Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2005. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Wilde:An Opera in 2 Acts. Play and Music by Derek Williams. Based on the writings and utterances of Oscar Wilde and his contemporaries.

Thesis (M.F.A.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2031-01-01

M.A. dissertation, University of Hong Kong, 1976. / Typescript.

No description available.

Although critics have studied Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray for nearly one hundred years, no one has examined the author's Irish Celtic heritage in relation to such unanswered questions as the source for the supernatural power that grants Dorian's wish to remain young and creates the central conflict, the purpose of the eleventh chapter, or the apparent "overwriting" or "purple patches" of prose.As a result, the novel has remained elusive, yet fascinating, to both critics and readers. This study asserts that the problem with the traditional approaches critics have taken to solve these questions is that Dorian_ Gray does not entirely belong to mainstream British literary tradition. It also belongs in part to Irish Celtic literature.Consequently, the answers to these unresolved "mysteries" become part of a natural, even inevitable culmination of Irish folklore placed in a Victorian London setting. questions lie in Wilde's Irish background. By looking at the mythology and folklore of Wilde's native Ireland, the “mysteries” become part of a natural, even inevitable culmination of Irish folklore placed in a Victorian London setting.This study's approach to Dorian Gray combines both historical and textual study and builds upon the already substantial number of source studies and biographies available. Moreover, this study examines the almost entirely unexplored background of Wilde's Irish past in the novel which relates to Irish literature. In addition to these components, this paper also offers explanations for the source of the supernatural elements, the problems within the eleventh chapter, and the strategy of the overall structure. Finally this study examines the satirical elements that have their origin in Irish folklore. In many ways, this analysis unifies the other, often conflicting, approaches by explaining these previously misunderstood elements. / Department of English

This study seeks to show that in the work of Oscar Wilde, form and content, though manifestly separate, are latently connected. In Wilde's aesthetics, form and content are more than mere critical generalities---they are also metaphors for, respectively, art and nature, order and chaos, two conflicting but interdependent principles. Form in Wilde's work is a metaphor for the artist's defense against the largeness and ambiguity of nature and life. Therefore, to create, Wilde needs to insist on form over content, art over nature. Form in Wilde's work manifests itself in a deliberately artificial style, a style revealed by, for example, epigrammatic dialogue and posing of characters. However, because of this emphasis on form, nature and life will make an uncanny figurative return in Wilde's fiction, a return symbolized, for instance, by emotional ambivalence, intellectual ambiguity, and even acts of murder. In Wilde, form and content are interdependent because the content is latent in the principle of form, which stands for the human struggle against the perceived disorder of nature and life, a struggle which nevertheless is revelatory of that same chaos.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1976. / Typescript. Also available in print.

No description available.

Based on the author's dissertation. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 265-279) and index.