentieth century. Stokes offers studies of Wilde's place in the Romantic tradition, and of his relationships with such legendary figures of the fin-de-siecle as Aubrey Beardsley, Alfred Jarry, and Arthur Symons. And always, as part of the process of historical enquiry, Stokes considers those who came after: humanitarian disciples who kept Wilde's memory sacred, performers in his plays, actors who impersonated the man himself. Oscar Wilde: Myths, Miracles and Imitations explains why Wilde, a 'material ghost', haunts us still.

Reviews

'Stokes's analysis is fascinating, in part because of its attention to what reviewers have said about ... Wildean revivals ... While adding to our knowledge of the context of Oscar Wilde, John Stokes provides further evidence of the variousness and complexity of Wilde himself. Oscar Wilde: Myths, Miracles and Imitations will complicate matters for those who would like to confine Wilde within the scope of a single-minded personality or politics'. New Theatre Quarterly