Oscar Wilde

Irish poet, playwright, and aesthete (1854-1900) · 1854–1900

Appears in 11 videos · 13 passages, 6 of them in depth.

What Dominique Pagani says

Dominique Pagani places Oscar Wilde in a right-wing anarchist and hedonist tradition, which he says he respects1. He calls The Picture of Dorian Gray a reactionary and decadent masterpiece and speaks of Wilde as a "delightful reactionary". He points to Lord Henry's mockery of Americans, those "badly brought-up Englishmen", to show that anti-Americanism is an old right-wing theme2 3. He often returns to the novel's preface: all art is surface and symbol, and those who go beneath the surface or pierce the symbol do so at their peril4 5. He also connects it with the idea that art mirrors the spectator, and likens this position to Nietzsche's at the same period. He also reads the novel as a series of illustrations of each person's relation to their own deceptive image6. Finally, he finds Wilde's conviction for homosexuality odious, handed down by a hypocritical society that tolerated heterosexual obscenity.

Summary produced automatically from 13 of the passages below, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the moment in the session.

Who is this?

Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential dramatists in London in the early 1890s. He was a key figure in the emerging Aestheticism movement of the late 19th century and is widely regarded as the greatest playwright of the Victorian era. […]

Read the article on Wikipedia

Text: Wikipédia, CC BY-SA 4.0, excerpt · Portrait: Napoleon Sarony / Adam Cuerden, Public domain

Search these passages

Season 8 · 9 Jul 2020#13 • Return to the logics of the subject

18:38The Picture of Dorian GrayThe preface states that all art is surface and symbol and that art reflects the spectator; he was imprisoned for homosexuality.
26:06The Picture of Dorian GrayTo seek beneath the surface or to penetrate the symbol is to run a risk.

Season 7 · 17 May 2020#8 • Harnessed to confinitude

1:38:51The Picture of Dorian Gray"Delightful reactionary"; the preface states that all art is surface and symbol, and that plunging into it is done at one's own risk.

Season 7 · 11 Apr 2020#4 • Harnessed to confinitude

48:39The Picture of Dorian GrayIn the preface: all art is surface and symbol, danger in plunging beneath the surface; the same idea as Nietzsche's at the same time.