Oscar Wilde: Myths, Miracles and Imitations

by John Stokes

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. 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521035309
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	12/14/2006
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	232
Product dimensions:	5.47(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.63(d)

About the Author

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.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations; Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations; Introduction; 1. The magic ball; 2. Some gentle criticisms of British justice; 3. Wilde at bay: the diary of George Ives; 4. Romantic reincarnations; 5. Beardsley/Jarry: the art of deformation; 6. Dieppe: 1895 and after; 7. Wilde interpretations; Notes; Select bibliography; Index.

Editorial 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

From the Publisher