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Oscar Wilde: Myths, Miracles and Imitations

Name: Oscar Wilde: Myths, Miracles and Imitations
Author: John Stokes
ISBN: 9780521035309

by John Stokes

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Overview

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 inquiry, 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.

Synopsis

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. 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 examines the evidence of diaries, letters, dramatizations of Wilde's plays and impersonations of the man himself, and discusses Wilde's relationship to fin-de-siècle and twentieth-century ideas.

About the Author, John Stokes

John Stokes grew up as one of six children on a small farm in Kingsville, VA. After high school, he served two years in the U.S. Army, before graduating from Virginia State University. He worked as a teacher in the Baltimore public school system, retiring as a principal in 1994. He now lives in Lanham, MD.