Thesis (M.A.)--Villanova University, 2009. / English Dept. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1975. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Bibliography: leaves 315-328.

Submitted by LIVIA MARIA ZOCCA null (livia_zocca@yahoo.com.br) on 2017-06-16T00:59:02Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação Livia. Versão 9.pdf: 2060001 bytes, checksum: 78c55dcf08f0cc7e9a988db3a155396e (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Luiz Galeffi (luizgaleffi@gmail.com) on 2017-06-19T14:22:24Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 zocca_lm_me_arafcl.pdf: 2060001 bytes, checksum: 78c55dcf08f0cc7e9a988db3a155396e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-06-19T14:22:24Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 zocca_lm_me_arafcl.pdf: 2060001 bytes, checksum: 78c55dcf08f0cc7e9a988db3a155396e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-05-26 / Os estudos comparativos entre literatura e outras artes distintas têm contribuído desde a Antiguidade para maior compreensão de obras, propiciando - concomitantemente à compreensão do objeto literário - o aumento de pesquisas e discussões. O mito bíblico de Salomé foi fortemente retomado na França do fim século XIX e, adquirindo novas e diferentes roupagens do mito original, percorreu o imaginário dos artistas do período através das famosas pinturas de Gustave Moreau, tornando-se um forte símbolo feminino de uma época marcada pelo simbolismo /decadentismo, onde a arte buscava explorar as paixões e os mistérios, em meio aos grandes avanços científicos. Oscar Wilde foi um dos escritores que deu voz à dançarina, construindo em francês mais uma versão entre as muitas variações do mito ao publicar sua peça em 1893. Sua Salomé percorreu a Europa em meio a polêmicas e obteve mais sucesso que as outras obras de mesmo tema – e melhores avaliadas pela crítica do período - dando à personagem maior destaque e repercussão. Encantado com a peça de Wilde, Aubrey Beardsley, em 1894, ilustra a versão inglesa com seu estilo característico - variando da Art Noveau à influência das pinturas japonesas - em um tom erótico e grotesco peculiar. Suas ilustrações correram o mundo com a peça e trouxeram ainda mais notoriedade e significado à versão wildeana, o que permite pensar que o elemento pictórico poderia ultrapassar suas funções tradicionais de simples acompanhante do texto, acrescentando informações à trama, ao preencher lacunas e sugerir novos olhares, ampliando a leitura. Assim, entendendo que o texto verbal e visual não são linguagens incomunicáveis, e sim complementares, e que se isoladas as obras teriam seus significados e sentidos alterados, o presente trabalho busca analisar as relações texto-imagem entre a peça de Wilde e as ilustrações de Beardsley. / Comparative studies between literature and other distinct arts have contributed since the ancient times to a better understanding of art pieces, providing – simultaneously to the understanding of the literary field – an increase in researches and discussions. The biblical myth of Salomé was highly restored in France late in the 19th century and, by featuring a new and different appearance from the original one, covered the imagination of artists from that period through Gustave Moreau’s famous paintings, becoming a powerful female symbol of a time marked by the Symbolism/ Decadentism, when art aimed to explore passions and mysteries among the great scientific advances. Oscar Wilde was one of the writers who gave voice to the dancer, building another version of the myth among several ones by publishing his play in 1893. His Salomé roamed Europe in the middle of controversies and obtained more success than the other pieces about the same theme - and the ones that received the best evaluations of that time - what gave the character a greater focus and impact. Amazed by Wilde’s play, Aubrey Beardsley, in 1894, illustrates the British version with his typical style – ranging from the Art Nouveau to the influence of Japanese paintings – in a peculiar erotic and grotesque shade. His illustrations roamed the world with the play and brought even more visibility and meaning to Wilde’s version, which enables to assume that the pictorial element could overcome its traditional functions of mere text companion, adding information to the plot, by filling in gaps and suggesting fresh perspectives, enlarging the reading. Thus, understanding that spoken and visual texts are not detached, but complementary languages, and that isolated the pieces would have their meanings changed, this work aims to analyze the relations between Wilde’s play and Beardsley’s illustrations.

Submitted by Thaís de Souza Almeida null (thaisalmeida_unesp@yahoo.com.br) on 2017-07-13T04:17:28Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação - Thais de Souza Almeida.pdf: 1574627 bytes, checksum: 40886a2966bfc7063f0acaa5646cc8a2 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Monique Sasaki (sayumi_sasaki@hotmail.com) on 2017-07-14T17:51:52Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 almeida_ts_me_arafcl.pdf: 1574627 bytes, checksum: 40886a2966bfc7063f0acaa5646cc8a2 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-14T17:51:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 almeida_ts_me_arafcl.pdf: 1574627 bytes, checksum: 40886a2966bfc7063f0acaa5646cc8a2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-05-29 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) / A retomada do mito bíblico de Salomé, retratado primeiramente nos evangelhos de S. Marcos e S. Mateus, fez escola no movimento simbolista francês. Salomé, que até então havia sido apresentada como mero apêndice de sua mãe, Herodíade, aparece, no final do século XIX, como a grande personificação da anima perversa, assumindo o papel que outrora pertencera a Cleópatra e Helena. O mito trata da história de Salomé, princesa da Judeia, que, sob a influência de sua mãe, realiza a dança dos sete véus para seu padrasto e, como prêmio pelo espetáculo voluptuoso, recebe a cabeça do profeta João Batista. Retratada pelos artistas de diversas vertentes da arte, essa Salomé remodelada vem representar a essência própria do movimento simbolista – a transgressão da linguagem, da temática e da atitude do poeta com relação à produção artística –, bem como a de seus poetas (e artistas) malditos, que se vêem marginalizados por uma sociedade opressora e utilitarista, e que, fazendo justiça à princesa, fazem justiça à própria classe. Assim, com a princesa-odalisca Salomé, o simbolismo afirma sua postura combativa, de luta pela libertação da poesia e da arte. Neste trabalho, pretende-se analisar e comparar as obras Salomé (1891), drama de Oscar Wilde (1854 – 1900), e Hérodiade (1864 – 1898), poema de Stéphane Mallarmé (1842 – 1898), com a finalidade de verificar se existem e quais seriam as confluências – e mesmo influências – entre as duas produções, visto que ambas foram idealizadas na mesma época e cenário – o simbolismo francês, no final do século XIX. A importância das duas obras para a arte moderna é incontestável: com Hérodiade – que, embora carregue em seu título o nome da mãe por questões sonoras, trata, na verdade, de Salomé –, vemos surgir em uma obra que transcende o episódio sanguinário da decapitação do profeta João Batista, para se debruçar sobre a imagem da princesa virginal submersa em ennui, que, em suas próprias palavras, “não quer nada de humano” e que almeja até o último e imaculado fio de seus cabelos a sua “desconcretização” enquanto ser desse mundo, na busca incessante pela Pureza. Já em Salomé, deparamo-nos com aquela que se tornou a versão “eleita” do mito, e que povoou o imaginário de diversos artistas do século XX, desde compositores até diretores cinematográficos. Em Wilde, à dança dos sete véus e à decapitação do profeta, segue-se uma dose fatal de loucura, que conduz a princesa a uma morte sanguinária. O fio condutor de ambas as produções parece culminar naquilo que Balakian (2000, p. 65) classificou como “narcisismo obsessivo, não-recompensador, porque não tem saída” ao tratar da obra mallarmeana: em Hérodiade, a autocontemplação leva a princesa à solidão, ao ennui e ao desejo de evasão do mundo; em Wilde, a autocontemplação conduz ao caminho da loucura e, em seguida, da morte. Em ambas, portanto, e cada uma a seu modo, o leitor se depara com a estéril (auto)contemplação. Seja por meio da Salomé wildeana - sanguinária, apaixonada, delirante - ou mallarmeana – pura, virginal, ennuyée – essas duas representações da princesa-odalisca se debruçaram fatalmente sobre a estéril contemplação – contemplação vã de sua própria beleza ou da beleza do outro – e, de maneira magnânima, unem-se ao sem-número de obras dedicadas à musa absoluta, topus do fin-de-siècle. / The resumption of the biblical myth of Salome, first portrayed in the Gospels of St. Mark and St. Matthew, became a school in the French symbolist movement. Salome, who has been presented as a mere appendage of his mother, Herodias, appears, at the end of the nineteenth century, as a great personification of perverse anima, assuming the role that once belonged to Cleopatra and Helen. The myth deals with the story of Salome, Princess of Judea, who, under the influence of her mother, performs a dance of the seven veils for her stepfather, and, as a reward for the voluptuous spectacle, receives the head of the prophet John the Baptist. Portrayed by artists of all segments of art, this remodeled Salome represents the essence of the symbolist movement itself – with the transgression of the poetic language, theme and attitude of the contemporary artistic productions – as well as his maudits poets (and artists). They are marginalized by an oppressive and utilitarian society, and that, by doing justice to the princess, they do justice to their own class. Thus, with a Princess-Odalisque Salome, symbolism affirms its combative stance, of struggle for the liberation of poetry and art. In this work, we intend to analyze and compare the works Salomé, drama in one act by Oscar Wilde, and Hérodiade, dramatic poem by Stéphane Mallarmé, in order to verify if there are and which would be the confluences – and even influences – between the two productions, whereas they were both idealized at the same period and scenario: the French symbolism, at the end of the nineteenth century. The importance of these two works for the modern art is unquestionable: with Hérodiade – who is actually Salomé, although bears his title from the mother's name on account of the sonority – we see the ontological mallarmean scheme emerging, one of the most important precursors of modern poetry, in a work that transcends the epithet of the bloody beheading of the prophet John the Baptist, to dwell on the image of the virgin princess submerged in ennui, who, in her own words, “doesn't want anything human”, and who longs until the last and unblemished thread of his hair to unconcretize herself while a human being in the pursuit of Purity. Meanwhile in Salomé, we came across the one that became the "elected" version of the myth, and that populated the imaginary of several artists of the twentieth century, from composers to cinematographic directors. In Wilde, to the dance of the seven veils and to the beheading of the prophet, follows a fatal dose of madness, leading a princess to a bloodthirsty death. The leading thread of both productions seems to culminate in that Balakian (2000, p. 65) classified as "obsessive, non-rewarding narcissism, because it has no way out", in relation to the mallarmean work: in Hérodiade, the self-contemplation leads the princess to solitude, to the boredom and the desire to evasion the world ; In Wilde, (self) contemplation leads to the way of madness and death. In both, therefore, and in each in its own way, we are faced with sterile (self) contemplation. Be it trhough Wilde's bloody, passionate, delirious Salomé, or Mallarmé's pure, virginal, ennuyée Hérodiade, these two representations of the princess fatally leaned on a barren contemplation – vain contemplation of their own beauty, or of beauty of other – and, magnanimously, join the countless works dedicated to the absolute muse, topus of the fin-de-siècle.

This essay aims to examine how immortality and immoral behavior are represented in The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. The claim in this essay is that an immortal life is not a desirable life and that it traps you in a paradoxical existence that cannot be desirable. The method used in this essay is close reading of the narrative focusing on the protagonist Dorian Gray examined through two theories, ‘The Makropulos case’ and the subsequent analysis regarding contingent and categorical desires introduced by Bernard Williams as well as a theory focusing on endless frustration by Aaron Smuts that evolved through critiquing Williams’ theory on contingent and categorical desires. By analyzing Dorian Gray’s behavior and comparing his choices to the theories presented by Williams and Smuts the results are unanimous and support the claim that an immortal life is undesirable. Dorian Gray ended up confined to a life without meaning as he left everything that held meaning to him behind in his pursuit of pleasure and youth.

This thesis explores the works of Oscar Wilde as they articulate and model an aesthetic of play. I show that Wilde distinguishes between true and false forms--or what I call models and anti-models--of play in a number of areas: art, criticism, and society, language, thought, and culture, self and other. My introduction establishes a context for the cultural value of play in the nineteenth century. I survey the ideas of Friedrich Schiller, who treats play in the aesthetic realm; Matthew Arnold, who discusses Criticism as a free play of the mind; Herbert Spencer, who explores play in the context of evolution; and Johan Huizinga, who analyses play in its social context. In my three chapters on Wilde's critical essays, I draw upon their ideas to describe Wilde's philosophy of play and examine how the form of Wilde's critical essays illuminates his aesthetic. My first chapter explores models and anti-models of play in Art, as they are described by Vivian in "The Decay of Lying." By exploring the role of "lying" in its aesthetic rather ethical context, Vivian demonstrates the value of the play-spirit for the development of culture. My second chapter discusses models and anti-models of play in Criticism as they are described by Gilbert in "The Critic as Artist." By refashioning the traditions of nineteenth-century criticism, Gilbert presents his own model of criticism as an aesthetic activity and demonstrates the role of the play-spirit in the development of the individual and the race. My third chapter relates models and anti-models of play in art, criticism, and social life to the modes of self-realization described by Wilde in "The Soul of Man Under Socialism." I take up Wilde's well-known paradox, that Socialism is a means of realizing Individualism, by showing how Wilde plays with these terms in an aesthetic rather than a political context. In the remaining chapters I read Wilde's fictional and dramatic texts in light of his aesthetics and treat the characters as models and anti-models of the play-spirit. In The Picture of Dorian Gray, I take the measure of play, not morality, as a guide for interpretation. In this reading Lord Henry Wotton is the novel's critic as artist, while Dorian Gray, with his literal-mindedness, his imitative instinct, and his ruthless narcissism, fails to achieve the aesthetic disinterestedness that characterizes true play. My sixth chapter traces themes related to play—game, ceremony, and performance—in Wilde's Society Comedies to demonstrate how these plays both reflect and critique the spectacle of Society and the conventions of nineteenth-century melodrama. My thesis concludes with The Importance of Being Earnest as it presents a culmination of Wilde's play-spirit and his playful linguistic strategies. I show how both the form and content of Earnest model the paradoxical ideal of play itself—that through play we may realize the experience of being at one with ourselves and on good terms with the world. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

This essay examines the role of ennui in Dorian Gray’s moral decline in Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. By applying Charles Baudelaire’s concept of ennui as the malady of the modern age and his promotion of dandyism as an escape from the “immoral” modern utilitarian society, it argues that Wilde challenges Baudelaire’s philosophy since Dorian suffers from depression as a result of yielding to all of his desires. Drawing from Thomas De Quincey’s arguments that the cycle of restlessness and stimulation leads to violence, this essay suggests that, according to Wilde, dandyism may lead to moral decay. Therefore, Wilde questions both Baudelaire’s dandyism and the core of the Aesthetic Movement. Thus, Wilde highlights not only the dangers of sensation-seeking being promoted as an escape from monotony but also claims that dandyism can result in violence.

Critics and audiences alike have neglected the idea of Wilde as a precursor to Beckett. But I contend that a closer look at each writer's aesthetic and philosophic tendencies-for instance, their interest in the fluid nature of self, their understanding of identity as a performance, and their belief in language as both a way in and a way out of stagnancy -will connect them in surprising and highly significant ways. This thesis will focus on the ways in which Wilde prefigures Beckett as a dramatist. Indeed, many of the themes that Beckett, free from the constraints of a censor and from the societal restrictions of Victorian England, unabashedly details in his drama are to be found residing obscurely in Wilde. Understanding Beckett's major dramatic themes and motifs therefore yields new strategies for reading Wilde.

Victorian society had strict written and unwritten laws about what was permissible in terms of personal relationships. Anglican patriarchal church values governed behaviour between the classes and enforced codes of conduct on gender related boundaries of private individuals. Society subscribed to the traditional family of man, woman and children in the context of marriage. Homosexuality amongst men was punishable by prison. Government and religion preached Christian morality, yet the number of prostitutes had never been greater. This dissertation explores the problems of a pro-homosexual and anti-establishment Victorian author writing about human relationships forbidden by society. It exposes the consequences suffered by Oscar Wilde due to his investigative insights into the `Other' in the context of individual rights of preference in regard to sexual orientation, as expressed in selected texts, and his resolution of conflict, in De Profundis. / English Studies / MA (English)

Victorian society had strict written and unwritten laws about what was permissible in terms of personal relationships. Anglican patriarchal church values governed behaviour between the classes and enforced codes of conduct on gender related boundaries of private individuals. Society subscribed to the traditional family of man, woman and children in the context of marriage. Homosexuality amongst men was punishable by prison. Government and religion preached Christian morality, yet the number of prostitutes had never been greater. This dissertation explores the problems of a pro-homosexual and anti-establishment Victorian author writing about human relationships forbidden by society. It exposes the consequences suffered by Oscar Wilde due to his investigative insights into the `Other' in the context of individual rights of preference in regard to sexual orientation, as expressed in selected texts, and his resolution of conflict, in De Profundis. / English Studies / MA (English)