Oscar Wilde

Catalog description

Thie English Major Elective is a course of study in the works of Anglo-Irish writer Oscar Wilder (1856-1900), one of the most interesting authors of the late-nineteenth century. Writing between 1880 and 1900, Wilde was a major figure in the last two decades of that century, what we call the fin-de-sicle; in the twin movements of Aestheticism and Decadence; and in the transition from the Victorian to the Modern period. Working and writing a masterpiece in all four major genres-poetry, drama, fiction, and criticism-as well as in a fifth genre, the memoir, Wilde had an extraordinary capacity to synthesize the major issues of his day, to criticize them, and more often than not, to turn them on their heads. he was a great contrarian-in part because he had a very strong mind and was a steadfast individualist and in part because he was concerned to throw off the oppressive structures and values that criminalized and otherwise prohibited same-sex desire. In his work, he produces a great deal of knowledge about the culture he inhabited, including both its reigning ideologies and social practices-usually with arch irony and biting wit-as well as nuanced knowledge about art, psychology, religion, and desire. Prerequisite/Corequisite: WRT 101 .